Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3572 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-08-31
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: Hebrew, Latin
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 127 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
After all the controversy has subsided, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will remain a force to be reckoned with. In the final analysis, "Gibson's Folly" is an act of personal bravery and commitment on the part of its director, who self-financed this $25-30 million production to preserve his artistic goal of creating The Passion of Christ ("Passion" in its original context meaning "suffering") as a quite literal, in-your-face interpretation of the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, scripted almost directly from the Gospels (and spoken in Aramaic and Latin with a relative minimum of subtitles) and presented as a relentless, 126-minute ordeal of torture and crucifixion. For Christians and non-Christians alike, this film does not "entertain" and it's not a film that one can "like" or "dislike" in any conventional sense. (It is also emphatically not a film for children or the weak of heart.) Rather, The Passion is a cinematic experience that serves an almost singular purpose: to show the scourging and death of Jesus Christ in such horrifically graphic detail (with Gibson's own hand pounding the nails in the cross) that even non-believers may feel a twinge of sorrow and culpability in witnessing the final moments of the Son of God, played by Jim Caviezel in a performance that's not so much acting as a wilful act of submission, so intense that some will weep not only for Christ, but for Caviezel's unparalleled test of endurance.

If one judges what is on the screen (so gloriously served by John Debney's score and Caleb Deschanel's cinematography), there is fuel for debate about the film's alleged anti-Semitic slant but no obvious malice aforethought; the Jews under Caiphas are just as guilty as the barbaric Romans who carry out the execution, especially after Gibson excised (from the subtitles, if not the soundtrack) the film's most controversial line of dialogue. If one accepts that Gibson's intentions are sincere, The Passion can be accepted for what it is: a gruelling, straightforward (some might say unimaginative) and extremely violent depiction of The Passion, guaranteed to render devout Christians speechless while it intensifies their faith. Non-believers are likely to take a more dispassionate view, and some may resort to ridicule. But one thing remains undebatable: with The Passion of the Christ, Gibson puts his money where his mouth is. You can praise or damn him all you want, but you've got to admire his chutzpah. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST depicts the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth (Jim Caviezel), beginning with his betrayal by Judas Iscariot (Luca Lionello) and ending with his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. Directed by Mel Gibson (BRAVEHEART)--who funded the film himself and co-wrote the screenplay--PASSION uses flashbacks to substantiate a handful of pertinent moments in Jesus' life and teachings, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the Last Supper, as well as his relationships with his mother and his disciples. Still, the drama focuses on the seemingly endless torture inflicted upon Jesus by Roman soldiers at the urging of the Jewish crowd that considers him a blasphemer, despite the attempts of a sympathetic Pontius Pilate (Hristo Naumov Shopov) to spare him from death. The faint of heart should be prepared for the brutal, barbaric beatings that Christ endures. Maia Morgenstern, Monica Bellucci, and Hristo Jivkov are touching as Mary, Magdalene, and John respectively, who are devastated by Jesus' fate yet aware that they can do nothing to change it. Performed in Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles, Gibson's labour of love is sure to prompt discussion and debate as to historical and Biblical fact.

Customer Reviews

Chillingly realistic
As an agnostic, I was not prepared to be as moved as I was by this film. Whether you are a Christian or not, you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be stirred by the film's realism and by that, I mean how it captures the barbaric acts of the day in every emotional detail.
Jim Caviezal is mesmerising and gives a stunning performance.
Combine this with the wonderful musical score and you have one of the most poignant films ever to hit the screen.
Love Mel Gibson or hate him, you can't deny his talents as a film-maker after watching this.

Brutal - Disturbing........Masterpiece
First of all, I have read so much about this film, criticism from both sides, believer and non-believer, that I watched it expecting to be completely confused! As a non-believer myself, I was extremely sceptical about the whole thing, and expected to be totally unmoved by it. How wrong can you be?
I wasn't bothered about the language barrier, and didn't mind the subtitles. After all, we all know the story don't we? I actually think that it was more effective because it was in Aramaic, rather than English. It is just so SAD, so WRONG!! I just can't believe that one man could be treated like that by other men for nothing. I've never really given it any thought at all before watching the film, it never really seemed relevant to me, but all I can say is if that's what happened to God's son, no wonder the world is in the lousy state that it is. - Payback!! It is very graphic, very disturbing, very brutal, but you can't take your eyes off Jesus for one second. Jim Caviezel as Jesus is just incredible- exactly how I think Jesus was. I sobbed my heart out for poor Mary, as a mother myself, I could totally empathise with her. I am not a great Mel Gibson fan, but I think that this film is absolutely brilliant, a modern day masterpiece, not at all entertaining, but totally mesmerising. I don't want to get into the whole religious thing, I'm not qualified to comment, and anyway, I think everyone has their own opinion, and that's fine. However, I have to say, it made me think - a lot.

There really would be that much blood!
I watched this film 3 yrs ago, when I was a new Christian, and i cried for a day. I sit here on Easter Saturday still trying to pluck up the courage to watch it again, but not in a disgusted way. This film is about the brutal tourture of my beloved Saviour and to know that he endured this for me makes me hesitate.

I was shocked at the sheer violence of the piece, BUT, this was what is meant by the word scourge. So many films play down the suffering of Christ and i think every believer needs to see this film to really appreiciate what it took to bring you back to God, and every non-believer should see it to be reminded of the horrific things that human beings can do to one another.

I really feel that Mel Gibson has done justice to the horrendous acts that befell Christ, he would have been broken, he would have had his flesh torn from his body,(the reason i hesitate, also) and yes, there really would have been that much blood!

And my heart goes also to Jim Caviezal. I saw an interview with him recently and he told of how in that scourging scene, he dislocated his shoulder, and with every step with that cross on his back, his shoulder moved again. So those cries of agony are real!

A truly moving, graphic, real depiction of the much glossed over part of Jesus' sacrifice for you and I, that we may live. See this film.