We saw “The Passion of Christ”:http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=A290960 on Tuesday, with our church’s high school youth group. I’m not going to review the movie, or rehash the controversies around it, as “others have done a much better job”:http://www.nationalreview.com/ponnuru/ponnuru200402201151.asp. Just a few personal thoughts for posterity.
# This was definitely a Catholic interpretation of The Passion, but subtle enough that many Protestants may not realize what they are seeing. Many of the scenes were very iconic in nature; the closing scene of removing Jesus from the cross was liking watching a “Descent from the Cross”:http://images.google.com/images?q=descent+from+the+cross icon come to life. As the camera pulls back with Mary holding Jesus, surrounded by Mary Magdalene and John, I realized I was looking at Mel Gibson’s “Pieta”:http://images.google.com/images?q=pieta. Beautiful.
# Though Mary’s prominent role in the movie is derided by some Protestants as typical Catholic Mary-worship, I found it was a powerful mechanism for drawing the viewer into the film. I identified with Mary and her special relationship with Jesus; I found new insight and meaning into the phrase “God sent his only son” (John 3:16), as Mary was a window to the sacrifice God made. The movie had me thinking about what it would be like to see my son go through torture and an execution that he didn’t deserve. I don’t even have a son yet. I can’t imagine what it must be like for parents to watch this film.
# It was one of the most unusual movie experiences I’ve ever had. We filtered into the cinema’s lobby and just stood there, looking shell shocked. Many of our kids were still crying, and had obviously been crying for most of the movie. About half of those who came ended up over at our house for an informal discussion time. Youth workers, I’d highly recommend allowing time for some Q&A afterwards. The setting should be comforting and informal, as everyone will need a little soothing.
# Once at our house, we started out by chatting about anything but the movie, and Alex (our pet rabbit) provided some much needed diversions while people were processing what they’d just seen. Once the ice was broken, the kids had quite a few questions, and all of them were good (any youth worker knows just how precious a good, unforced discussion is). The kids were interested in what parts of the movie were from the Bible, what parts were pious tradition (Catholic or otherwise), and what parts were Hollywood filler. Did that guy really help carry the cross? They wanted to know why the film was controversial. Why are some people opposed to this movie? We covered everything from why Jesus died on the cross to Jewish customs and laws. Wonderful.
Mar 07
March 10th, 2004 at 11:07 pm
Do you have a Catholic background Kyle? From my general knowledge of Catholicism I picked up on zero of the points you mentioned.
And good for you on being a youth leader! My youth leaders have been some of the most influential people in my life.
March 11th, 2004 at 6:25 pm
Egads, you’ve discovered me! No, I don’t have a Catholic background per se. I do, however, have several Catholic friends whom I converse with on a regular basis. I also have my art background, which has translated into a strong intererst in icons in the Orthodox and Catholic traditions. I guess point #1 might be more of an art major vs. Catholic/Protestant thing. It does raise the interesting question (which I’ve pondered quite a bit) about whether or not Catholic/Orthodox worshippers are generally more advanced in their understanding of visual communication. Why would they be? Because the visual element is a strong part of their worship experience, whereas it’s been largely missing from the Protestant experience due to our history of iconoclasm.