Entirely Erwin

Brew and View Review: The Passion of the Christ

OK, to be honest, I didn't see the movie at an actual brew and view. But I did have a few beers last night and less than 12 hours later, I did see the movie with the alcohol still somewhere circulating throughout my body, so does that count? Eh, I didn't think so either, so much for trying to make ends meet...

If Mel Gibson just read the above, he'd probably go William Wallace on me. Yes, the movie has a serious overtone to it. Moreover though, "The Passion" is a very in-your-face depiction of the last few hours of Jesus the Christ. Mr. Lethal Weapon wants you to not only be fully aware of the harsh reality of the situation, but also do some personal reflection from it as well. And that's the real reason why this movie would never appear in a brew-and-view; to view this movie with distractions all around defeats Mellie Mel's true intentions for creating the movie.

Did I like the movie? Yes...wait, no....wait. There really isn't an answer to that question. The more important question that should be asked is, "Did the movie appeal to human emotion?" And with that, I give a resounding "Yes-sir-ree Bob." To not feel anything during the movie is inhuman. It doesn't matter what your faith or beliefs are; moviegoers witnessed the beating and death of a man. If that isn't disturbing, then you have problems.

I admit, the reason why I wanted to see the movie was out of curiosity. The news media hyped the movie, taglining it as something not suitable for young viewers. The bloodlust in me wanted to see how violent this movie was. Actions, in this movie, truly speak louder than words. I found myself in the movie, wanting to throw in the towel for a man who was beaten and whipped, strips of flesh ripped out, blood spraying everywhere, until close to death. If this was any other movie, I would have thought the violence was fun to watch. But this is reality; seeing welts caused by whips eventually become chunks of flesh removed by spiked chains is not fun to look at. This is what it was really like.

Another thing in the back of my mind before watching the movie was the cry of potential anti-Semitism that this movie might create. I put myself in different viewpoints throughout the movie and failed to see how one group of people could be targeted. The movie does a great job of showing that we as mankind were and still are fully accountable for the death of Jesus. If there is one group of people that could be held at fault, "we" are that group. To those who were able to absorb the movie, however, it doesn't really matter. "We" are given forgiveness for that which we do not know we do.

So that's my take on the movie. I'm not going to rate it because it shouldn't be rated. And I'm not going to recommend it either, because it's really all subjective on each individual perspective (of course, if we all thought like that Roger Ebert wouldn't have a job and therefore die of malnourishment from lack of popcorn butter)...

For anyone closer to my age that's seen the movie: Did you notice how the devil kinda looked like Billy Corgan? I knew there was something evil about that metro-hippie