The Passion of the Christ questions (Spoilers within)

by recoveringjw 26 Replies latest jw friends

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  recoveringjw

  Spoilers? Well, how could there be? For anybody who knows the story of Jesus, it should be like watching Titanic---the ship sinks, get over it. Right? But I want to talk about something very specific in the movie.

  It was a good movie, I thought. No matter what a person believes, what happened to him was horrible and cruel. But, in that movie, why did they have to make him fall down so many times in slow motion when he was carrying the cross? And why does it seem that when he is carrying the cross, all the women seem to get it and know who he is and that he is special, but the men seem clueless? But, I digress.

  For people who have seen the movie, they will probably recall a creature in a black hood who hangs out a lot around Jesus. No one sees him. He seems evil to me. I assumed that the character was supposed to be Satan. But what if it wasn't? At the end of the movie, it shows the hooded character acting rather grief stricken when Jesus is dead. If it was Satan, why was he so sad? Or do I have this all wrong?

  So, this is the dialogue I had with my spouse after the movie

  Me: "Why did that hooded bald guy look so sad,if it was Satan?"

  Spouse: "What if it wasn't Satan, what if it was God?"

  Me: "If that is the case, why did they make God so ugly and evil looking?"

  Spouse "Well, the bible says that man was made in God's image. Man can be pretty ugly. And all the men in that movie were pretty hideous"

  Me: "Yeah, but nobody is supposed to see God".

  Spouse: "Nobody in the movie saw the hooded creature."

  Me: "Oh"

  I am not trying to make light of the movie, I liked it. It was moving and powerful, but sometimes I can't help the way my mind works......

  Did anyone else who saw the movie make this weird leap or am I all alone in this?

  Bethany
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  Iforget

  Bethany,

  I was very moved by the movie and plan to buy it on DVD. The hooded figure is supposed to be a demon. In one part it has a maggot coming out of it's nose.

  I will have to watch it again...I saw it opening night to see the sadness you saw on it's face.

  I always enjoy your posts by the way.
• 

  recoveringjw

  Iforget,

  Thanks.

  I noticed the maggot too, when the creature was in the garden with Jesus. That was pretty gross.

  Bethany
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  need for speed

  I saw the movie and it was good, but for me it was a little to gory. But with Jesus falling 5 times was crazy my class in grade 8 were discussing that. Seems a lot of people noticed it.

  Need for speed
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  recoveringjw

  Need for Speed,

  Welcome! I read your introduction thread. Hope you will stick around!

  Well, the falling wasn't what got to me so much as the falling in slooooow motion so many times!

  Bethany
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  Preston

  For people who have seen the movie, they will probably recall a creature in a black hood who hangs out a lot around Jesus. No one sees him. He seems evil to me. I assumed that the character was supposed to be Satan.

  I saw the Passion not to long ago and my impression is that for a movie steeped in catholic imagery, when you see the hooded woman and the child (or a midget) she was carrying, I see it as a mockery of the image of the Mother and christ child portrayed in many works of art used in various churches and cathedrals in the catholic church. I think Satan takes this form as an attempt to humiliate Jesus in the movie.
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  recoveringjw

  Preston,

  Good point. I wondered about the "baby"--what the point of that was. I think I understand it now. Thanks.

  Bethany
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  FreeWilly

  I just saw The Passion just last night. The thin hooded evil figure I'm almost certain is supposed to be Satan. In the beginning he is the one who entices Jesus to give up. He's the one who releases a snake that slithers over near Jesus. Jesus gets up and "crushes the serpents head" with his heal (sound familiar?). Also at the end it looks as if he is in hell and is angered by Jesus loyalty to the point of death, which ultimately means defeat for Satan. I actually thought the Satan character was one of the few, well portrayed characters in the movie (minus the midget baby scene, WTF was that?).

  All in all I thought the movie was terribly done. Every scene has Jesus whimpering and gasping in unbearable agony only to be followed by more gasping and agony. I totally get that Jesus had to undergo humiliation and punishment from both Jewish and Roman sources, but it seems like the producer felt obligated to portray Jesus as having suffered like no other before or after him. Many people have endure similar and even worse fates at the hands of their tormentors. After all, the torture devices used for Jesus were not invented just for him. The Bible account does not indicate superhuman suffering throughout. In fact it shows he had a presence of mind to make insightful rebuts to his accusers. The movie seems greatly embellished and way too melodramatic. Did you see how many of the common people were portrayed like some freak circus performers? It reminded me of an amateur Renaissance fair full of carnival characters intend on overacting their parts. Yes I too feel the umpteen falls were excessively dramatic. I also though the 'fountain' that spewed from Jesus side when he was stabbed in the ribs was ludicrous! Did they borrow that from 'Saturday Night Live' or what ?

  The whole thing lacked realism to me. It was like a second rate reproduction of Hamlet. I surprised it received all of the praise that it did.

  That was just my take on it.
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  recoveringjw

  Hmph. The more I think about it, the more I think you could be right, Freewilly. I said I thought it was "powerful and moving", and maybe I was just projecting my own feelings onto it, but when I said that, you know which parts of the movie I was thinking about? The parts with his Mother and younger brother and that other chick, not the part where Jesus was being beaten to ribbons or when he was carrying the cross and kept falling down in slow motion. Mel Gibson, so I hear, is an extremely religious person. There is a ton of catholic imagery in that film, as Preson mentions, and that was pretty obvious to me---the scenes where Jesus is talking to his Apostles. He is so clean and sparkly and that hair is just parted so perfectly and I would not have been surprised to see a faint halo surrounding him.

  "minus the midget baby scene, WTF was that?"

  Exactly what I was thinking!!

  Maybe we are just too cyincal??? Well, I will speak for myself, maybe I am just too cynical.
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  mkr32208

  I think the satan/demon dude was sad because he hadn't been able to turn J's away into sin maybe? His look was like "Well I'll be d*mned the mother f*cker pulled it off, well it's off to hell for me." *poof*

  Of course I think of Jesus as merely the David Koresh of his day so what do I know!