austraLasia 767
'THE PASSION' - AUSTRALIAN HEAD OF SIGNIS OFFERS POSITIVE CRITIQUE:
'a considerable cinematic achievement'
LONDON: 4th December '03 -- Australian Fr. Peter Malone MSC, well-known film critic and president of the world Catholic Association for Communication, has met with actor-director Mel Gibson and seen an early screening of the much discussed 'The Passion..', scheduled for release on Ash Wednesday 2004. His overall view - 'The Passion of Christ is a considerable cinematic achievement'.
Fr. Malone provides an extensive critique of the film, placing it within the background of other major films based on the Gospels. This critique, now a formal statement by Signis, would make an excellent resource for media education classes or groups, or valuable information for a Salesian community to read and chat over. In fact, Cardinal Castrillon of the Congregation for the Clergy, who has also seen the early screening, urges all priests to eventually see the film.
The Signis statement points out that 'The Passion...' draws its story from the four Gospels and some apocryphal material - but it is not Gospel, the statement stresses, like any other representation of the Gospel is not in itself Gospel. The use of perspectives from all four Gospels obviously could lead to difficulties too, but, in the statement's words 'the screenplay is able to combine Gospel incidents into a coherent narrative of the passion'. Theologically the film 'presents the perennial teaching that Jesus, in his person, was both human and divine in nature'. Of particular interest to Fr. Malone was the choice of Jim Cavaziel for Jesus - presenting Jesus in a striking manner, since Cavaziel 'is a big and strong man, with some girth, a credible carpenter and a solid man. This makes the film's Jesus more real than usual'.
Another positive theological feature of the film is that 'while Mel Gibson's film wants to immerse its audience in the experience of the Passion....the camera tracks to Jesus in profile, sitting in the tomb as a prelude to his risen life...The resurrection, presented briefly, is still the climax of the passion.' A further theological strength of the film is its insertion of eucharistic scenes of the Last Supper during the nailing and the lifting up of Jesus on the Cross. Broken body and bread are seen together, as also blood spilt and wine poured.
'Most audiences should be satisfied with the portrayal of Mary', says the statement. 'Those who find some of the cinema representations of the past too much like holy cards or plaster statues will appreciate a more biblically-grounded Mary'.
As for the early criticisms that this film is anti-semitic, Fr. Malone rejects that, saying 'there seemed to be a general consensus that the film was not anti-semitic [and ] some Jewish leaders and reviewers like Michael Medved spoke positively about the film'.
If any readers of 'austraLasia' would like the full statement, I would be happy to provide it on request, though I am sure it will be available from the Signis website (www.signis.com ) in due course. It appears to be not presently available there. It runs into 8 A4 pages in a Word document.
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