Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" pushes some in Tampa to tears, others to indignation.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE and SHARON TUBBS
Published February 24, 2004
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The film recounts the final hours in Jesus' life, including graphic depictions of his scourging and crucifixion.
[Times photo: Thomas M. Goethe]
Joyce Moore, left, and Natalie Santana embrace after a special showing of The Passion of the Christ in Tampa.
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TAMPA - Thousands watched in silence, punctuated only by gasps and sniffles, as the crucifixion of Jesus played out on the big screen.
Some moviegoers got up and left the theater when Jesus was whipped repeatedly with stiff canes and cat-o'-nine-tails that tore off his flesh.
"It was too painful to watch ... too real," said Patricia Bradt, 69, of Columbus, Ohio, a Catholic visiting friends in Florida.
More than 2,000 people poured into a multiscreen theater Monday night at AMC Veterans 24 for a special screening of Mel Gibson's controversial movie, The Passion of the Christ.
The preview was arranged by Spirit FM, the radio station of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, which began distributing free tickets to listeners two weeks ago.
"We felt this was just another way we could evangelize," station manager John Morris said. "We wanted for people to go to the movie and bring a person who needs to see the gospel."
Mel Gibson's movie is scheduled to open Wednesday, Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar and the beginning of the solemn season of Lent that commemorates Jesus' suffering and death. The film recounts the final hours in Jesus' life, including graphic depictions of his scourging and crucifixion.
For months, its production has generated debate, some rancorous, about whether the movie would inspire anti-Semitic sentiment.
Some Jews and Christians have raised concerns that it would set back several decades of hard-won Christian-Jewish accord.
Some moviegoers Monday said the movie, in Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles, blames the Jews for Christ's death.
"Gibson has gotten away with saying that very thing, but simply saying it on the big screen and calling it art," said Rabbi Richard Birnholz of Congregation Schaarai Zedek in Tampa, who saw the film Monday night.
Until a few decades ago, most Christian teaching held Jews culpable for the crucifixion of Jesus, a notion officially repudiated by many major denominations, beginning in the 1960s with Vatican II.
Darrell J. Fasching, professor of religious studies at the University of South Florida, who has not seen the film, said the Jewish community has legitimate reasons to be concerned. Portrayals of Jesus' trial and death historically have ignited prejudice and sometimes violence against Jews, he said.
Fasching said the film is being marketed differently from others that have been made about Jesus' life. It seeks "to appeal directly to a certain style of evangelical Christian, as a kind of missionary outreach."
The USF professor has a response for those who say the movie is simply retelling the story of the Gospels.
"If you look at the history of anti-Semitism in Christianity, while I do not think the Gospels are anti-Semitic, it is clear that the Gospels have caused anti-Semitism. If the stories are read without proper commentary, what happens is that the Jews are painted as the villains," he said.
Dr. Philip McCutcheon of Oldsmar called the movie excellent.
He took two children, who left the theater when the movie got too graphic.
"My heart is still filled with amazement" he said, choking back tears. "When I read the Bible, this is what I pictured."
