Holy Horror: More isn’t Always Better in THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (2004)

The story is over two thousand years old and important to people all over the world.  It is an integral part of several religions. Even non-believers can be fond of him. So of course the story of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the most adapted works of all time. And like anything with a load of adaptions, the quality, style, and genre vary (as does the level of controversy). There are kid’s films, comedies, musicals, and dramas. Is there a version of the story of Jesus that’s a horror movie? Well, yes, the 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ.

Think about it. When you boil the story down to its basics, the film is about a Jewish social activist who is publically tortured and executed in front of his mother and friends by the colonizing forces occupying his homeland. All shown as graphically as possible. That sounds like a horror story to me.

Before I head into the meat of the article, we have to talk about the director. I will not name him here, because you all know who he is, and he doesn’t deserve the attention. Unless you have been living under a rock for over a decade you know about the absolutely vile, harmful shit that has come from his mouth.  We’ve had plenty of discussions in recent years about how and when it is acceptable to separate media from the artist who’s made it. You cannot separate the director from the way he tells the story. His personal religion and viewpoints about queer people and members of other religions are a part of Passion’s intent and story. And I am enough of a “Good Catholic Girl” to be upset at this asshole making a movie about Jesus.

Now back to the analysis.

Unlike the other films the column has covered, this is the first one that’s an adaption. Like most films with stories from the New Testament, the Gospels are spliced together into one narrative. People familiar with the Stations of the Cross will notice that the plot follows them step by step as well. Passion begins at the start of the end for Jesus (Jim Caviezel). He prays with his apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane, awaiting his death.

The horror elements first appear here as well. Jesus in his agony sweats blood, and is visited by Satan. Gender Ambiguous Satan is creepy (played by actress Rosalinda Celentano) because of the depiction’s presentation of androgyny. (Personally I find little girl Satan from 1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ to be much scarier). Yeah, considering the director, it’s not surprising that queerness is used as a shorthand to horrify or of emasculate characters (King Herod and company.) I roll my eyes.

Despite being the betrayer of Jesus, Judas doesn’t feature much here. Out of all the horror elements in this film, I was most impressed by what happens to him. After Jesus’ arrest, Judas is bitten and tormented by children with the faces of old people. The moment is a deep dive into the uncanny valley. I will admit to jumping in my seat a little. Judas also chews his lips to bloody bits as his sanity falls away. But the downfall of Judas is not what this movie is known for.

Passion of the Christ’s selling point is showing the explicit violence that being flogged and crucified will do the human body, demi-god or not. Once it starts, it keeps going. Jesus loses gallons of blood. His skin is shredded by the flogging. If this film has a signature scene, it has to be this one. In the gospels, the scourging is a few lines. Here it is one of the longer sequences in the film. It is left untranslated from the Latin, leaving the audience isolated along with Jesus.

By the time he makes it to Golgotha, we can see his ribs and subcutaneous fat sticking out of his skin. And that’s before we watch the soldiers nail him to the cross.

Seasoned gorehounds won’t see anything they haven’t before, but remember the target audience. Roger Ebert called Passion “…the most violent film I have ever seen.”  And for many people, it was. The content is meant to make you uncomfortable watching what Jesus experienced, and on that level, the film works. Your grandma’s church group was shocked, since most depictions of the crucifixion are sanitized for a variety of reasons.

I never saw the film in theaters, I was too young and my parents (despite being Catholic) were careful about exposing their children to graphic imagery. I finally watched it for this for the column, and I wasn’t impressed? The level of violence distracts from the other elements, and the truth is, it’s not that good of a film, horror or not. Judas’ betrayal of Jesus doesn’t have any narrative weight because we never see them interact before that. There are too many wacky camera tricks, including bad slow-mo. Color is distractingly oversaturated during the night scenes. With a reported budget of 30 million, it feels like it was made on less.

While listening to the dialogue in Aramaic and Latin is an achievement, one can’t help but wonder why actors were not cast from the locales the film depicted. Maia Morgenstern and Monica Bellucci are good as Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, respectively. But those two women were not Romanian or Italian respectively. I haven’t even mentioned the Anti-Semitic treatment of the Jewish High Priests. They are portrayed with little depth and bad teeth. The director even kept a controversial line, “his blood [is] on us and our children,” in the final cut.  YIKES. Pontius Pilate, the occupier, is given more sympathy and conflict than they are.

There were parts of the film I did enjoy, the little human moments between the characters. Claudia (Pilate’s wife) figuring out who Mary and Mary Magdalene are and giving them cloths to clean up Jesus’ blood after his flogging. Simon of Cyrene’s gradual bonding with Jesus as he helps carry the cross. No matter your religion (or not), if the story of Jesus of Nazareth is meaningful to you, it is because of love and not hate.

If there is any lesson to take away from The Passion of the Christ it is that perhaps ultimate realism is not always the best way to tell a story. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), The Miracle Maker (1999), The Nativity Story (2006), The Life of Brian (1979), and hell, your youth group’s awkward passion play (I was Pontius Pilate) all tell the story of Jesus with more meaning and heart than Passion. The director and star Jim Caviezel claim a sequel is on its way, but I’m sure myself and many others will pass.

Next Time: The Wicker Man. Yes, the good one. No Bees…