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drinks Monday 1 September 08 Edinburgh Reunion in London
Topping And Butch Hit Leicester Square 26-27 September 08
The Passion Of The Christ
Verdict: Jesus Christ
London - 127-minute feature film - April 04
The Passion Of The Christ is on the bloody side. That’s to put it mildly. It’s a blood-fest on a dramatic scale. It’s 10/10 for gore.
If the ripped-raw flesh doesn’t have you gripping the seat, gasping the name of Our Lord, and tearing your eyes away from the hypnotic face of Jesus, the powerful story-line will keep you facing front. James Caviezel as Jesus has the intense eyes of a barn-owl, difficult to evade – though one is bruised shut from the start of the violence. Amid the tearing of flesh and hacking of open wounds, we look constantly for the other eye to open.
The use of two contemporary languages - Aramaic and Latin with subtitles in English - adds to the ambience of antiquity. Intensity is heightened by focusing the acting on faces rather than script. The casting of Mary (Maia Morgenstern), Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci) and John (Hristo Jivkov), is inspired. They have the faces to do the work of telling the story. So does Rosalinda Celentano as the Devil. Satan appears cloaked, with a subtly androgynous face, that conveys an eyebrow-less wormy-nosed menace. The sudden presence of a devil-child during the torture provokes a gasp and instinctive look back to Christ– it’s a touch straight from Mel Gibson’s former life as an action hero.
John, the ‘beloved disciple’ present at the Crucifixion - is cute. He reminds the rusty Bible-reader, that when the end comes, it’s only the trusted few who remain. In the final stage, there’s a feeling of relaxation that the pain has finished - the sadistic whipping has literally been done to death, the brown eyes cease to penetrate.
There’s a temptation to think - for purely selfish reasons - it would have been nice to have passed on the visual torment, and perhaps seen Jesus and gorgeous raven-haired Mary Magdalene having a trace of parlez-vous. But Hollywood stuck to the facts. The facts, that is, as directed by a staunch catholic with 7 children and a hell of a persuasive passion to get the film made. It couldn’t in the least be called anti-Semitic – even in our pc world, Jesus was Jewish.
The most moving point is not during the gut-wrenching flagellation, but when Mary remembers Jesus as a small boy. Mothers in the audience will have no trouble weeping at Mary's initial fear in approaching her son as the mutilated cross-bearer on his rocky path to Calvary. Her flash-back to Jesus falling as a ten-year-old pulls her back to the horrific present; and gives her the impetus to run and help her struggling son up from the bloodied ground. Arrgh! - a human moment among a mountain of man-made special effects.
And if you’re a little squeamish, think of tomato sauce. It might help to get you through the traumatic unravelling of this most passionate of events.
END
(c) Cecilia Holmes - April 04
reviewed London / April 04
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
