Controversial movie stirs emotions, fosters dialogue

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 11:27 a.m.

Mel Gibson's brutal depiction of Jesus' death by Roman crucifixion in "The Passion of the Christ" has raised myriad emotions among local religious leaders since the movie opened Wednesday.

For Christian leaders the movie is an unprecedented, authentic portrayal of a central tenet of their faith that doubles as a tool for developing the faith of current believers and for reaching out to nonbelievers. Many local churches bought entire screenings for their congregations and are coordinating sermon messages to go along with the movie.

For Jewish leaders the concern is that the movie's depiction of the role of Jews in Jesus' death could fuel anti-Semitism.

But both Christian and Jewish leaders agree that the film offers a "teachable moment where people of different religions can talk about what brings each other hope, what brings each other pain, what brings each other closer to God," as Rabbi Sanford Akselrad, leader of the Reformed Congregation Ner Tamid and member of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, said. Akselrad organized an interfaith screening of the movie Thursday and had plans to discuss the film with both Jewish and Christian leaders this morning.

The different lenses through which Jews and Christians will watch the movie will make dialogue difficult but even more necessary, local rabbis said.

"For Christians and for Jews you are watching two different movies," Rabbi Jeremy Wiederhorn, leader of the Conservative Midbar Kodesh Temple in Green Valley Ranch, said. "For Christians who are watching the movie, it's a movie about the death of their savior. For me it was watching a movie of two-plus hours of needless torture."

Wiederhorn, Akselrad and several other local rabbis who saw the film Thursday agreed that the "Passion of the Christ" itself does not promote anti-Semitism, but that it does reinforce some anti-Semitic stereotypes.

"I don't have a feeling that this film is going to lead to anti-Semitism," Akselrad said. "But I think that people who have anti-Semitic feelings can find some of those feelings reinforced by the movie's portrayal of the Jews and the power struggle in the film, and that remains troubling."

All of the local rabbis interviewed by the Sun said they disliked that the "Passion" seemed to place more blame for Christ's death on some of the Jewish high priests than on the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

The emphasis some of the Christian Gospels place on the Jewish involvement in turning Jesus over to Pilate and demanding his crucifixion has historically been used to fuel anti-Semitism, rabbis said. And although most Christians believe Jesus died for the sins of mankind, the movie's portrayal may flame the anti-Semitism of bigoted people, rabbis said.

What role some Jews may have played in Jesus' death is historically debatable, rabbis said, but that Pilate was a brutal dictator who dominated the Jews in his Judean outpost is not. Gibson's movie, however, portrays Pilate as an indecisive ruler who gives in to the bullying of the Jewish high priest, rabbis said.

"Most Jews who are familiar with the story seem angry, very angry at Mel Gibson," Cynthia Luria, regional director for the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, said. "The message he tried to convey was that the Jewish rabbis, the Jewish religious leaders had more to do with Jesus' death than Pontius Pilate. But Pontius Pilate was very much in power, and the Jews were (subjugated) at that time."

Many Christian leaders who saw the film Wednesday said they understood the concerns Jewish leaders had with the film, including the portrayal of Pilate. But instead of seeing the film as anti-Semitic, they said the film represented an authentic recounting of what happened according to the Gospels, and placed the blame for Jesus' death on the sins of the world -- not any one people.

"(Christian teaching) tells us we are the ones who put Jesus on the cross. Jesus died for all of our sins," said Dale Olson, pastor of Community Lutheran Church who saw the film at a special screening in January. "The fact that Caiaphas and a few other Jews asked the Romans to sentence him to crucifixion is the pinhead of history, because ultimately this is God's plan. Jesus died to redeem mankind."

Christians see the Gospel not only as a historical accounting of Jesus' death, but also as the word of God and core to their faith. Local rabbis said the biases of the Gospel writers -- who were trying to curry Roman favor -- taint their historical value.

Christian leaders also liked Gibson's focus on Isaiah 53, believing the Jewish prophet foretold that by the Messiah's "wounds we are healed."

As Jesus is nailed to the cross, the movie flashes back to the Last Supper as Jesus explains, in Aramaic with English subtitles, that his death serves as an atonement for sin.

"In those scenes he says he had come to die, that he had come to die for all people and that it had to happen for us to have a relationship with God," said Pastor Vance Pitman, whose Hope Baptist Church bought out a whole showing of "The Passion" Wednesday night at Regal Colonnade 14 on Pebble Road. "The overarching theme of the movie was that Christ died for all humanity."

Pastors who saw the movie Wednesday said many moviegoers cried throughout the showing and sat in stunned silence at the end, several not moving until after the credits were finished rolling and the lights had come on.

"Many of the people here are recovering alcoholics, and this was a life-changing experience for them," said Masterpiece Church Pastor John Paul Warren, who brought about 120 people to the 7 p.m. showing of "The Passion" at Sunset Station. More than two-thirds of the moviegoers were guests of the 3-week-old church, which meets in one of the Regal Cinema theaters at Green Valley Ranch Station.

"The crucifixion is not a pretty story," Warren said, "But it's a story that you either accept or reject, and if you accept it it is life changing. No one has really told the suffering of Christ before."

Christian leaders also appreciated that "The Passion of the Christ," which they advise is not for children or the faint of heart, focuses on the horror of Jesus' death.

"It doesn't gloss over, it doesn't Hollywood up the crucifixion," said Pastor Ken Lieber, who saw the film with his family Wednesday night and has encouraged his church members at Faith Community Lutheran to see the film. "I think as Christians we have sugar-coated it. ... We have no concept of the total brutality of what crucifixion was."

Pastor Kevin Odor of Canyon Ridge Christian Church, who saw a preview in January and plans to go again tonight with 200 church members, agreed. He said he particularly liked how Gibson focused on onlookers' faces or Jesus' hands to show the horror of being whipped, as well as the whip hitting his skin.

"It's very unsettling," Odor said. "But because of the spiritual significance of the violence, you leave feeling a debt of gratitude, especially if you are a believer."

Several Christian leaders praised Gibson for making a quality film on a subject that Hollywood rarely treats favorably.

Other movie renditions of Christ have either been extremely "cheesy," as one minister put it, because they are designed to be evangelism tools, or they are radically liberal portrayals such as the "Last Temptation of Christ" that make conservatives squirm, Christian leaders said.

This film portrays one of the major cornerstones of Christianity from a believer's viewpoint, Odor said.

"Jesus' teachings are excellent, yes, but without the death and resurrection of Christ the teachings are just sayings," Odor said. "The death and resurrection are the cornerstones of truth that Christianity rests on."

More than a dozen local churches said they were encouraging members to view the film for their own spiritual development and to bring non-Christians as a way of sharing their faith.

Some mainstream denominations, including the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas and the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, have not openly endorsed the film, but church leaders are encouraging their parishioners to go, spokesmen for both dioceses said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a book collecting key documents relating to Catholic teachings on Jews, the death of Jesus and anti-Semitism in advance of the movie's release.

Some more evangelical churches are equipping members to discuss the film after viewing it by handing out miniature New Testaments and Gospel of Luke booklets for members to give to friends they invite. Some churches, such as South Hills Church Community in Henderson and Word of Life Christian Church in northwest Las Vegas, plan to have volunteers stationed outside theaters to answer questions or pray with viewers afterward.

Central Christian Church, which handed out 2,300 Gospel of Luke booklets, has also planned a four-week series of discussions starting the weekend of April 3-4 to answer some of the questions raised by the film, specifically addressing the movie's accuracy and Jesus' resurrection, Mark Whelchel, edification pastor, said.

Both Jewish and Christian leaders agreed that the film assumes a lot of knowledge of the Gospels on the part of moviegoers, which will make the film difficult to understand for non-Christians.

"Most Jesus films start with his ministry and end with his resurrection, but this one focuses just on the passion of Christ, the stations of the cross," Rob Hall, associate pastor for South Hills Church Community in Henderson, which bought out a whole showing Wednesday night at Regal Colonnade 14.

"I think if you don't know anything about the Bible, you will leave there being a little bit confused, but if you know your Bible, it will visually put everything in perspective."

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