NEW YORK — One of
the most visible confluences of religion and popular culture is
about to unfold with the Ash Wednesday release of Mel Gibson’s
“The Passion of the Christ,” a film that has already
generated heated debate, anger and widespread anticipation.
A movie that has been derided as a vanity project for Gibson,
a traditionalist Roman Catholic, may prove to be a commercial
hit, with wide distribution and expected support from the U.S.
evangelical Christian community, a diverse group that some estimate
makes up a third of the U.S. population.
With such a base, some Hollywood observers have said the film,
set for a Feb. 25 debut, may net as much as $25 million in its
first week of release.
Conservative evangelical leaders have made no secret that Gibson’s
film depiction of the last hours of Jesus’ life may become
a major boon and tool for evangelizing; the web site for the National
Association of Evangelicals (NAE) prominently displays a link
for the film and urges supporters to “Help make this the
largest opening film in history.”
One man — Arch Bonnema, a suburban Dallas, Texas businessman
and Southern Baptist layman — took up the call: he recently
bought 6,000 advance tickets for “Passion” at a cost
of $42,000 and distributed them to members of his community.
Given such anticipation, a prominent U.S. evangelical leader,
Morris Chapman, quoted on Feb. 5 in The New York Times,
said the film might become a “catalyst for spiritual awakening
in this nation.”
“I don’t know of anything since the Billy Graham
crusades that has had the potential of touching so many lives,”
said Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive
Committee.
Dissent and worry, though, are being expressed by U.S. Jewish
leaders and by some mainline Protestant and Catholic groups that
have worked in the area of interreligious dialogue. Their concern
stems from worry that the film’s portrayal of Jews could
fuel anti-Semitism.
In a Feb. 6 speech, Abraham Foxman, National Director of the
Anti-Defamation League, a prominent U.S. Jewish group, said while
he did not believe that Gibson was anti-Semitic, the film could
have serious ramifications.
“Is Mel Gibson an anti-Semite? No. He’s a true believer,”
said Foxman, who has seen an early version of the film. “Is
his anti-Semitism intentional? I don’t believe so. But I
worry about unintended consequences, especially when they mesh
in history. Is the film anti-Semitic? No. But its consequences,
its impact, its message may fuel anti-Semitism.”
With such controversy brewing, the interfaith relations commission
of the National Council of Churches
(NCC), the nation’s largest ecumenical agency, recently
released a “reflection guide” to the film.
The commission acknowledged that its members had not yet seen
“Passion,” but warned that “dramatic depictions
of the passion story have a tragic history. Inflamed by such representations,
some Christians have labeled Jews ‘Christ-killers,’
which, in turn, has sometimes led to acts of violence against
Jews.”
For his part, the New York state-born and Australian-reared
Gibson has denied “Passion” is anti-Semitic and has
defended the violence depicted in the film. “I think it
pushes one over the edge so that they see the enormity, the enormity
of that sacrifice [by Jesus],” Gibson said during a nationally
broadcast interview Feb. 15.
Maia Morgenstern, the Romanian woman who plays Mary in Gibson’s
biblical epic, says her parents were Holocaust survivors but she
does not consider the film anti-Semitic. If there is a message,
it’s more about how people can be manipulated by their leaders,
Morgenstern told The Associated Press in an interview.
There have been reports that Gibson continues to tinker with
the final cut of his film in response to some of the more pointed
criticism.
Web sites:
Movie site: www.thepassionofthechrist.com
National Association of Evangelicals: www.nae.net
Anti-Defamation League: www.adl.org
National Council of Churches (USA): www.ncccusa.org |
