The Passion of The Christ

Reviewed by EWAN McDONALD

Herald rating * *

When the good people of the humble town of Matera in southern Italy agreed that their village should stand in for the Holy Land in Mel Gibson's movie about the last hours of Jesus' life, they thought there'd be a few weeks' inconvenience and then they could expect a tourism boom.

Guiseppe could take the visitor the town and show them the sights in his bus, Maria the chambermaid could show them the suite where the great one stayed, and the tour would wind up at Giancarlo's restaurant, where they could have a plate of pasta alla Mel and maybe finish the evening with a quiet Amaretto at Luigi's Bar Sporting.

They weren't expecting the Spanish Inquisition, or worse, a disaster of biblical origins and proportions. For this week it is reported that Matera has been hit by a plague of locusts. Millions of 12cm-long flying insects have driven the tourists away and are doing untold damage to crops.

Businessmen, possibly including Guiseppe, Giancarlo and Luigi, are calling for a state of emergency. Nicolo Catucci wrote to his local paper: "We have been assailed by locusts. My wife was on the table screaming, my daughter was awake all night and, although I was armed to the teeth, I was helpless."

Which may be the way that many viewers feel after watching Mel's movie, for it is one of the most violent films that has found its way into cinemas.

Perhaps it should come with a warning: "Do not expect Jesus surrounded by Botticelli cherubs. Do not expect Mary in the blue robes of Michelangelo's Nativity. Do not show this film to children of Sunday School age."

To recap, for those who have forgotten the controversy: Gibson, who follows an extremely conservative variation of the Catholic faith, spent US$25 million of his own money to make a rather literal epic of Jesus Christ's betrayal, trial, final ordeal and crucifixion.

He opted to use the Hebrew, Latin and Aramaic languages, and originally intended not to use sub-titles, though he gave way on that one, possibly because there are not a lot of Aramaic speakers at the Boise, Idaho, Odeon.

His interpretation of the Gospels upset Jewish groups and led to charges of anti-semitism because he portrayed the high priest, Caiphus, as the prime mover behind Christ's crucifixion rather than the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, who usually carries the can.

Of course, Mel Gibson is not just any ol' movie-maker charged with a vision and zeal. He is a Hollywood mover and shaker who can bring the crowd-pulling tricks of Mad Max, Lethal Weapon and Braveheart to the greatest story ever told, and he can call on mates who've done the makeup and the effects for horror stories such as Bram Stoker's Dracula and Hannibal.

Perhaps the neatest way to summarise his version of the Gospel story is to tell you that when you're researching it, you'll log into movie sites that offer pages like, "Plot Summary for Passion of the Christ" (The film begins in the Garden of Olives where Jesus has gone to pray after sitting the Last Supper. Jesus must resist the temptations of Sata...) and "Memorable Quotes from Passion of the Christ":

(to his mother Mary while on the cross) Jesus: Woman, behold your son.

(to his disciple John) Jesus: Son, behold your mother.

Well, I guess you can say Mel spent his money on those special-effects guys because he didn't have to pay too much on scriptwriters. The hard work was already done.

Now, some people who have genuine and strong religious faith may say I'm being flippant. No: this is a bad, exploitative, cardboard cutout of a movie. There is no grace, no spirituality, no redemption here. There is merely a parade of bad acting; gross, repetitive, cheap and sadistic violence; third-rate zombie and modern makeup moments, dressed up in the cloak of religion.

Jim Caviezel, the journeyman-actor whose CV includes down-table appearances in mostly forgettable movies, plays the Messiah as ... well, pretty much as Mel might have played him: wooden, stoic, macho in the face of those dirty Roman centurions. In a word, passionless.

His mother, Mary (Maja Morgenstern), and Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci) are required to do little more than look sorrowful, presumably waiting for the movie version of another execrable novel about based on a perversion of Christian faith and practice, The Da Vinci Version, in which they get bigger parts.

DVD not available for review, though we understand it has nothing in the way of bonus material.

DVD, video rental