It would have been a beautiful day if not for the annoying wind. The temperature remains on the cool side, but at least the trees and plants are blooming.
I finally caught up with Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ (2004), which has been running on a religious channel (134 Cablevision). Like the dynamic Apocalypto (2006), the players in The Passion speak in foreign languages, in this case Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin. It did not add to or detract from the film history of the subject. As someone who grew up Catholic, I'm confident that I could have done without the subtitles, although I was looking for the phrases familiar to all ("before the cock crows...") who have been fascinated by what has been called The Greatest Story Ever Told. There were a few new wrinkles. The one I liked most was how Satan dogged Jesus, tempting him to break from his burden, most beautifully rendered as the savior was carrying the cross and the face was seen following through the crowd. Satan was portrayed by a woman, Rosalinda Celentano, who seemed androgynous, which makes sense, as sin and evil are genderless. Gibson also had demons tormenting Judas, most notably children, to chilling effect.
Another fresh aspect was the despair of Pilate's wife. In fact, Pilate was the most sympathetic of those who sent Jesus to his fate. He did his best to prevent the execution, but was forced into it out of the fear of causing an uprising against the Empire by the Jews. Of course, given Gibson's infamous tirades, I found myself looking for antisemitism. Most of the Jews were rabid, as were the Roman guards, who carried out the chastisement and the crucifixion gleefully. These two aspects seemed over the top, too broad to be fully believable. The violence, which outraged so many, was brutal. It went on too long, but it was not as extreme as I'd expected, perhaps because I'd prepared myself for it. I think I know its purpose: Gibson wanted to show the lengths, hence The Passion, to which Christ went to save man. Was it any more convincing in that respect than other films? I think not. My eyes did glaze, but not like they do during Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth (1977), which I find gut-wrenching. The beautiful Monica Bellucci played Magdalen. Jim Caviezel did well as Christ, but the definitive portrayal remains that of Robert Powell in Jesus of Nazareth. Gibson deserves praise for fearlessness, risking box office disaster on doing foreign language films and succeeding both artistically and financially despite the odds. On a scale of five, I rate The Passion three-and-a-half.
Thanks to Herb and a kind Russian woman who bought books today, and special thanks to our stellar porter, Frankie, just back from a five week vacation, who finagled his way into a key to the lobby door for me, and who refused a tip. Gracias, amigo.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://vicfortezza.homestead.com/
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