Gibson (because of his extremely devout father) is part of and was raised in a sect of Catholicism that doesn't recognize Vatican II. He even still takes mass in Latin. That may go some way in explaining Gibsons penchant for portraying the more anti Semitic gospel accounts and taking inspiration from passion plays.

Three minutes in, and I am already sure that the comment section will be just fine...

I remember how this film was known as the Jesus Chainsaw Massacre at the time.

“It is not possible to have an entirely biblically accurate film adaptation of the gospels, unless one structures it like Roshomon.” That sounds like that could be a cool concept, honestly. Anyway, good episode for what seems like an unpleasant movie. If I'm going to watch an over the top inaccurate story of the Passion I'll just stick with Jesus Christ Superstar

Gibson is a Traditionalist Catholic. They ignore the Vatican II reforms.

I think a biblically accurate film that shows the four gospel's separate accounts of the final days of Jesus would be really good

My mom let my two youngest sisters (6 & 7) watch this movie with her. I refused to watch it, even though she really wanted me to. She never let us or them even play video games with any slight amount of blood, but showed this needlessly brutal movie to my youngest sisters.

A minor thing, but I think Jesus stepping on the snake is a reference to a passage in Genesis 13:15, which is often thought (in the Christian tradition) to foretell Christ. Great video, Leon! You've made me wish that there was a Rashomon-style Gospel film...

I'm always surprised that this film does not show up on "most disturbing" lists, it's as brutal and violent as martyrs, anti christ, serbian film, or a multitude of other movies that fall into the "torture porn" catagory.

Though the term "torture p0rn" (lol I'm not sure how far your language filter goes) came with the likes of the Saw franchise, I'd say this film was more true to that label. I was in high school when this film was in theatres and a friend of mine apparently had to take a day off from school after going to see it, and this was someone who enjoyed Evil Dead, House of 1,000 Corpses and the like. When I finally (hesitantly) watched the movie I was just annoyed, waiting for "something else" to happen apart from slow motion suffering and weird gasping. Much like you related at the closing of the video, The Passion is basically a 2 hour long version of the sort of thing that freaked me out as a little kid, happening upon big sculptures of Jesus bleeding out on the cross. It's a fear-mongering guilt-trip. "Look at how much this guy is miserably dying! If you don't feel bad for him a scary female devil and her dwarf baby will get you! .... oh and by the way, let's show 2 mins of him being nice for emotional manipulation. DEATH BLOOD GUILT boogedy boo!" This was a long rant so I'll end it with something less negative..... "I think he said 'blessed are the cheese makers'!"

Comment Section has been behaving pretty well, proud of you.

There's a surprising lack of Santa Christ in this analysis.

Isn't the death of Jesus Christ a good thing for Christians? According to their theology, doesn't Christ's crucifixion lead to the redemption of humanity? Then why would the Jews be condemned for the (false) belief that they instigated the trial and execution of Jesus?

I like how you point out how guilt isn't a positive motivator for renewing or having any kind of faith. Great analysis!

I was shown this movie in catechism when I was getting confirmed as a Catholic. I'm an atheist now, and though I try to be accepting of people's choice regarding religion, interpretations like that of this movie of the bible are part of what makes that a bit harder for me.

First off why is everyone in this movie white?!

I keep thinking about that modern looking table he made

Following Predator 2 with Passion of the Christ. That's some range for you.

As someone who was raised in a conservative Christian home and culture (and is still Christian) I'd like to chime in. This film was very popular(?) in my circles, and there are a set of reasons why. Some examples: it's a movie about Jesus just has an actual budget, it doesn't take "Last Temptation" levels of liberties with the story, it hits home that this was something more than a public hanging and sticks out. Some of the things you pointed out that aren't in the bible I simply wrote off as short hand--have him step on a snake. That was in some prophecy or something, right? As for the anti-Semitism, a lot of people in my circles didn't even notice it. My circles hold essentially no blame to the Jewish people for the death of Christ. The only Jews the Christians I grew up with wild blame were the pharisees, which just fell into the theme of rulers and leaders that wound up caring about their power than their faith. Judas scrambling for his money came across to us as "yup, Judas sucks" more than anything explicitly Jewish, but anti-Semitism very well may have been Gibson's intention (conscious or not). There are certainly elements of this that assert more blame than the bible does on the Jews, but if this was meant as anti Jew propaganda, it certainly wasn't effective as such in my right wing conservative surroundings. I think you made some great points, Leon. There are a set of things that made me think "ok, cross referencing with Isaiah and the psalms I get why this is here," but your points on its excess and expanded negativity toward the Jews is valid. I would like to throw out there, however, that there are at least well sized pockets of Christians who found this movie personally moving who didn't become anti-Semites as a result. PS, I've never liked this movie. Like Braveheart, in the end I just felt clumsily bludgeoned by the blunt end of the film's premise.

I would legitimately love to see a Roshomon-style film of the gospels. I mean, really, how does that not already exist?

I grew up catholic, And even back when I looked up at the crucifix at the head of the church, part of me imagined how Jesus felt of this being his most iconic image. I could picture him saying to himself "so Buddah gets to be sitting chubby and content. Vishnu gets to be shown in epic multi armed glory. And what do I get? My main symbol is the tool of my execution! AND WHY AM I ALWAYS WHITE?! For my dad's sake I was from the middle east."

Great video. To me, it's disgusting how many Christians think this movie is good, or accurate, and even show it in seminars and the like trying to convert people. This is not the (not even a) Christian message. This is just a guy with deep, deep emotional problems enjoying to show brutality for brutality's sake. Just a little detail: It's not Mary Magdalene who was about to be stoned to death, that's also Gibson's invention. The story with the adultress (only told in the gospel of John) doesn't say who the woman was and most likely is a later insertion anyway.

I have to love this film purely because it gave birth to the South Park episode where Stan and Kenny try to get their money back from Mel Gibson.

When I was 12 my parents, aunts and uncles showed us this movie to me and my younger and older cousins, maybe because they wanted us to “believe” I didn’t care but one of my cousins started to cry, her mom and my mom were happy and telling her jesus died for her sins, yep my 6 year old cousin traumatized for life...

I went through some spiritual trauma as a kid that sometimes still affects me today. Although these problems stem from more than just watching a film, I vividly remember this movie contributing to one of my religious mental breakdowns in High School.

Do you suppose you'll ever do Dogma? I mean, I'd love to see you tackle any Kevin Smith flick, but I think Dogma is by far his most fascinating (And best)

I wonder if he made the trip to Golgotha based on Catholic stations of the cross, which can last up to an hour or more based on the church, depicting 15 moments of the trip to Golgotha and crucifixion Also, I had to watch this as a 14 year old in my Catholic Christianity class in high school

This was the first rated R film I ever saw in theaters. when I was about 11 or 12 The film was promoted heavily in Christian circles, during church service as a must see family film 😖 along with lots of pro-Israel talk. Of corse I didn’t realize the magnitude of the whole experience at the time, but I do remember being deeply traumatized and horrified watching the film. Christians promote the suffering of Christ as if it’s their own personal cross to bare and some literally do! (There’s literal people who do walks carrying crosses) it’s dangerous tradition of white victim hood, and white supremest rhetortic being sold as “family values” and “wholesome morality”. This film plays into that 100%

For a long time I was looking for a review to properly explain my distain for this movie as a Jew. Someone to affirm that I wasn't just being a "snowflake" and that this really is a gross and needlessly violent movie that indulges in hurtful stereotypes. The thing is, I think JCS (Jesus Christ Superstar) did a much better job at portraying the characters, the story, and the message. It manages to look at a unique aspect of the story without even showing the resurrection, the album does fall slightly in some places, but nothing to this extreme of a level. As a Jew I don't see Jesus as an enemy, or as someone to hate. He was a rabbi, a teacher, a man of God. I don't believe he was the Messiah but he definitely saw the corruption and pains of the time, he was as human as one can be, which is also why I like JCS a lot, because in that he is human, nothing but human, there is no divine, no god... Just a man doing what he thinks is right

excellent video. It was movies like this that questioned my faith, as it seemed it was being used for a sick, unholy agenda, rather than spreading “the word.” 2003-2005 was around the time I realized that I wasn’t “saved” by the church but being used and abused by the church’s newly opened political agenda. I came to the conclusion that this disgusting, vengeful, propaganda was an extension to the bile that was being used in Jesus name, even he would abandon these monsters whom make crap like this movie, to extend and force their interpretation if the religion over America and next the world. The Passion of 2004 helped quicken the end of my old identity and see the schemers whom cry about Christ for what they are. We know what that is. That’s my 2¢

Incredibly eloquent and focused analysis. Brilliant work letting the historical facts speak for themselves. People get very emotional over this film, be it for or against, and it was a gratifying to watch such a point by point dissection.

I just found and really appreciate your channel. Very good analysis and I love how you're great at bringing up relevant historical context and politics. I hope to be able to see media and research as well as this myself some day

In actuality, if the priests wanted to have Jesus killed, they wouldn’t have to turn him over to the Romans; they would have had him stoned in public. Crucifixion was specifically reserved for people for had committed crimes against the Roman state. In addition, many educated Jews would have also spoken Greek as well as Aramaic and, for the rabbinical class, classical Hebrew.

Pilate was a thug and had no problem with crucifixion for anyone

Wonderful video, Leon. I'm not religious so I tend to not understand the different gospels or know much about details of Biblical stories. This video explained a lot to me. I've only watched Passion of the Christ once with a friend. We were both 17, were non religious, and got most of our understanding of Christianity from The Simpsons (I know it sounds like a joke but I'm not kidding), and we were so confused since we didn't know the story of Jesus' s crucifixion well. We also didn't know the story of what led to it, and I guess we assumed this film would answer that but it didn't, so we both came out of it confused and annoyed.

Eric Cartman would hate this video!! I love it.. great video..

I remember seeing this when I was young and basically going into shock over the torture scene, I legit closed my eyes for thrust of the film. Parents were fine with this

I learnt more here than I remember ever learning in religious education classes at school (for two years we had one hour a week on all world religions tho and history classes only really covered the Holocaust when it comes to Jews.) Anyway, this was fascinating and very informative, thank you!

I saw this with my late father, a devout but not blindly ideological Catholic when it was first released. On the home, he and I discussed it. He was not impressed. He said that it wildly distorted the representation of the Bible and the Jewish people of that era. I am in Catholic terms a lapsed Catholic or renounced Catholic. I thought it was historically inaccurate and had, as we say 17 years later, another agenda (or several other agendas).

Not all jews hated Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea defended Jesus and saw to his burial.

I remember as a teenager who was really into gore getting really bored by the torture scenes. Mel definitely had zero tact while he was making this film. I can only imagine what his interaction with the editor must've been like since the movie went on and on in numerous scenes.

Did they not trust the audience to figure out that treating prisoners badly was bad, so they made the people against him to be weirdly cartoonish sadistic Captain Planet villains?

I'm so glad I found this channel. It's easily become one of my favorites

Another great film analysis.! love your work!

"All you had to do was have a really nice guy sent from God be tortured by a corrupt system and everything would have been fine" Mel: *_Hate Speech Noises_*

This is my favourite channel. Movies, hermeneutics, and biblical material, what more can I wish for?

Wonderfull work as always!

I have to give Gibson credit for managing to get millions of Christians to watch a 2 hour torture porn.

I once asked my sunday school teacher what he thought about the film. He said that while in other previews films Jesus just gets a few slaps and gets crucified in this one the viceral brutality ,showned before the crucificition , makes you more empathetic with him and also shows why the apostales where so terrifying ,denying him and hiding so not to sufer the same fate.

right on point with your ending, chapeau

I remember how our catechism classes glorified this movie to no end. They even started doing "passion plays" reenacting the story every easter.

Very well done. Bravo!!

Really liked the video man. I haven't always been crazy about a lot of the religious interpretation on this channel (the Akira video comes to mind as one that bugged me for some reason) so I was a little nervous going into this one, but felt... how do I put it... intellectual catharsis at the end. Is that contradictory? I don't know. Anyway, I liked it. Great work Leon!

I actually watched this movie as a kid as it was one of the few rated R movies I was able to watch. The flogging scene was so brutal I could barely breathe while watching it.

Well, the film is accurate in a way. Fear and shame have long been the central themes in much of christianity.

I'd like to think that the real Jesus was like Brian from _Life of Brian._ He was just a normal guy that was conflated and deified by the absurdity of his time.

Will you also do Pasolini's Gospel according to St. Matthew?

My dad decided to force me and my sister to watch this when we were... I don't remember - too young though - to "make us take Jesus' sacrifice seriously" or something. Would not recommend.

Another informative video. Thank you

The movie every Christian talks about. It's not terrible, but if this is supposed to "convert" people to some form of Christianity, it does it in the most malicious and manipulating way possible. This is not how you introduce human beings to the persona of an otherwise very human Jesus Christ. THIS is how you get them scared for the rest of their lives due to its unashamed guilt-tripping violence. People should learn about the real Jesus in scholar writings, historical records and careful study of the Gospels, doing all this with an open mind. A good place to start is "The Original Jesus: the life and vision of a revolutionary" by N.T. Wright. Anyways, excellent review Renegade Cut!

I had mixed feelings after I first saw this film. Yes, there was abuse upon abuse upon abuse heaped inflicted on Christ but I looked at it as Christ was taking all of that pain and hatred for everyone's sake. In an odd way, it felt awe-inspiring that someone would receive such abuse for everyone. On the other hand, the movie left me drained. Yes, Jesus rose at the end of the film, but all of the preceding events didn't leave me feeling happy or uplifted, just worn out. EDIT: And yes, the part of the movie where Jesus carries the cross to Golgotha seemed to go on for too long.

Great video!!

Had to rewatch this with an ex and her recently converted mother. It was one of the most uncomfortable few hours I’ve lived through. I found the entire experience to be disgusting & exploitative.

Is this your second video on this movie? I remember you doing another video that discussed the weird zombie children that stalked Judas in this film. Or was that a tangential reference brought up as part of a video about a different film?

I know this is an older video of yours but DAMN it's fire. I grew up religious, and was forced to watch this film with a bunch of other children in my church. We had to have been under 13 at the time. At the time I thought that being exposed to this extreme violence was a way for me to truly realize what Jesus had done for us (or that's what I was TOLD I was supposed to be realizing.) but my whole life I've looked back on that experience and felt like it was an attempt to indoctrinate me into a hate movement. For beginners, there is very little reason that children that young should be exposed to a film this brutal. The church knew it was violent, so they made our parents sign waivers before showing it to us. That should have been a red flag right there. Also, I think that evangelicals get so riled up about Jesus being represented in ANYTHING mainstream media, that they don't look at religious media with a truly critical eye. "It's about Jesus! How bad can it be?" Even as a young child I knew that something about this film didn't seem right. I was taught my whole life that Jesus's sacrifice was about saving humanity, and that it was nearly destined to happen. Yet here's the same church, making me watch a film that tries to blame Jews for everything. I couldn't talk to any of my friends after the film was over. Years later I found out the person who forced us all to watch this film is a horrible anti-semite and racist. Womp womp.

I think Gibson disagrees with Vatican II. There are some hyper-traditionalist Catholics who reject it, apparently. You know, a Rashomon-style version of the Bible actually sounds interesting...

Show of hands, who would watch a movie about Christ that's told Rashomon style?

We watched and analyzed last temptation of Christ in my college philosophy class. Actually surprised by how good it was.

This is such a good analysis. I used to be Christian, and until this video, didn't realize how much anti-semite rhetoric was taught to me. I always thought that it was the Jews who killed Jesus, not the Romans. I never realized how problematic this false notion is. It was also great to hear an analysis on this movie, because even as a child, I remember it having its problems. I'm not up to watching it again, so I'm glad you did it for us. Thanks for your analysis!

Hi Leon! I have been a subscriber for many months now and really enjoy your videos. I find your analysis regarding religious films incredibly interesting and thoughtful. My question is what are your personal beliefs? (just curious:)) Thank you very much!

I love that the recommended next videos are Predator 2 and God is Not Dead. Perfection!

Magdelene wasn't the anonymous woman Jesus saved from stoning.

A movie about Jesus shot like Rashomon would be pretty cool, tbh.

If you want to read a meditation about why Christianity (or at least some forms of the faith) became an anti-Semitic religion, see the chapter "Christianity as a Distinct, Anti-Jewish Religion" in "Jesus, Interrupted" by Bart D. Ehrman, pages 237-245.

I've never wanted to see this movie considering that I expected that Gibson's hate would pollute it with bigotry. (I did research of the film though.) The video review/essay does a thorough job of illustrating this thesis.

My catholic school had all students sit and watch The Passion of The Christ and labelled it “essential viewing for your journey through Catholicism”. Honestly religious school are so fucked

Thank you. I have seen Doug and Hagan review this, but Doug used the kid gloves and Hagan revelled in the exploitation (as she is wont to do) even as she tore it a new one, which ended up dulling the key point of how reprehensible this propaganda movie is.

Had to watch this Movie in two go's. Geez this is Torture Porn, nothing more.

Thank you :)

So are you saying that anti-Semitism was built into the source material (the Bible)

do you know any christian movie that are good and teach good morals? because the only one that comes to mind is trigun (and yes i know is an anime) because it teaches morality and not politics

Love is all! *stomps on snake*

I may not be a religious person but I do find it interesting to see comparisons such as this between media and the bible.

I got an Israeli anti-abortion ad before the video... I have nothing else to say, I just thought it was funny.

The Passion of the Christ is a two-hour, mainstream, big-budget snuff film. Plain and simple. No, not literally the actual-videotaped-murder kind of snuff film, but it might as well be, because it appeals to the same perverse interest. It's different than most films, even those rife with many deaths, because in most films, deaths are to advance or add gravity to the story. In Passion, some guy's gristly death _is_ the story. It's not a movie about something, other than being about fetishizing the spectacle of a man being tortured to death as if this is a glorious event for us to be joyful for. That's a snuff film.

I wonder if gibsons desire to make a film about the Maccabee revolt is his way of trying to say sorry to Jewish people? It's probably silly to think so but I have to wonder. But given everything that's happened on his career I can't see that film materializing any time soon...or ever.

This movie reminds me of a meme I once saw around Christmastime: On one side, it had a picture of a wreath and said, "'Tis the season," and on the other side, it had the crown of thorns and said "'Tis the reason". That's all Jesus is to these twisted Christians, a blood sacrifice demanded by "an all-loving God" in order for us to be forgiven for the mistakes we make as humans. It never occurs to them that Jesus had an entire lifetime between his birth and death, that said lifetime was spent spreading a message of love, tolerance, and compassion, AND that all those things have to come from within ourselves and be shown to ourselves before we can extend them to others. In short, the makers and fans of this movie completely missed the point of what Jesus' life was all about.

I wish Diamanda Hagan's excellent review of the movie was still available online. She makes lot of the same points, with dark humor added. She apparently does have a copy somewhere. Hope she puts it on Nebula or something.

Hey Renegade, mind ever doing a vid on Apocalytpo(the other film by Mel)

the Q source and then Mark some 40 after his death. which is odd in of iteslf because it usually took a couple days to die, and the body stayed there.

I'm not sure.. but the Catholic scripture has a couple of books that the King James.... I love the movie.. but this is a great interpretation... of the truth. Love it because it makes me feel closer to God.. when I question Him... great job on your channel..

Wow I had no idea the like about the blood curse was related to anti-Semitism. I was raised Catholic, attended Catholic schools, so of course I saw this film. When I heard about the anti-Semitism I honestly didn't understand what people were talking about. Thank you for making me realise that its definitely in this film.

The animated, more 'Child friendly' version of the Passion I enjoyed on dvd in my Catholic youth had a disclaimer (or just a statement) at the very beginning that reminds the viewers (ie. Children) that Jesus and his followers were themselves jews and the actions of the Pharisees did not reflect the Jews at the time nor in modern day.

Just speculating, but could this be the forerunner to the now common 'Christian' films that portray Christians largely as victims?

What an unpleasant looking film. No wonder Caviezel got struck by lightning twice on set

Leon, you keep mentioning "My country" in some of your reviews. I'm curious where do you hail from?

Never noticed the anti-semitism. Always viewed this film as a way to visualize a semi-realistic passion that exposes the human element of the Jebus. Would just view the Jewish leaders as corrupt and power hungry politicians and the masses as those who did not know any better. This personal view is probably due to my Catholic upbringing making me watch the film in a very particular way. However, now that you bring it up, there can be a very different message here pending on your mindset coming into this discussional-minefield of a film.

I saw this movie for no particular reason when i was 6 years old and a had nightmares for days

One of the best I've seen so far.

My hyper-religious school required me too watch this at the end of 7th grade. At the time, I still considered myself to be christian, but I remember sensing that this movie was a bunch of bullshit, and being really angry at my school for forcing such blood and gore on young students. The main feeling that I remember from the whole experience, was just disgust. I'm grateful to no longer be a part of that culture. Thanks for making such a well thought out analysis.