Okay.....I'm going to try now to describe the effect this movie had on me without sounding like a nut....
I'm a very fanciful person. My mother has always said I live in a dream world, and in a way, she's right. I read a lot of books, and when I do, the characters get deep into my head. I feel their presence very strongly while I'm reading the book, and for awhile afterwards. Charactization is the most important part of a story to me, secondary even to plot. I am not a christian. At least, not in the kind of way that people claim will save me. I love the story of Jesus, however, and I believe it's a true one. And I feel that I am a "christian" in the ways that are most important. I try to live, as much as I am able, according to the teachings of Christ. Not because I'm one of his followers, but because they coincide closely with the laws of my own heart......
Anyway....this is a thread about a movie, not my own convoluted and somewhat dubious theological beliefs....
I can't say it was a good movie, or a bad movie, or that it's anything at all but what it is: a graphic and heartbreaking depiction of the greatest story ever told. A portrait of an event that changed the world in many, many ways. As such it transcends such weak adjectives as "good", or "bad", or even "violent." (Sidenote: it wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe....the scourging was the worst, and I think they went way overboard on it. I lost count at around 75 lashes, first with canes and then with the cat.....nobody could've surived that, imho. Don't get me wrong, it was bad....very bloody...but with all the talk, I'd been expecting a lot worse. What was far worse for me was the portrayal of the entire city of Jerusalem as not having a single humanitarian fiber between them. After that horrible beating, and being pummeled by various guards, and sentenced to death to boot....during the long trek to Golgotha, the guards and anyone else who could get close eough
continued to beat on him at every opportunity....and he barely able to stand. The cruelty of people who couldn't give a condemned man a little dignity....enough is enough for God's sake.....was horrible beyond words. Cruel and unusual isn't in it. I wanted to stand up and shout,
"What's wrong with you people? Why can't you just stop HITTING him?")
Um, anyway....I seem prone to sidetracking today....
I came out of the movie, not converted, but with the same effect reading about a strong character has on me. This beautiful story - always one of my favorites, despite my problems with religion - is now very clear in my mind. The film was able to dramatize these events, and the depth of love represented by the Christ, for me in a way sunday school never did. And having seen it, Jesus is much more real to me. Real as a character in a fantasy book, I might say....
And I feel his presence more strongly than I ever did when I was an official "christian."
This movie reminded me of a beautiful story that I'd buried under heaps of cynicism and bitterness. And it did for me what any good fantasy character does to me.....made me want to live my life in a way that would make them proud, were they to materialize out of some magical doorway into my living room.....
And crazy or not, lame or not, that can't be a bad effect.
I'm going to buy this movie when it comes out, so that I can watch it from time to time, and be inspired to try to be like this Jesus.....with whom I have so many unresolved issues......except for the ones I believe are central in the first place.
"As I have loved you, so love you each other."
But maybe that's an unfair representation.
