The Passion

July 12, 2007 - 2:00 PM by Stephanie

Remember Mel Gibson? That affable party-time guy who has a wee issue with the drink and Semites?

Remember his controversial film The Passion of the Christ? I personally never saw it because after hearing about the bloody procession of the cross sequence which was, apparently, most of the film, my stomach turned. Nope. Not paying $10 for that, thanks. Not even renting it from Blockbuster for half the price.

New blogger on the circuit Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes (WHEW! that’s quite a title. Taken from Virgil’s Aeneid, it’s Latin for I fear the Greeks even when they bear gifts) recently rented The Passion.

Expecting a “masterpiece”, Timeo – a native Hebrew speaker, and fluent in modern and ancient Aramaic – says the whole thing was a farce. Starting with the stilted, poorly executed use of language.

But most offputting, she says, were the film’s characterizations.

Jesus Christ? Looks and speaks like a drug-addict, lunatic cult leader. Reminded me of David Koresh. In the first fifteen minutes of the movie I half-expected him to pull out a big gun and force the apostles to commit suicide. I was embarassed for Christ to be portrayed this way, and I don’t even believe in him.

But it took me almost an hour to figure out what’s really off about the movie. It was the Jews. They didn’t look like Jews. They didn’t talk like Jews. They didn’t behave like Jews. And believe me, I know Jews. I especially know Middle-Eastern Jews, being one myself, and having 15 years of education in the history, religion, culture and languages of Jews in the Levant and Mesopotamia.

Continue the review here. Yeah, I know it’s sorta outdated but it’s kinda cool to get this perspective.

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