I disagree with you in every single particular and agree STRONGLY with sophiaserpentia. Mel Gibson has a history--as a number of clerical reviewers (of both Protestant and Catholic varieties) have pointed out--of favouring ultra-violence. You may be interested in knowing that this flagellation scene--10 MINUTES LONG!--now rates as, perhaps, the longest and most gruesome beating scene in film history. This is a film that sensible adults--untouched by religious mania--could easily identify as dangeous to the emotional stability of the young and the impressionable. But, as we know from history, atrocities much worse than this film have been committed in the name of "Jesus." Secondly, you are ABSOLUTELY WRONG about the accuracy--Biblical OR historical--of Mel's version of Christ's crucifixion. In Sacred Scripture there are no priests leering at the foot of the cross, no little demons scampering after the suicidal Judas, no implication that Herod was some sort of sexual pervert (you colour it as you will: sado-masochist, or effeminate homosexual), just because he gave his daughter what his wife wanted, as a reward for dancing. In terms of historical accuracy, he ignores the evidence of the Shroud of Turin--which is surprising for a "Traditionalist" (i.e. heretical) Catholic--and gives us nails in palms and a loincloth. He also confuses two different death penalties, because flagellation to the extent he has it in his version was MEANT TO KILL, and it usually DID. It is unbelievable that any human body could have lasted three to six hours on a cross, after being subjected to THAT. (But, of course, as one of my younger friends said, "This is Super-Jesus!") Sorry, but the whole thing smacks of decadent American culture, and I'm absolutely certain that people all over the world, who come from healthier religious and cultural traditions will be able to label this garbage as precisely what it is: sado-masochistic pornography, filled with anti-Semitic visual references POSING as a religious effusion.
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timeasmymeasure
Mme. Serpentia is right, the rest are crazed by religious fanaticism.
Date: 2004-03-07 11:33 am (UTC)Secondly, you are ABSOLUTELY WRONG about the accuracy--Biblical OR historical--of Mel's version of Christ's crucifixion. In Sacred Scripture there are no priests leering at the foot of the cross, no little demons scampering after the suicidal Judas, no implication that Herod was some sort of sexual pervert (you colour it as you will: sado-masochist, or effeminate homosexual), just because he gave his daughter what his wife wanted, as a reward for dancing.
In terms of historical accuracy, he ignores the evidence of the Shroud of Turin--which is surprising for a "Traditionalist" (i.e. heretical) Catholic--and gives us nails in palms and a loincloth. He also confuses two different death penalties, because flagellation to the extent he has it in his version was MEANT TO KILL, and it usually DID. It is unbelievable that any human body could have lasted three to six hours on a cross, after being subjected to THAT. (But, of course, as one of my younger friends said, "This is Super-Jesus!")
Sorry, but the whole thing smacks of decadent American culture, and I'm absolutely certain that people all over the world, who come from healthier religious and cultural traditions will be able to label this garbage as precisely what it is: sado-masochistic pornography, filled with anti-Semitic visual references POSING as a religious effusion.