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With more than a suggestion of a horror film about it, Gibson's searing, bloody re-creation of Christ's tormented last hours - from arrest in Gethsemane, to trial, crucifixion and resurrection - is hard to recommend to any but the curious or the converted. Its insistence on the ugly physical nature of the ordeal is almost expressionist - the endless beatings, stonings, flailings and the like would have killed any man long before we see the welt-skeined, naked body hammered to the cross in slo-mo and extreme close-up. Arguably, the script by Gibson and Benedict Fitzgerald epitomises one Western tradition of gruesome iconic depictions of the Passion; but their extrapolations from the four Gospels suggest an anti-semitic interpretation that has no biblical justification, and their use of ludicrously intoned, subtitled Aramaic and Latin is a pretentious bid for authenticity. In technical terms, the film is occasionally impressive. Caleb Deschanel's careful compositions provide an ostensibly credible biblical setting, even if John Debney's epic-lite score is unable to match Gibson's extremist vision. But the film's characterisations deliver no insights. A negative and spiritually underwhelming experience.
Release Details
Duration:127 mins
Cast and crew
Director:Mel Gibson
Screenwriter:Benedict Fitzgerald, Mel Gibson
Cast:
James Caviezel
Monica Bellucci
Claudia Gerini
Maïa Morgenstern
Sergio Rubini
Toni Bertorelli
Roberto Bestazzoni
Francesco Cabras
Giovanni Capalbo
Rosalinda Celentano
Emilio De Marchi
Francesco De Vito
Hristo Jivkov
Luca Lionello
Jarreth Merz
Hristo Naumov Shopov
Chokri Ben Zagdan
Luca De Dominicis
Pedro Sarubbi
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