Jon's "Life After School"

The jig is up

OK, so for today I'd like to give my The Passion of the Christ rant.

I've been keeping close tabs on this film ever since it started its production in obscurity several years ago. Since then I've been well intrigued by the idea and was interested to see it if/when it came out in American theatres.

As the release date approached, I saw more and more Christian organizations and prominent leaders scurrying to publicize and promote this film, encouraging believers to see it and invite their friends and associates. Meanwhile, I kept more of an objective view of the matter, somewhat reigned by the fact that people were blindly and rabidly promoting a film that most of them had never even seen. My reasoning was: see the movie, and if you like it, urge others to watch it as well.

Concerning all the "controversy" surrounding it; to me it was just a movie. There's offensive junk coming out at the multiplexes every Friday. Why waste your breath over a Jesus movie for crying out loud? I said, it's Mel Gibson's movie, so let him do whatever he wants. If it turns out to be "anti-Semetic" (a ridiculous notion, as I'll explain later), then I'll be unhappy and I won't endorse the film; it's as easy as that. If you don't want to watch it, no one is making you. I saw it all as simply the world nitpicking and hating on Christians, as they usually do; nothing new.

Not only that, I even had a questioning eye on Gibson's intent. I'm not saying I thought he had wrong motives, but I was just kind of skeptical about how he's so vocal and adamant over his faith now that his movie is coming out, but when Lethal Weapon 4 came out, I didn't exactly hear him lauding over the wonders of his Savior. Granted, he WAS, in the past, relatively outspoken about his religious doctrine, but I had never heard any quotes from him about the man Jesus until recently. And to hear all the Christians claim that his career "was on the line" and such and such, I didn't buy it. Controversy equals publicity. The ADL has failed to the most royal extent in their efforts to bring down the film, since their criticism has only sparked further interest in it. Who needs (publicist) friends when you have enemies on the left? I wasn't against Gibson's film, I just figured that he, like everybody else, needs to make money.

The last few days, however, I've had an epiphany of sorts. First, on Gibson's account, it really doesn't matter to me. Generally speaking, I don't consider the personal life or agenda of a filmmaker to be a highly valid bias against the film itself (see fig. 1, The Pianist). And he DID finance the film himself, which wasn't a HUGE budget, but it's still a lot to be coming out of one pocket (though that particular pocket is extremely big). And besides, what filmmaker doesn't want his film to be a commercial success anyway?

The real revelation, though, is that I know now that there IS something spiritual behind this film. From the very start, no studio would even distribute, let alone finance, the movie. Rarely have I seen studios turn away films, unless they seem like flops and won't make money. But surely they must have seen the controversy and buzz around this movie; any way you slice it, people ARE going to watch this film, and it WILL make back the $25 million dollar budget that the studios wouldn't have even had to pay for. No, it's not financial reasons. They're afraid. France, infamous for the, eh, "liberal" nature of their cinema, has already refused to screen the movie. Cowards, I say. The very fact that the world is trying to suppress the distribution of this film is a clear illustration of this warfare.

The anti-Semetic claims are annoying, but I really do see them also as spiritual warfare now. Just today, an new interview with Gibson's father was thrown all over the news, with citations denying certain statistics of the Holocaust. Now, whatever ideas he may have about the Holocaust, that's for him to decide and deal with, but they absolutely in no way pertain to The Passion of the Christ.

Speaking of anti-Semitism, these accusations are based on a pre-existing prejudice against Christians. They don't think the movie is anti-Jew, they think the GOSPELS are anti-Jew. Christians from countless denominations and churches have all praised this film in its Biblical and historical accuracy. The very story of Jesus is "offensive" to the world, and the Jewish spin is just a cover for it. Come on. JESUS was a Jew. The people who WROTE the gospels were Jews. The 1st century early Christians were all Jews. The very idea that the testimonies, lives, and deaths of these Jews were "anti-Jew" is ludicrous; and satanic attack is the only way I can explain such irrational, travestial spectacles that are being made by the ADL & liberal friends.

Thus, I am now very excited about this movie and I am certain that it will be an impacting film, as an emotional and artistic work as well as in its value to me as a man of faith. I now officially promote and endorse this film without seeing it yet. The spiritual climate surrounding its release is enough evidence for me to see that God wants to work some amazing things with it. It opens February 25th, this Wednesday, and the number of screens on which it is opening is growing by the day. Hallelujah!

Oh, my day? I worked at Sanrio today, nearly my entire shift in the back room building shelves and moving heavy stuff and using tools and bolts and nuts and hammers. w00t! I also watched the production of The King and I that Steve Yang was in. I went with Tim, Les, and Glen. Steve was really great in it; him and the girl who played Anna were the best of the entire cast. Makes me want to be in a musical. Like Jekyll and Hyde. Oh man, that would be something.

Posted by jnyip at February 20, 2004 12:08 AM