While there’s a natural tendency to defend what you believe in, I don’t have a problem with people not liking The Passion. It’s a powerful movie about a powerful subject, so it’s to be expected that the reaction to it varies. People are entitled to the reactions and emotions. A movie shouldn’t and can’t be a test of your faith.
But I have come across some stupid stuff. The review in the Post-Dispatch about its accuracy was particularly stupid – ignoring real instances of inaccuracy it nevertheless lambasted the movie as generally inaccurate while only citing an error in the press guide.
The review also had this doozy: “One problem with filming the Gospels is that they all contain many ambiguous statements, statements that can be interpreted in more than one way. But the act of committing them to film commits the viewer to understanding them as the director does.” I’ve seen a similar sentiment expressed in several other reviews, including Leon Wieseltier’s. The problem is that the Gospels don’t contain many ambiguous statements — it’s the rest of the New Testament that does. The Gospels consist of descriptions and dialogue of the form: Jesus went here and the following statements were made. It isn’t ambiguous about what happened or what was said. The ambiguities come from what does it mean. For instance, we have the parable of the sower — there is no ambiguity about what Jesus said, but until He explained it, not even the disciples (they had to ask) understood it. Now I understand that Gibson didn’t include only what was written in the Gospels (hey it’s a movie, not the Bible), but its not like the movie consists of Gibson sitting on a stool telling you what he thinks the Gospels mean.
Wieseltier outdoes himself: “The ending is happy, which has the effect of making the viewer, or at least this viewer, feel like he has been duped.” I know Leon’s not a Christian and all, but if you’re surprised by the resurrection, you know absolutely nothing of Christianity. Leon has no trouble speaking about the history of Christianity, yet oddly misses it’s central tenet. I don’t expect him to believe in it, I just expect an expert like him to know that Christians do.
