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See mother, I'll make all things new

The Passion of The Christ focuses on the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The film begins in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus has gone to pray, shortly after the last supper. Jesus is faced with temptations from Satan as he prepares himself to be captured. Jesus is completely aware of the betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and that he will be arrested, and taken within the city walls of Jerusalem. The leaders of the Pharisees bully Jesus into admitting that he believes he is the messiah, God's son, and here to save all people from sin. Jesus is lead to four trial locations with these accusations of blasphemy. The third trial leads to Jesus receiving a severe beating, which the roman figurehead hopes will be enough to satisfy the peoples demands. Unfortunately, despite Jesus beating, he must stand a fourth trial, in which the people decide his fate. This results in Jesus being condemned to death.

Mel Gibson has directed three movies ever: The Passion of the Christ, Braveheart, and The Man Without a Face. All three are extremely dramatic, and the last two with strong historic significance. You have to admit, he does not tackle easy topics, and definitely sets himself up for criticism. I believe the saying is "no guts, no glory." Gibson deserves all the glory for this film. You will never watch The Passion of the Christ and say, "Wow, that was a great movie." I can say it was done well. Gibson had a vision and stuck to it. You do not have to agree with every aspect of the material, but you have to respect the fabulous portrayal and picture that was made. This was a great piece of art more so then entertainment.

The only aspect I did not like about The Passion of the Christ was the development of Jesus as a character. Unfortunately, the film only focused on the last twelve hours of his life. I personally felt that when you have such a fantastic character, film crew, director, and cast, there could have been a wonderful three or four hour epic. Leaving the audience with the full spectrum of the life of Jesus, rather then just the death.

The positives of this film far out weigh the negatives. This is a very strong film. You definitely leave your seat emotionally drained. Both times I watched this film I had a pit in my stomach, almost a feeling of emptiness. The Passion of the Christ is a very sad, sad peace. As I stated above, watch this film as a peace of art. Most films are made for entertainment purposes; The Passion of the Christ is obviously far deeper then that, despite individual beliefs.

Grade: A+