Confront
the Violence of the State:
Sander
Hicks Reviews "The Passion of the Christ"
Saturday,
February 28, 2004
This
goes out to my brothers and sisters on the Left,
the anti-war activists, the anarchists, the socialists,
the liberals, and the atheists. I saw "The Passion
of the Christ" and as we waited in line in a theatre
packed to the gills, I felt like I was a part
of some kind of revolution. This film has struck
a nerve in the populace, people are coming out
to see it in droves. We've got to stop the judgmental
tittering about it. We've got to go out and see
it, and pass out flyers and pamphlets and speak
out to the crowds who pack the theaters. There
are connections to be made between the message
of Christ, as portrayed in Passion, and our anti-war
vision.
Jesus
Christ confronted the violence of the State. He
did it 2000 years ago and this film has him doing
it right now. If you're into taking a stand against
modern day slavery, the violence of imperialism,
then Christ is with you. Even if you think the
old definition of God is dead, well, Jesus agrees!
He was here to put away the definition of a jealous,
patriarchical, vengeful warrior God, and to declare
a new era of peace. As Christ's slow torturous
execution winds its way through this film, there
are effective flashbacks to Christ's ultimate
message, at the Sermon on the Mount, and at the
Last Supper, when he steels his comrades to get
ready for persecution in this world of power.
He commands us to choose understanding over hate.
Consciousness and love instead of attachments
to revenge. He tells Peter to drop the sword,
he wants Peter to allow him to be handed over
to the soliders. Jesus knows that the best way
to get his message across, to impact history,
is to let himself be executed by the hypocrites
that he came to liberate us from.
There's
way too much judgement of this film on the Left,
from people who should be supporting it. On NPR,
I hear commentators harping on irrelevant details,
claiming the wood of the cross doesn't look authentic
enough. They don't get what this film is for.
The all-out resistance to war that Christ calls
for is too much for them.
There
has been loose talk about anti-Semitism in the
film. It's true that Mel Gibson's father is a
holocaust-denier. Gibson would be a better Christian
if he renounced these false views publicly. In
the meantime, though, his film works, it's accurate,
it coincides with the best scholarship of the
time of Christ. The Temple courts didn't have
the legal right to execute criminals, so they
had to manipulate Pontius Pilate into executing
Christ as a rebel against Rome. Gibson is even
more compassionate to the Pharisees than the Gospels.
When Christ dies on the cross, an earthquake rips
the Temple in two, and Caiphus, the chief priest,
weeps. He seems to realize he's been completely
on the wrong path.
Now,
this film is bloody. But I walked away
from it with a never-before-felt respect for Mel
Gibson. He made an artwork without trying to please
the crowd, he didn't serve anyone but the truth.
The film is full of accurate historical/anthropological
details. For instance, scholars of history tell
us that the whips that scourged Roman criminals
were laced with shards of iron and sharp bone,
designed to turn a human being into bloody hamburger.
Criminals often died under the scourging, or lost
their minds in the process. In this case, the
cops of Rome beat Christ to within an inch of
his life. We see just enough of the excoriation
to be moved, but the camera isn't sadistic. The
scourging is one of the most effective, balanced
scenes. In the theatre last night, a hardened
modern audience collectively wept. At one point,
the barbs of the whip stick in Jesus's side, and
the sadistic young Roman soldier grinning and
spattered with blood, has to jerk the whip back
to get it free. Christ's flesh is ripped in a
way you feel in your gut.
There's
something accurate about group psychology in The
Passion that I really enjoyed. Part of the film's
horror is the raw alienation that Christ went
through, more painful than anything was the betrayal
and abandonment he felt by the crowd. 11 of his
12 apostles fled the experience. One of them gave
into his own devils and literally sold Christ
out. There's a sneering paranoid quality to the
jittery grins of the Roman soldiers that reminded
me of the NYPD at a protest, or the jocks back
in high school, as they surrounded a kid who was
different.
"The
Passion of the Christ" was made outside the Hollywood
system. Yet when it opened last Wednesday, it
set a record Box Office gross, fifth highest for
a Wednesday opening. One of the distributors said,
"I think people feel like Hollywood has not given
them a film like this, and now they've stepped
up and said, 'We're here.""
The
masses are responding to the story of history's
biggest peace activist. Is the "Peace Movement"
going to be a part of this groundswell or is it
going to miss this big beautiful chance to make
connections with the people?
Love,
Sander
For
more on this subject, and how Bush's Christianity
is actually a pseudo Christian "Blood Cult" see
this excellent piece by Navy Vet Wayne Madsden
http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen04222003.html
The
Pontiff "wishes he was younger and in better
health to confront the possibility that Bush
may represent the person prophesized in Revelations."
"And,
according to journalists close to the Vatican,
the Pope is also concerned that the 9-11 attacks
were known in advance by senior Bush administration
officials. There is a perception within the
Roman Catholic hierarchy that a coup d'état
was implemented, giving Bush near-dictatorial
powers."