Will You see Gibson's "The Passion"?

[mburbank]

I know, I know, movies forum.


I had originally intended to see it, because I don't feel as if I can fairly concider the debate. Now, I'm not so sure.

It's not the question of anti-semitism, or the charges that although Gibson says it's 'historically accurate' (a highly debatable claim in the best of circumstances) He's added senes and lines not foound in the Gospels.

It's the level of violence I read about in the reviews. I'm not particulalrly squeamish but the descriptions I've read seem like more of a gore fest than anything I've ever watched, or want to watch.

If the main thrust of the movie is just how awful crucifiction is, I'm not sure I want to watch, any more tan I personally care to watch any execution of an innocent or for that matter guilty party. 45 minutes spent of the scourging seems to me more than a little excessive. The death of Jesus was awful beyond all belief, but the Romans did exactly that to thousands of innocents. I am far more interested in what Jeus did and said in life than a lengthy portrayal of his agony, an agony that has been shared by an untold number of other poor unfortunates throughout human history. This seems like feteshism to me.

But this is the problem. If the violence is as ugly as the reviews I've read suggest, I don't want to see it. But how will I know unless I see it? If the violence is as ugly as the reviews I've read suggest, I think it's pretty scary to be throwing red meat like that around at a time when the world is already awash in religous extremism and needs Jesus message bout Loving your Enemey and turning the other cheek more than ever, but how will I know the theological content of the movie if I don't see it?

What will you all do?