Perhaps one of the most popular movies about Christ to ever hit the theaters was "The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson in 2004. This movie focused primarily on the last 12 hours of Jesus' earthly life, showing in great detail His agony, suffering and crucifixion. This movie had a production cost of $30 million and brought in over $600 million. The film is the highest grossing R-rated film in the United States, as well as the highest grossing religious film and non-English film of all time.
There are many positives to this film, such as the use of historically languages such as Latin, Aramaic and Hebrew. The entire movie is spoken in these three languages, and while the accuracy of Latin being the truly dominant language could be called into question, it certainly is more accurate than English, or any other modern-day language for that matter.
Another positive would be focus on Christ's suffering and crucifixion, which was central to this movie. I say this because when we read the gospels, especially that of John, we notice that the last week of Jesus' life, especially the events surrounding the betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection, are central to the gospel writers' accounts.
Many have critiqued the movie for being far too bloody and gory, and with right reason. Mel Gibson seems to have spent over half of his budget on cinematic blood, loaded up a fire hose and sprayed Jim Caviezel, the man portraying Jesus, continuously. It's no wonder that this movie received an R-rating for the amount of blood, gore and violence found within.
While we may rightly critique the movie for its seemingly excessive use of violence, blood, and gore, it is quite plausible that Jesus would have received a beating as gruesome as this one. Romans were ruthless and barbaric killers, and even more so towards criminals. The crucifixion is commonly referred to as the worst method of execution in the history of mankind, and so we can only imagine what other concoctions they dreamed up in the preliminary abuse leading up to this final stage.
With the film focusing on the last few hours of Jesus' life, we spend the movie seeing Jesus mainly in a frantic state, almost as if he is living the torture to come every moment leading up to it. When he is hanging on the cross, we see him in the light of defeat, anguish and suffering. While this is certainly a positive, as it causes us great emotional reflection, it also can overpower the other realities of Jesus which are equally true. We are not given a full account of Jesus' life leading up to the cross, nor are we really shown the truth or the victory of His resurrection and ascension. This can lead to a distorted view of Jesus' person and work.
In seeking the redemption of Gibson's version of Jesus, we are provided with a great baseline. The horrors and realities of Jesus' crucifixion allow for an emotional response and a sense of appreciation for what He went through for us. This, in light of Jesus' earthly ministry, His eternal existence as the second person of the Trinity, His victorious resurrection and ascension leading to His intercession for us followed by His return will leave the viewer with a holistic understanding of Christ. We must understand that Jesus was not the victim of a corrupt government murder scheme, but that He purposed to go to that cross and in doing so, bought us back in victory.
I agree that the focus on the blood and gore is not the whole story. What he suffered was gone after the resurrection and the resurrection is what the early believers focus on. It would be great to have a film that gave just as much if not more time to the resurrection narrative! One point though that you make is actually a key point in the story - the fact that Jesus was put to death through the corrupt political scheming of his own people. That reaction to Jesus is the evidence of our anger, confusion, and corrupt view of God. The fact that we lashed out at the one who proclaimed our salvation with such violence indicates are far removed we truly are from Jesus. He died for both his accusers and his supporters so that our relationship with God might change - what we are able to see might change.
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