In Case You Were Wondering

I'm still alive. I don't exactly know why I've been hibernating this past week or so. It's something I've very cleverly kept myself from comprehending. And since all my little interesting ideas have hidden themselves in the clutter that is my brain, I've decided to write on something every other blogger has already had his say on - The Passion of the Christ.

Disclaimer: I have absolutely no intention of further promoting this already too-publicized movie. I think Mr. Gibson has already paid enough for that. I'm just another someone typing out words and posting them for everyone to see just because I can.

I watched the movie last Friday, more as an excuse to skip yet another boring math lecture than on any religious pretext. Although I did employ this skewed type of logic: since math doesn't matter at all in my life anyway (except as a requirement I have to get through) while Jesus' story is something that should matter to everything to me if I'm to call myself a practicing Christian (which I'm not), then it would be a much more productive use of my time to refresh myself on the major events in Christian doctrine than to mull over statistical data.

And so I went to the cinema, bracing myself for a dose of extreme violence. From all the reviews I read about the movie, I half-expected Roman soldiers to start cutting people's heads off, complete with close-ups of blood spurting out from their necks. That didn't happen, though. The violence I encountered from Jesus' flogging up to his crucifixion was tame compared to other violent movies I've seen. Yes, I admit that I found the sight of Jesus being tortured painful to watch, but the movie didn't deserve people saying the violence was wanton and uncalled-for. It's not as if Jesus' followers and other enlightened people went around grinning and eating popcorn. The violence was completely in context, and any sane viewer who pays attention will notice that the good guys did not approve of what happened. Even Pilate tried his best to prevent the outcome.

What those critics should have noticed, I think, is how the story was humanized and portrayed in a way that doesn't make you want to nod off after the first few minutes, which is what those old Holy Week movies always made me do. Also, I like the realistic portrayal of what happened - the movie didn't try to sugarcoat events or tone them down to make them more palatable.

Despite all that, though, I think the film isn't at all perfect. What I didn't like about it is that instead of focusing on historical accuracy, they added unnecessary dramatics (the crow was an insult, really) that made things seem too theatrical. Besides that, I think the film was all right, and for someone wanting to get back in touch with his Christian faith, it's a good start.