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From "The New York Times":
February 25, 2004
After Months of Contention, ''The Passion'' Arrives in Theaters
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Clutching coffee cups and morning papers, movie-goers lined up to see the first Manhattan showing of "The Passion of the Christ" at 9:30 this morning as if they were commuters waiting for a bus.
By 10:15 they had settled into a dark theater at Loews Kips Bay where a full moon eclipsed the screen before the camera dipped and made its descent into Gethsemane.
There was none of the customary movie theater distractions: no coughing, popcorn munching or whispers. Only breathless silence. The theater remained that way for more than two hours, punctuated only by gasps and sniffles as the carpenter from Nazareth was lashed beyond recognition. It was only when the lights came up that chatter and the 21st century returned.
A religious tale with no big-name stars, spoken in not one but two dead languages, "The Passion" initially appeared to have the makings of a flop. Hollywood studios kept their distance, forcing Mel Gibson, the film''s director, co-writer and producer, to reach into his own pocket to bring the $25 million movie — with dialogue in Aramaic and a Latin dialect — to the big screen. But what began as one man''s labor of love has become more than a blockbuster film: it has become a part of popular culture, as familiar as "American Idol," provoking conversation from family dinner tables to church pulpits.
"The Passion" is expected to become the biggest box-office Bible movie ever, eclipsing "The 10 Commandments," which took in $65.5 million in North American theaters.
"It was brutal," a man said on his way out of the theater. "Though Gibson''s going to make a lot of money."
But beneath the financial story is another story, one about deep-seated wounds and fears. Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, as well as some academics and Christian leaders, have raised concerns that the film is a powder keg that could inflame anti-Semitism.
"Our concern is that `The Passion of the Christ'' could fuel latent anti-Semitism that exists in the hearts of those people who hold Jews responsible for the death of Jesus, which has always been the source of Western anti-Semitism," Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, and Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, the organization''s interfaith consultant, said in a statement. "Its portrayal of Jews is painful to watch."
After seeing the film this morning, Paul Rocker , 26, of Manhattan, said, "I don''t feel that there was any anti-Semitism." He said the movie made him feel blessed.
"Do you know what I was thinking of while Christ was taking a beating?" Mr. Rocker said. "I was thinking about all my sins. I was thinking about my personal relationship with Christ. It made me examine my life. There was a girl around me who was crying. I was too. And I did not wipe away my tears because I wasn''t ashamed."
Mr. Rocker, who said people should see the film with an open mind, further addressed the issue of anti-Semitism by saying: "You''d have to be crazy to think about anti-Semitism if you''re watching this movie. It attacks you: your walk and your beliefs and your perspective."
Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, who saw the film this morning, said that while "the film is not anti-Semitic, the story has a legacy of hate connected to it." He said "The Passion" raised such important questions as "whether suffering is a vehicle for love or a vehicle for hate and whether America, with its own history of being open and inclusive, can detoxify the legacy of hate."
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, vice president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, pointed out that the film was both a powerful movie about suffering, endurance and love as well as a powerful movie about rage.
"The real message," he said, "is how the various members of the audience need each other. Because no one can know the whole story in its entirety. It''s bigger than any of us."
After watching an advance screening on Monday night, Rose Maniace, 64, of Whitestone, Queens, said, "I''m very open-minded and I don''t think it''s anti-Semitic." A religion teacher at St. Patrick''s Roman Catholic Church in Long Island City, Ms. Maniace saw the film at a fund-raiser at the Kaufman Astoria Studios.
"I don''t think we depict that Jesus'' death is the Jews'' fault," Ms. Maniace said. "It''s the story of the passion of Jesus and how he suffered for all humanity."
She elaborated: "Human stories are good to share. It leads to more peace and happiness and less judgment. I don''t think Mel Gibson followed a stereotype. I think he was influenced by his spirit."
Rabbi Marc Gellman, a champion of interfaith dialogue and co-author of the nationally syndicated weekly advice column "The God Squad," feels differently than many of his fellow rabbis. He said he regarded "The Passion" as a great religious film.
"We have to allow people to tell their own story," Rabbi Gellman said, though he cautioned that people of all faiths must take responsibility for the effects of the stories they tell.
"Jews who are secure in their Jewishness and secure in the compassion of their Christian friends will see the Christian story in a new way," he said.
Critics of the film say it holds Jews culpable for the death of Jesus, casts little blame on the ruling Romans, neglects to show the many Jews who supported Jesus and portrays the notoriously cruel Pontius Pilate as a well-meaning pawn of money-hungry Jewish priests. They fear that the film may spark violence and induce the erosion of Jewish-Christian relations.
"So much of what Gibson is doing is profit-motivated, and I don''t mean p-r-o-p-h-e-t," said Rabbi Robert N. Levine, who is the senior rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan and the vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis. "It''s a difficult movie to watch, viscerally. I looked for universal, hopeful, uplifting messages in this film and it''s very hard to see them."
Despite their concerns, mainstream Jewish organizations are not boycotting the film.
"Boycotts and bans do not advance interfaith and inter-religious dialogue," said Kenneth Bandler, director of communications for the American Jewish Committee. A statement on the Anti-Defamation League''s Web site, www.adl.org, explains that the group does not support boycotting, particularly because it is a technique that has been used against Jews.
The buzz surrounding the film has, in recent weeks, developed into a roar, and while many people wish it would all just go away, Rabbi Gellman thinks it is a good thing.
"The alternative to a passionate discussion and interfaith dialogue would be only to discuss if Carrie would have ended up with the Russian or Mr. Big," he said, referring to the series finale of "Sex and the City" on HBO. "And I will pick a discussion about the meaning of life and sacrifice and sin over that any day."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | Help |
February 25, 2004
After Months of Contention, ''The Passion'' Arrives in Theaters
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Clutching coffee cups and morning papers, movie-goers lined up to see the first Manhattan showing of "The Passion of the Christ" at 9:30 this morning as if they were commuters waiting for a bus.
By 10:15 they had settled into a dark theater at Loews Kips Bay where a full moon eclipsed the screen before the camera dipped and made its descent into Gethsemane.
There was none of the customary movie theater distractions: no coughing, popcorn munching or whispers. Only breathless silence. The theater remained that way for more than two hours, punctuated only by gasps and sniffles as the carpenter from Nazareth was lashed beyond recognition. It was only when the lights came up that chatter and the 21st century returned.
A religious tale with no big-name stars, spoken in not one but two dead languages, "The Passion" initially appeared to have the makings of a flop. Hollywood studios kept their distance, forcing Mel Gibson, the film''s director, co-writer and producer, to reach into his own pocket to bring the $25 million movie — with dialogue in Aramaic and a Latin dialect — to the big screen. But what began as one man''s labor of love has become more than a blockbuster film: it has become a part of popular culture, as familiar as "American Idol," provoking conversation from family dinner tables to church pulpits.
"The Passion" is expected to become the biggest box-office Bible movie ever, eclipsing "The 10 Commandments," which took in $65.5 million in North American theaters.
"It was brutal," a man said on his way out of the theater. "Though Gibson''s going to make a lot of money."
But beneath the financial story is another story, one about deep-seated wounds and fears. Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, as well as some academics and Christian leaders, have raised concerns that the film is a powder keg that could inflame anti-Semitism.
"Our concern is that `The Passion of the Christ'' could fuel latent anti-Semitism that exists in the hearts of those people who hold Jews responsible for the death of Jesus, which has always been the source of Western anti-Semitism," Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, and Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, the organization''s interfaith consultant, said in a statement. "Its portrayal of Jews is painful to watch."
After seeing the film this morning, Paul Rocker , 26, of Manhattan, said, "I don''t feel that there was any anti-Semitism." He said the movie made him feel blessed.
"Do you know what I was thinking of while Christ was taking a beating?" Mr. Rocker said. "I was thinking about all my sins. I was thinking about my personal relationship with Christ. It made me examine my life. There was a girl around me who was crying. I was too. And I did not wipe away my tears because I wasn''t ashamed."
Mr. Rocker, who said people should see the film with an open mind, further addressed the issue of anti-Semitism by saying: "You''d have to be crazy to think about anti-Semitism if you''re watching this movie. It attacks you: your walk and your beliefs and your perspective."
Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, who saw the film this morning, said that while "the film is not anti-Semitic, the story has a legacy of hate connected to it." He said "The Passion" raised such important questions as "whether suffering is a vehicle for love or a vehicle for hate and whether America, with its own history of being open and inclusive, can detoxify the legacy of hate."
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, vice president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, pointed out that the film was both a powerful movie about suffering, endurance and love as well as a powerful movie about rage.
"The real message," he said, "is how the various members of the audience need each other. Because no one can know the whole story in its entirety. It''s bigger than any of us."
After watching an advance screening on Monday night, Rose Maniace, 64, of Whitestone, Queens, said, "I''m very open-minded and I don''t think it''s anti-Semitic." A religion teacher at St. Patrick''s Roman Catholic Church in Long Island City, Ms. Maniace saw the film at a fund-raiser at the Kaufman Astoria Studios.
"I don''t think we depict that Jesus'' death is the Jews'' fault," Ms. Maniace said. "It''s the story of the passion of Jesus and how he suffered for all humanity."
She elaborated: "Human stories are good to share. It leads to more peace and happiness and less judgment. I don''t think Mel Gibson followed a stereotype. I think he was influenced by his spirit."
Rabbi Marc Gellman, a champion of interfaith dialogue and co-author of the nationally syndicated weekly advice column "The God Squad," feels differently than many of his fellow rabbis. He said he regarded "The Passion" as a great religious film.
"We have to allow people to tell their own story," Rabbi Gellman said, though he cautioned that people of all faiths must take responsibility for the effects of the stories they tell.
"Jews who are secure in their Jewishness and secure in the compassion of their Christian friends will see the Christian story in a new way," he said.
Critics of the film say it holds Jews culpable for the death of Jesus, casts little blame on the ruling Romans, neglects to show the many Jews who supported Jesus and portrays the notoriously cruel Pontius Pilate as a well-meaning pawn of money-hungry Jewish priests. They fear that the film may spark violence and induce the erosion of Jewish-Christian relations.
"So much of what Gibson is doing is profit-motivated, and I don''t mean p-r-o-p-h-e-t," said Rabbi Robert N. Levine, who is the senior rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan and the vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis. "It''s a difficult movie to watch, viscerally. I looked for universal, hopeful, uplifting messages in this film and it''s very hard to see them."
Despite their concerns, mainstream Jewish organizations are not boycotting the film.
"Boycotts and bans do not advance interfaith and inter-religious dialogue," said Kenneth Bandler, director of communications for the American Jewish Committee. A statement on the Anti-Defamation League''s Web site, www.adl.org, explains that the group does not support boycotting, particularly because it is a technique that has been used against Jews.
The buzz surrounding the film has, in recent weeks, developed into a roar, and while many people wish it would all just go away, Rabbi Gellman thinks it is a good thing.
"The alternative to a passionate discussion and interfaith dialogue would be only to discuss if Carrie would have ended up with the Russian or Mr. Big," he said, referring to the series finale of "Sex and the City" on HBO. "And I will pick a discussion about the meaning of life and sacrifice and sin over that any day."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | Help |
. This is but one article I have seen recently about the differences in how Catholics and Protestants have, historically, regarded Jesus.
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