The Passion of the Christ:
The Definitive Edition — Blu-ray 

Fox Home Video / 2004 / 126 / R
Street Date: February 17, 2009

Video: 9 / Audio: 9 / Extras: 5 / Value: 5
List Price: $34.98

By Kenneth J. Souza, Anchor Staff

In a seemingly sharp and sudden departure from his previous output, actor and Oscar-winning director Mel Gibson embarked on a personal mission to bring the story of Jesus’ sacrificial torture and death — the so-called “passion story” as told in the Gospels — to the silver screen. While many other versions of the life of Christ had previously been filmed — from early Biblical epics like The Greatest Story Ever Told and King of Kings to more recent depictions like Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth and Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ — Gibson’s film attempted to focus specifically on the final twelve hours of Jesus’ life … from his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane to his death on the cross on Calvary. Given Gibson’s own apparent proclivity for martyrdom and torture in starring roles such as Braveheart and the Lethal Weapon series, respectfully, it seemed just a matter of time before he tackled a film depicting the ultimate personal sacrifice: the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. What he and the others involved in this labor of love probably didn’t anticipate, however, was the amount of controversy and criticism that would be directed at the project even before its initial theatrical release.

 

Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is a remarkable achievement both in terms of its sheer audacity in depicting the brutal and realistic suffering and death of Jesus Christ, and its simple grassroots marketing campaign which went on to make it one of the most profitable theatrical releases of all time. That Mel Gibson was able to do all this on his own accord and without the initial backing of a major Hollywood studio only makes the film’s ultimate success that much more astounding. Despite the controversy over the film’s alleged condemnation of the Jews for the death of Christ — a superfluous point that proved to be wholly unfounded — and excessive criticism over the degree of graphic violence portrayed in the movie, people still went in droves to see The Passion of the Christ when it opened in theaters in February 2004. While it’s true that many of these seats were presold through church groups across the country in a well-planned marketing effort, there’s no denying that Gibson’s film became something of a media event that had both religious and non-religious alike buzzing about its initial release.

 

Those who vehemently criticized the movie for focusing strictly on the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life completely missed the point. Like similar potshots aimed at The Last Temptation of Christ — another controversial film that suffered from an exorbitant amount of bad press even before it had been screened — The Passion of the Christ was meant to be an artistic interpretation of one particular aspect of Jesus Christ’s life; in this case, the entire raison d’etre for his mission and ministry. Indeed, the so-called “passion story” has always been a focal point in Christianity — from the dramatic recreation of “passion plays” during Lent to the prayerful meditation on the 14 Stations of the Cross. And the argument that Gibson was somehow sadistically obsessed with Christ’s suffering and death outside the context of his life and teaching also doesn’t hold water given that he does provide frequent flashbacks during the film to brief but poignant scenes such as the Last Supper, the Sermon on the Mount, and the salvation of Mary Magdalene from a mob stoning. Granted, this is a strong R-rated film with copious amounts of realistic, graphic violence. But it’s certainly no less brutal or barbaric than many of the almost-cruel exercises in endurance that pass for horror films today. Perhaps it’s the notion that we’re watching something based on actual events that makes it that much more unsettling.

 

The film opens with Jesus (James Caviezel) and his apostles in Garden of Gethsemane, on the evening prior to his crucifixion and just after having celebrated the Last Supper. Christ is in agony over his impending fate and he prays to God the Father to spare him from what is about to take place. As he prays, an ambiguous hooded figure appears to torment him, suggesting he needn’t go through this ordeal. This devil incarnate (Rosalinda Celentano) tempts Jesus, but he resists, crushing a slithering snake under his heel. Soon after the Sanhedrin guards arrive with Judas (Luca Lionello) leading the way; the turncoat apostle betrays Jesus’ identity with a kiss on the cheek, and the guards violently apprehend him. But Peter (Francesco De Vito) fights back, cutting off one of the guard’s ears with his sword. Jesus implores Peter to relent and cures the guard’s wound by healing his severed ear back into place. With that, Jesus is led off for a late-night meeting with Caiaphas (Mattia Sbragia) and the other high priests of the Jewish Sanhedrin. After listening to a series of planted witnesses speak of Jesus’ “black magic” and use of “evil spirits” in this kangaroo court, the Sanhedrin accuses Jesus of blasphemy in claiming to be the Son of God and have him sent to local prefect, Pontius Pilate (Hristo Shopov), the next morning for punishment. Fearful of the following he’s gained, a select number of the high priests clearly want to get rid of Jesus who was proclaimed as the promised Messiah when he arrived in Jerusalem just a week earlier.

 

Already on thin ice with his superiors, Pontius Pilate doesn’t want to have any further problems and tries to first pawn Jesus off on King Herod (Luca De Dominicis), who is even less interested and impressed with the would-be Messiah. Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate. Noting that it is Caiaphas and his Sanhedrin elders who seem intent on punishing Jesus, Pilate then attempts to turn the now bruised and beaten Christ back over to them; but they cleverly point out that they are under Roman law and only the Romans can carry out the proper justice. Frustrated, Pilate orders that Jesus be whipped and scourged as a deterrent in the hopes that it will appease the Jewish leaders. Thus begins the film’s most harrowing and violently brutal sequence as we watch Jesus being scourged and flagellated first with wooden switches and then with leather whips with sharp metal hooks on the end of each strap. Flesh is literally ripped from Jesus body, rendering him weak and lifeless after the brutal ordeal. As if to add insult to injury, the Roman guards then force a crown of thorns onto his head and parade him back to Pilate and before a public crowd looking like a beaten and bloodied king. Still not satisfied, members of the crowd ask that Jesus be crucified for his blasphemy. When Pilate offers them a choice to release either a known felon — a man named Barabbas (Pedro Sarubbi) — or Jesus in observance of Passover, they pick Barabbas, thus leading to Jesus’ final condemnation.

 

Pilate orders Jesus to be crucified and he is given his cross to carry through the streets — an added touch the Romans used to both humiliate the condemned and serve as a public deterrent to potential criminals. It’s here that the movie strictly adheres to the Gospels and the ceremonial Stations of the Cross in following Jesus’ slow and painful trek from Pilate’s house to Calvary, where he will ultimately be nailed to the cross he bears. But Gibson adds some nice directorial touches to enhance the experience along the way — occasional flashbacks to Jesus’ earlier life and teachings, variations on each of Christ’s three falls along the way, and the gradual closing in of the crowd as they approach their destination on Golgotha. There is a touching sequence where Jesus encounters his mother Mary (Maia Morgenstern) along the way, and the two have an emotionally-charged moment where an earlier memory of him falling as a child is triggered by his falling under the weight of the cross. Constantly at Mary’s side are Mary Magdalene (Monica Bellucci) and the apostle John (Christo Jivkov), both of whom do some impressive silent acting through their facial expressions. Jesus also has a couple of nice moments with Simon of Cyrene (Jarreth Merz), the innocent bystander who is forced to help Christ carry his cross when he is unable to do so himself; and a young girl named Veronica, whose kindness in wiping Jesus’ face with her veil is rewarded with an iconic image imprinted on the cloth.

 

It should be noted that the performances here are all top-notch — especially when you consider most of the cast had to learn to phonetically say their lines in dead languages like Aramaic and Latin. Naysayers have been critical of Jim Caviezel’s performance, in particular, claiming he doesn’t really get a chance to do anything other than suffer and react to what’s being done to him. But Caviezel is actually quite expressive and does an admirable job in getting across Jesus’ amazing grace under pressure. His penetrating stare — especially in early scenes where he seems to absolve his oppressors with just a single glance — speaks volumes and his portrayal of Christ in the flashback sequences are all infused with a nice balance of authority and compassion. Other standouts here include newcomer Maia Morgenstern as Jesus’ mother, Mary; and seasoned veteran Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene. The former perfectly captures the essence of a mother grieving for her son with eyes full of pain and sorrow, while the latter balances the outer beauty and allure of a former prostitute with a reverence and respect for the man who saved her from a life of sin. The other star behind the camera here, along with Gibson, is ace cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Natural), who makes the natural Italian landscapes look and feel like ancient Jerusalem.

 

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

I can appreciate some people questioning how clear and detailed The Passion of the Christ needs to be given the realistic violence it contains. That being said, the transfer on this new BD edition is quite spectacular. The film’s original 2.40:1 aspect ratio is presented in a superb high-definition transfer compressed with the AVC video CODEC. This is a sharp and vibrant film-like presentation that exhibits cinematographer Caleb Deschanel’s artistic compositions in all their glory. Both Gibson and Deschanel based the look of the movie on well-known religious paintings by Caravaggio and Matthias Grunewald, among others, and there are single shots throughout the movie that could easily stand alongside these beautiful images in an art museum. Color balance is particularly strong and consistent, although the film employs a somewhat muted palette with plenty of earthy browns, sandy tans, and crimson reds. Having seen the film twice theatrically, I can attest that the transfer here is every bit as good as the projected film image and the key sequences of shocking violence — the scourging and the crucifixion itself — are just as unnerving and visceral as they were in the multiplex. There were no signs of compression artifacts, specks or blemishes; black levels remained deep, dark and inky; and flesh tones all looked natural and nicely-rendered. Overall, a superior and detailed film-like video presentation.

 

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

On par with its video counterpart, the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers a full and enveloping surround experience with aggressive and realistic sound effects that fill out all six channels. This is a vibrant and active audio presentation where sounds such as Jesus’ chains and shackles jingling as he’s taken away from the Garden of Gethsemane, brutal thuds and slashes as wood and leather connects with flesh during the scourging sequence, and the scraping and banging of the heavy wooden cross as Jesus drags it along the streets of Jerusalem are all well-placed in the sound matrix and pan across the stereo front and discrete surround channels. The dialogue throughout the film, which is spoken in a combination of ancient Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin — the original languages of Jesus’ time — also comes through loud and clear through the center-channel mix. John Debney’s wonderful score is also given a full and ambient soundstage with stirring high notes and smooth bass undertones. Music cues and directional effects play an integral part in the film’s general ambience and keep all six channels active throughout. Overall, a superb and dynamic audio presentation.

 

The Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

As if to make up for the bare bones, movie-only DVD released back in 2004, this new “definitive edition” of The Passion of the Christ offers a bevy of bonus material beginning with two versions of the R-rated film itself – the original theatrical cut and the re-released edited version dubbed The Passion: Recut that jettisons some of the more violent and graphic shots. To be candid, the difference between the versions is almost negligible in terms of running time – all told there’s about six minutes of actual footage that’s been excised from the recut version – and the bulk of the edits have been made in the intense and unsettling scourging sequence. As brutal and intense as the original version is, I still prefer it over the watered down recut version, which seems to compromise Gibson’s original intent and also smacks of a marketing ploy devised to warrant a second theatrical release.

 

The disc includes no less than five screen-specific running audio commentary tracks beginning with a filmmakers’ commentary featuring director Mel Gibson, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel and editor John Wright. While this is an amicable and easy-going chat, it is surprisingly devoid of substance and a little subdued, especially on Gibson’s part. Given his strong and passionate defense of the film when it was first released in theaters, I expected him to be a bit more excited and engaging here. This track also tends to veer off into describing the circumstances surrounding a particular day of shooting without providing any pertinent details. Next is a commentary track featuring producer Stephen McEveety, visual effects supervisor Ted Rae and make-up and visual effects designer Keith Vanderlaan. This track is a bit more lively and interesting and certainly offers more substance in terms of how some of the film’s seamless blending of practical make-up and post-production digital effects was achieved.

 

My favorite commentary is the theological track featuring Mel Gibson along with language consultant and translator Father William Fulco and theologians Gerry Matatics and Father John Bartunek. This is far and away the best and most compelling of the commentaries as it provides not only specific Biblical references and quotations to support each scene in the film, but also explains how the different languages were used and why. There’s also a music commentary with composer John Debney discussing how he approached the score for select scenes, and a fifth audio descriptive commentary track for the visually-impaired. Closing out the first BD in the two-disc set is a series of optional text footnotes that, when activated, provide specific scripture references, meditations for the various Stations of the Cross, and film facts and trivia at the bottom of the screen during the film proper.

 

The rest of the supplementary material is contained on a second dual-layer DVD that is divided into three major categories: Filmmaking, The Legacy and Galleries. Under Filmmaking, the disc kicks off with the feature-length comprehensive documentary By His Wounds We Are Healed: Making The Passion of the Christ (100 minutes). This is a detailed and dense peek into the making of the production that includes interviews with all the major cast and crew members, along with ample video footage from the shoot itself. As with the commentary tracks, the most interesting and revealing sections here deal with the film’s amazingly realistic special effects including test footage of Jim Caviezel in full post-scourging make-up.

 

The first of several featurettes is titled Below the Line: Panel Discussion (13:49) and is essentially a brief question-and-answer session between a live audience and people like cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, composer John Debney, producer Stephen McEveety and others during one of the film’s promotional screenings. This covers a lot of the same material contained in the commentary tracks and seems a bit redundant. Noticeably absent here is director Mel Gibson. There are also two deleted scenes including Pilate (2:08) and Don’t Cry (2:25). While neither scene is crucial, it’s interesting to note the former was deleted to omit the somewhat controversial line: “His blood be on our heads and on the heads of our children” as spoken by certain members of the Sanhedrin as Pilate “washed his hands” of Jesus’ condemnation; and the latter is one of the noted Stations of the Cross where Christ meets the weeping women of Jerusalem and tells them: “Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.” It would seem Gibson likely removed both scenes to avoid any further antisemitic accusations against the film.

 

Under the next supplementary section titled The Legacy, there are more featurettes including Through the Ages (11:56), which is an interesting examination of Jesus’ passion and death through various artistic depictions over the years and a discussion of how art has both influenced and been influenced by religion. Paths of a Journey (9:24) is a short segment on the Via Dolorosa, the seven-mile trek more commonly known as the Stations of the Cross which pilgrims make to walk in the footsteps of Jesus in Jerusalem. On Language (12:45) is a fascinating featurette mainly focusing on Father William Fulco, a Jesuit priest who worked with Mel Gibson to translate the entire shooting script from English into ancient Aramaic, Latin and Hebrew. Crucifixion: Punishment in the Ancient World (17:27) is a fairly self-explanatory examination of how crucifixion became the deterrent of choice among the Romans in punishing criminals. This segment features some interesting insights from people like Dr. Frederick T. Zugibe, author of The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Forensic Inquiry. Anno Domini (10:02) attempts to offer a brief update on the major players involved in Christ’s passion and death in the years after his resurrection.

 

The third and final section of bonus material is titled Galleries and is an indexed photo gallery offering samples of Production Art, Storyboards, Historical Texts, Art Images, Characters and Their Actors, and Unit Photography. The most intriguing section here is the gallery of Art Images from which director Mel Gibson and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel obviously drew their inspiration for the film – most notably from works by painters Caravaggio and Matthias Grunewald. There are also some neat behind-the-scenes black-and-white photos included in the Unit Photography section – most of which depict Mel Gibson directing various actors. This section also offers two different original theatrical trailers for The Passion of the Christ along with two variations of promotional TV spots for the film.

 

Both the 126-minute theatrical cut and the 120-minute recut versions of the film are divided into fifteen chapters.

 

Final Thoughts

Despite all the pre-release hype and controversy surrounding the film, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ ultimately remains a powerful and relentlessly realistic depiction of Jesus Christ’s passion and death — the culmination of his life and teaching — that hammers home his intense suffering and personal sacrifice. Violent and brutal and yet moving and poignant at the same time, it’s a movie that warrants attention, regardless of one’s religious beliefs. With superior video and audio presentations and an ample offering of comprehensive bonus material, this BD is highly recommended.

(Originally published by DVD File - www.dvdfile.com)  

And here is our very own Father William F. Petrie, SSCC, provincial of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, with his signature "Damien" hat, telling the busload of pilgrims all about the busy itinerary for the day which includes a quick tour of Washington sites, Mass at the Basilica at 2:00 p.m., and then a "luau" banquet back at the hotel later that night. Whew! How would we fit it all in?

This pilgrimage is apparently a rare instance when you travel south and find the climate a bit colder than expected. Yes, after leaving New England — the area that usually gets hit with several inches of snow on a regular basis — and traveling to the "warmer" climes of Virginia/Washington, D.C., we arrived with about four inches of snow on the ground. Perhaps this is St. Damien's way of telling us to expect the unexpected.

At left is the view outside my hotel window as we arrived.

But thanks to the skillful maneuvering of our driver, we arrived in McLean, Virginia safe and sound around 9:00 p.m. I'll also add the weary pilgrims were warmly greeted by none other than Father William Petrie, SSCC, wearing his black Father Damien hat, as they got off the bus and stepped into the snow. The long bus ride melted away after his warm welcome.

Plans are to depart at 9:00 a.m. first-thing tomorrow morning for a quick tour of D.C. sites and then head to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception for noontime to enjoy lunch there and the big Mass in celebration of St. Damien's Canonization at 2:00 p.m. I plan to post more interesting news (and pics) to post after all the festivities tomorrow, including a celebration banquet to take place here at the Hilton Hotel tomorrow night. Stay tuned, God bless and sleep tight ...

In preparing to embark on the St. Damien Pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. this weekend, I decided to start reading Hilde Eynikel's book, Molokai: The Story of Father Damien. The book was the basis for a feature film about the newly-canonized saint released about 10 years ago that stars David Wenham and one of my all-time favorite actors, Sam Neill (Jurassic Park). I might have to seek out the DVD of that after returning from the trip.

Father William Petrie, SSCC, has asked if I'd be willing to share my reporting with some of the media outlets in Hawaii and I've been in contact with the editors from both The Hawaii Catholic Herald and The Molokai Dispatch and will be sending them my coverage of the weekend in addition to what will be included in next week's issue of The Anchor.