There are some detailed comments and samples of several reviews of the movie in this story at Christianity Today. The Christian world is abuzz over the movie; perhaps it's a sign of the times that this generation's cinematic treatment of Jesus is steeped in violent scenes. Comment on Mormon blogs touches on the problematic fact that the film is rated R, and Latter-day Saints have been counseled to avoid R-rated movies. This blog posting at Times and Seasons, with links and comments, is a sample of the mixed reactions Mormons are having. This Deseret News story covers the rating problem, along with some hearteningly reasonable comments by Prof. Millet of BYU. For me, it's the violence, not the rating, that bothers me; haven't seen it yet, don't plan to anytime soon. Prof. Tom Smith at The Right Coast made comments that come closest to my feelings about the movie: To call the movie violent is a ridiculous understatement. It should have been rated NC-17, not R. . . . [T]here is a sense in which the crucifixion is meant to be contemplated in private, not shown on a screen, or so it seems to me. I felt a little violated by the movie. I know some Christians view the violence of crucifixion as integral to the Atonement, but I don't. I see the whole Jewish sacrificial parallel (Lamb of God, spotless offering to God stuff) as metaphor, and one which was most meaningful to the first generation of Jewish Christians. If Jesus had been made to drink the hemlock with his disciples gathered round him, would he have been any less The Christ? It hardly makes sense that the particular mode of execution employed by the pagan Romans played any necessary or soteriological role; if true, this suggests the violence truly is gratuitous and incidental rather than integral to the story. Besides, tens of thousands of people suffered crucifixion by the Romans, there was nothing unique or even exceptional about it. In that world, violence was common, not exceptional. We forget that, I think. After this movie, we'll forget it less, perhaps.
10:23:32 PM 
|
|
