After all the controversy and rigorous debate has subsided, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will remain a force to be reckoned with. In the final analysis, "Gibson's Folly" is an act of personal bravery and commitment on the part of its director, who self-financed this $25-30 million production to preserve his artistic goal of creating the Passion of Christ ("Passion" in this context meaning "suffering") as a quite literal, in-your-face interpretation of the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, scripted almost directly from the gospels (and spoken in Aramaic and Latin with a relative minimum of subtitles) and presented as a relentless, 126-minute ordeal of torture and crucifixion. For Christians and non-Christians alike, this film does not "entertain," and it's not a film that one can "like" or "dislike" in any conventional sense. (It is also emphatically not a film for children or the weak of heart.) Rather, The Passion is a cinematic experience that serves an almost singular purpose: to show the scourging and death of Jesus Christ in such horrifically graphic detail (with Gibson's own hand pounding the nails in the cross) that even non-believers may feel a twinge of sorrow and culpability in witnessing the final moments of the Son of God, played by Jim Caviezel in a performance that's not so much acting as a willful act of submission, so intense that some will weep not only for Christ, but for Caviezel's unparalleled test of endurance.

Very engaging

An excellent movie. No more can really be said. I thought having to read the English subtitles would be distracting, but the fact that the original languages are spoken only lends more credibility to the storytelling. One of my favorites!

HISTORY vs. HOLLYWOOD

I am a novelist writing a book on 1st century Rome. My book has a crucifixion scene and I wanted to get the emotion tied up in such an event.

I was disappointed; the crucifixion scene in Gibson's movie was Holywood, not history. Criminals carried only the crossbeam (patibulum) to the scene of the execution. The post (stipe) was already in the ground and were more or less permanent.

I didn't see the rest of the movie, being non-religious, but 2 Catholic friends were greatly moved.

The Snuff Film of Jesus Christ (this movie is not for children)

Gunfights, stabbings, assassinations, explosions, dismemberments, suicides, etc.-- none of these are ever portrayed in movies with the intensity of Christ's torture in "The Passion." The violence is such that even hardcore fans of movies like the "Saw" and "Hostel" series would find it gratuitous, drawn out and tasteless, and even the devil would feel compassion for him. But that's the whole point, isn't it? Gibson wants to shock the flock into feeling something and revive their religious fever. Well done, Mr. Gibson, give yourself a pat on the back; your propaganda/snuff film seems to have had its intended effect.

Most filmmakers have the decency to communicate such horrorible things far, far more subtly and tastefully, and they use their skill to do so. Gibson has the skill but chooses not to use it; he opts to pummel it into the viewer instead.

It's funny to think of how often we hear religious groups condeming violence in the media and then suddenly hear them give so much praise to what is probably the most violent movie ever made. Ironic? Yes. Hypocritical? Yes. Some say the extreme violence is necessary, because our culture is already so desensitized from all the previous violence in the media. So your solution is to numb us even further, to raise the bar? What makes it worse is that many of them appeared on their local nightly news coming out of the theater after watching it with their children and actually recommending you watch it with your kids as well.Tsk,tsk. The example this sets: it's alright to set your morals aside when it serves your purposes.

As for the realism and anti-Semitism...well, you'd have to biased to find it realistic (I'm not just referring to the supernatural elements), and it does paint the Jewish people of the time as excessively thirsty for the blood of Christ. And after Gibson's drunken, anti-Semitic slur slinging, it's hardly a stretch to imagine he intended the film to convey his sentiments about Jews.

When I sat down to watch this, I was actually looking forward to seeing a well made story about Christ, but this is more like a security tape from Guantanamo.I don't recommend this movie to anyone. However, if you must see it, rent or borrow it, don't buy, because it's not something you'll want to sit through over and over again.