This is a commentary by DAVID LIMBAUGH about Mel Gibson's very
controversial movie regarding Christ's crucifixion. It's worth reading.
(BTW: David Limbaugh just published a new book titled, "Persecution: How Liberals are waging War on Christianity")
MEL GIBSON'S passion for "THE PASSION"
How ironic that when a movie producer takes artistic license with
historical events, he is lionized as artistic, creative and brilliant,
but when another takes special care to be true to the real-life story,
he is vilified. Actor-producer Mel Gibson is discovering these truths
the hard way as he is having difficulty finding a United States studio
or distributor for his upcoming film, "The Passion," which depicts the
last 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ.
Gibson co-wrote the script and financed, directed and produced the
movie. For the script, he and his co-author relied on the New Testament
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as the diaries of St.
Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824) and Mary of Agreda's "The City of God."
Gibson doesn't want this to be like other sterilized religious
epics. "I'm trying to access the story on a very personal level and
trying to be very real about it." So committed to realistically
portraying what many would consider the most important half-day in the
history of the universe, Gibson even shot the film in the Aramaic
language of the period. In response to objections that viewers will not
be able to understand that language, Gibson said, "Hopefully, I'll be
able to transcend the language barriers with my visual storytelling; if
I fail, I fail, but at least it'll be a monumental failure."
To further insure the accuracy of the work, Gibson has enlisted the
counsel of pastors and theologians, and has received rave reviews. Don
Hodel, president of Focus on the Family, said, "I was very impressed.
The movie is historically and theologically accurate." Ted Haggard,
pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., and president of
the National Evangelical Association, glowed: "It conveys, more
accurately than any other film, who Jesus was."
During the filming, Gibson, a devout Catholic, attended Mass every
morning because "we had to be squeaky clean just working on this." From
Gibson's perspective, this movie is not about Mel Gibson. It's bigger
than he is. "I'm not a preacher, and I'm not a pastor," he said. "But I
really feel my career was leading me to make this. The Holy Ghost was
working through me on this film, and I was just directing traffic. I
hope the film has the power to evangelize."
Even before the release of the movie, scheduled for March 2004,
Gibson is getting his wish. "Everyone who worked on this movie was
changed. There were agnostics and Muslims on set converting to
Christianity...[and] people being healed of diseases." Gibson wants
people to understand through the movie, if they don't already, the
incalculable influence Christ has had on the world. And he grasps that
Christ is controversial precisely because of WHO HE IS - GOD incarnate.
"And that's the point of my film really, to show all that turmoil around
him politically and with religious leaders and the people, all because
He is Who He is."
Gibson is beginning to experience first hand just how controversial
Christ is. Critics have not only speciously challenged the movie's
authenticity, but have charged that it is disparaging to Jews, which
Gibson vehemently denies. "This is not a Christian vs. Jewish thing.
'[Jesus] came into the world, and it knew him not.' Looking at Christ's
crucifixion, I look first at my own culpability in that." Jesuit Father
William J. Fulco, who translated the script into Aramaic and Latin, said
he saw no hint of anti-Semitism in the movie. Fulco added, "I would be
aghast at any suggestion that Mel Gibson is anti-Semitic." Nevertheless,
certain groups and some in the mainstream press have been very critical
of Gibson's "Passion."
The New York Post's Andrea Peyser chided him: "There is still time,
Mel, to tell the truth." Boston Glove columnist James Carroll denounced
Gibson's literal reading of the biblical accounts. "Even a faithful
repetition of the Gospel stories of the death of Jesus can do damage
exactly because those sacred texts themselves carry the virus of Jew
hatred," wrote Carroll. A group of Jewish and Christian academics has
issued an 18-page report slamming all aspects of the film, including its
undue emphasis on Christ's passion rather than "a broader vision." The
report disapproves of the movie's treatment of Christ's passion as
historical fact.
The moral is that if you want the popular culture to laud your work
on Christ, make sure it either depicts Him as a homosexual or as an
everyday sinner with no particular redeeming value (literally). In our
anti-Christian culture, the blasphemous "The Last Temptation of Christ"
is celebrated, and "The Passion" is condemned. But if this movie
continues to affect people the way it is now, no amount of cultural
opposition will suppress its force and its positive impact on lives
everywhere. Mel Gibson is a model of faith and courage.