MOVIE REVIEW
By Ivan Kakovitch 'The Passion of Christ'
An Unparalleled Once-In-A-Lifetime
Pictorial Presentation
of the Most Indelible Symbol of Christianity' Let No One Write My Epitaph, But Mr. Mel Gibson, (Up Kha Nasha Khtamti La Katula, Shuk Min Miukra Mel Gibson}, would, be the words spoken by Jesus Christ himself, had he been able to see this splendidly produced pictorial Bible, and its Biblical version. 'The Passion of Christ' thrives on three levels of lecturing humanity and its concerns with faiths. FIRSTLY. The portrayal of a man mostly admired by all universal standards, as well as universally most revered personage for the past 2,000 years--give and take a few hundred--is in itself a challenging of tasks undertaken by any of the predecessors of Mr. Gibson's presentation. The man as we know as Jesus Christ, is humble, yet arrogant; polite, yet uncompromising; mesmerizing, yet humane; addictive, yet solvent; soft-spoken, yet ardent; and, derelict, yet promulgator. Not a fraction of hesitation should persist in all those faithful in their religion, to avoid seeing this Biblical process, turned into a motion picture. No one shall be offended, discouraged, disgusted, antagonized, and become downright disrespectful to the images portrayed, although bloody--sitting well with the mood and temperament of those eras--as they are simply projected to facilitate the continuity of the story, which is the omnipresent of the culmination of faith and belief in a predictable dogma, that is, a unified religious aspect for a large part of the world population of yore, today, and even tomorrow. SECONDLY. The nostalgia for arts and science fluctuating throughout the film in the mode of transmitting the picture in its original languages, Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin, renders it as an emotional passage through the times and the avenues of momentous scripture-type realizations. The music, the costumes, the mise-en-scene, the photography, the scope of lights and the shades over the insatiably staged scenes, topped by exceptional portrayal of the characters, familiar to all, perhaps, through the readings of the passages of the Bible, the emotions, the catapulting of characteristics of human behaviors, and, finally, best of all, the formidable epilogue of unconformity, compel the story more plausible that it could ever have been described on paper. THIRDLY. 'The Passion of Christ' contains no defamatory tirades toward any society, religion, or any faiths or religions of yore or those of today. It simply doesn't have to dwell into the lethargic state of mind of the community involved in the most analytic or arguable event overtaking their curiosity of the moment. The tempo of the multitudes is simply that of a passing of an enigmatically geared trial--not dissimilar to the ones we are faced from day to day--in which the parade of observers is merely that of uncontested thinkers. The cast of thousands, is simply there as a decorum, with, of course, the exception of a few main characters surrounding the life and death of the man they knew as Jesus Christ. The most astounding facet in the motion picture is that it does not analyze, or passes judgment on the perpetrators and procrastinators of life or death, nor does it discern the good and the evil. THE MOST PROMINENT QUESTION
Does the film offend, in any way a nation or a religion? Yes, and No, would be an apt response. YES, 'The Passion of Christ' depicts the Hebrew religious hierarchy as anachronistic and archaic in its precipitous verdict. How can we presuppose this? NO, 'The Passion of Christ' in the same manner, reinforces the spectrum of humanity among all nations, even the Hebrews. In view of the fact that the term 'Semite' is an uncontested Biblical, rather than a scientific nomenclature, and no science or scientist would infer as to the possibility that Noah's Arc, Noah and his sons, especially Shem--from which the word 'Semite' derives--were extant. Hence, the word 'Semite', being unordained, and nonsensical, therefore, there is no reason whatsoever to discuss the semantics of it being anti-Semitic. CONCLUSION
'Passion of Christ' is a must see for all. All shall pass the ticket counters, on their way out, pensive and perhaps, even more humane. Most even will forget the $10 they paid to see the film, they could see in a few months for $1 on the Video. Even this writer tried to remain nonchalant, to no avail. Ivan Kakovitch
ivankakovitch@aol.com
Telephone: 714.236.4851 Address: POB 3256
Cypress, CA 90630-3256
USA
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