I recently saw The Passion of Christ; the Mel Gibson film that portrays the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth who Christians believe was the Messiah of ancient prophecy.
The film was beautifully shot, highly stylised, Jim Caviezel born to play Old JC and it had the added bonus of Monica Bellucci playing the sexiest loose women in history, the very reverend Mary Magdalene.
It's brutal, never has a man been beaten so viciously on celluloid.
Not only is the guy punched and kicked a few thousand times but he's struck with canes for 5 minutes, whipped for another 10 minutes by two cats of nine tails, whipped again during his fifteen minute cross carrying stumble to the hills of Golgotha, and then the poor buggers gets nailed and crucified to a piece of MDF!
Not a very pleasant way to go let me tell you!
In fact I've not seen so much blood since I attended that anti-tampon convention in Bristol last year!
It wasn't the greatest flick in the world simply because you knew how it was going to end, the Titanic effect as I lovingly call it, and although I appreciated it as piece of Art, I've no desire to see it again.
It was interesting from a historical/theological point of view but it wasn't entertaining by any stretch of the imagination and I think anyone who thinks it is should take a long hard look at themselves.
There has been a lot of talk about the film being Anti Semitic, and I suppose if you're a 2000 year old Jewish high priest or one of those guys in black who stand at the Wailing Wall banging there head on the brickwork, you may be a little offended.
Granted the Jewish elite are portrayed as a bunch of baddies but the everyday, I'm going to say peasant folk for want of a better word, were a bunch of beautiful guys and girls and I wager that any follower of the Jewish faith who doesn't have an agenda will be able to see that Mel Gibson's intention wasn't to make a Anti Semitic epic (Anti-Semepic if you will), he was merely trying to tell a story about how a normal man had outrageous cruelty inflicted upon because he stood up for what he believed in and told anyone who cared to listen that we all should love one an other without question or prejudice!
That sounds like a pretty good message to me, All you need is Love basically and I reckon that philosophy transcends all religions and faiths.
It's only when I get to the whole Son of God, Immaculate Conception, resurrection legends that I begin to have a problem with the whole thing.
In a way I think it's better to believe that Jesus was just a normal human being who wanted to make the world a better place and was willing to sacrifice himself to try and achieve that.
Why make him a mystical character, some kind of demi-god that we mere mortals can worship but never aspire to be? Might the reason be that people in positions of power in this world don't want us crazy shaven monkeys to churn out people like Jesus, they don't want people to think that they as individuals can change the world, that they have the power!
I don't know, this is just one mans opinion and I can only hope you respect it as much as I respect yours, which I assure you I do.
I'm always been interested in theology and religion ever since I was a little kid, and I suppose I've touched on everything from Atlantis to Zion at one time or another.
There are many interesting theories, ideas and folklore about all manner of fabulous subjects and I encourage you to review them yourself, explore an alternative for a change. It's education not corruption; the only effect it may have is broadening your horizons a little and I can't see how that can be a negative thing in this, or any reality.
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