Agnostic, raised Catholic here. I also hated reading the Passion at Good Friday as a kid - I didn’t read the crowd’s lines because I felt bad & the whole mindless recitation of the congregation weirded me out.
I’m curious about it. Ever since I left the Church spiritually (but began working for one professionally), I’ve become more and more interested in Christianity from a scholarly point. However, a few things (tidbits which seem to be consistent across reviews) have put me off:
Lack of context - setting it in the garden is too far into the story, IMO. I would have started it (or gone to an extended flashback) with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem - Palm Sunday.
The lingering on the violence. Actually, I think it’s all the over-use of slow motion I keep hearing about that already annoys me.
Weird bits - the role of Satan, the treatment of Judas’ suicide, Pilate’s depiction, the business w/a crow, etc.
A friend of mine will be seeing it tonight, and I plan to ask him about his thoughts. If I do go, it will be with another friend, at a matinee, and we’ll agree beforehand to tell the other if one of us wants to walk out.
Atheist here, raised Catholic. At first I was keen to see this movie, becuase I’m a classicist and I wanted to check out the Latin dialogue. But the more reviews I read, and the more I hear about the brutal violence of it, the more I think that Latin isn’t worth being exposed to that, since I won’t find it uplifting or what have you.
In general I don’t go to movies because of the expense, so now I’m pretty much 100% sure I won’t see this movie.
I have no plans to see this film. If it were good, (like, say, The Ten Commandments) I probably would. But by all accounts this film is simply a gory re-enactment of Jesus’ death, and as such I have no interest.
I’m an atheist, a Zen Buddhist, and attend Universalist Unitarian services. I want to see this movie just because theology is a pet interest of mine. Luckily, I have another non-Christian friend with the same interests. We’re the kind of people who take philosophy of religion classes for fun.
Judging from his interviews about PASSION, I think Gibson is a lunatic. However, that said, given the lack of spiritually-themed mainstream product in our secular age, I will see the film and make my own judgments. By the way, I’m a confirmed humanist with no dogmatic affiliations and strong spiritual inclinations.
I’m an athiest, and I saw it today. Partly because of the controversy, partly because I’m actually a bit of a Mel Gibson fan, and partly because I love a good fantasy movie. I don’t need to believe in the Force to enjoy Star Wars, I don’t need to believe in God to enjoy The Passion of the Christ.
For the record, I thought it was excellent and moving, and found none of the predicted anti-semitism, homophobia, or misogyny that have been the cause of so much debate prior to its release.
The crow thing:
When Jesus is up on the cross, one of the two thieves he’s crucified with accepts him as the Messiah, and the other mocks him. A crow lands on the crossbar and pecks out the eye of the mocking thief. It’s graphic, but nothing compared to the scouraging or crucifixtion itself.
I won’t see it anywhere because I know it’s got more gore in it than I have the stomach for. My husband will see it for many of the reasons stated, because he’s a movie freak. Oh, and neither of us is religious.
As a non-Christian, this movie comes across like any other orgy of gore. If it were spectacular filmmaking I’d probably see it for the technical aspects alone, but the violence isn’t something I think I can handle.
I’m not a christian and do not have any desire to see this film. Perhaps I will see it on video or if the library gets it at some point, but I doubt it. It has nothing to do with the violence or subject matter, it’s just not anything I am interested in seeing.
I’m an atheist, I’m not interested in the movie at all. Every so often some religious movie comes along that’s hyped to high heaven in one way or another, and they always turn out to be huge, stinking piles of crap. I’d be amazed if this one was any different. I’m almost certain I’d find myself thinking “There’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back,” after seeing it. Hell, if you want explicit depictions of torture and murder, there’s plenty of websites out there …
Atheist here. I will almost certainly see it when it premieres in Finland one month from today. My interest is mostly of a cinematographic nature, rather than a theological one. Also I want to know if all the hoopla is justified.
Off-topic query: wouldn’t an atheist be more at home in Theravada Buddhism? As I understand it, Zen Buddhism has supernatural elements such as the transmigration of souls, whereas Theravada Buddhism is more friendly to naturalists and presents itself as a philosophy and a path for life.
And it’s interesting to see another atheist who, like myself, finds theology interesting. Myself, I’ve taken my interest in theology to look at alot of Catholic writings, since I was raised to be familiar with Christianity but never exposed to Catholicism in particular as a youth, and to discover that there actually is over a millenium’s worth of real intellectual theology (and pretty decent philosophy) to be found in a religion was surprising. Protestants don’t seem to spend much time making formal arguments, or at least don’t put as much emphasis on it. Protestant apologia seems scarce, and where it appears it seems to be either mostly focused on religious practice and the impact of religous belief (Ravi Zacharias) or philosophically sloppy and shallow (William Lane Craig.)
I’m an atheist and I don’t expect I’ll see this movie. I dislike going to movies, so I’m not going to pay to see it. I also don’t think I’ll ever rent it.
That said, if I could collect 20 or so people to watch this movie and cheer for the romans (clapping when they put that Jesus fella away), I might be tempted to go just to see the reactions on the other movie goers faces.
It would be interesting to see the reaction if you went and treated it like a comedy.
But, at the end of the day, I’ll just chalk this along side with Titantic and Dances with Wolves. Never seen them, never had a desire to see them.
I generally have hesitation over what to fill in “your religion” blanks, but identify primarily as Zen Buddhist these days. I’ll likely end up seeing the movie via Netflix at some future point.
Will never see the movie. If I want to see a human tortured to death there are entertaining movies that show that.
I remain dumbfounded that this movie is more than a blip on the radar. I think if it were not for Mel’s dad that it never would have been heard of. All the pre-publicity about Mel and his dad’s “religious beliefs” were the story and not the movie.
I view this film as pandering to a dedicated audience and as a vanity project akin to paying to have your own book published. The only film I can think of to even compare it to is “Left Behind.”
To those saying, “I’m going to see it to see what everyone is talking about.” Do you do the same thing with TV commercials? Every time you see a new product advertised you jump in the car and go out and buy it, “Just to see what they were talking about?” You have got to be an advertisers dream come true. All they have to do is generate a buzz and you go stampeding off with the rest of the herd. I don’t don’t have a problem with anyone, Christian or not, seeing this or any movie but try to come up with a better reason than, “I fell for the hype.”
I’ll probably see it at some point, but I might wait until it’s on DVD. If I have the money and the inclination and it’s still showing, I’ll go see it on the big screen, but it won’t break my heart if I miss it.