Taglines: 12 Hours That Changed the World.
The Passion of The Christ is a film about the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth’s life. The film opens in the Garden of Olives (Gethsemane) where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Jesus resists Satan’s temptations. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus is arrested and taken back to within the city walls of Jerusalem where the leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death.
Jesus is brought before Pilate, the Roman Governor of Palestine, who listens to the accusations leveled at him by the Pharisees. Realizing he is confronting a political conflict, Pilate defers to King Herod in the matter. Herod returns Jesus to Pilate who gives the crowd a choice between Jesus and the criminal Barrabas. The crowd chooses to have Barrabas set free and to condemn Jesus. Jesus is handed over to the Roman soldiers and flagellated. Unrecognizable now, he is brought back before Pilate, who presents him to the crowd as if to say “is this not enough’” It is not.
Pilate washes his hands of the entire dilemma, ordering his men to do as the crowd wishes. Jesus is presented with the cross and is ordered to carry it through the streets of Jerusalem all the way up to Golgotha. On Golgotha, Jesus is nailed to the cross and undergoes his last temptation – the fear that he has been abandoned by his Father. He overcomes his fear, looks at Mary, his Holy Mother, and makes the pronouncement which only she can fully understand, “it is accomplished.” He then dies: “into Thy hands I commend my Spirit.” At the moment of his death, nature itself overturns.
In Rome, where centuries of human history tumble past in stone, marble and paint, Academy Award-winning director Mel Gibson recently recreated an even more ancient world: that of Jerusalem on the final day of Jesus Christ’s life for the film The Passion of The Christ . Collaborating with an accomplished cast and a devoted crew of artisans, Gibson revisited this eternal story with the uncompromising realism and raw emotion of contemporary cinema.
The Passion of the Christ (also known simply as The Passion) is a 2004 American biblical drama film directed by Mel Gibson, written by Gibson and Benedict Fitzgerald, and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus Christ, Maia Morgenstern as the Virgin Mary, and Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene. It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It also draws on pious accounts such as the Friday of Sorrows along with other devotional writings, such as the reputed Marian apparitions attributed to Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.
The film primarily covers the final twelve hours of Jesus’ life, beginning with the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the insomnia and grievance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the brutal scourge and crucifixion, ending with a brief depiction of his resurrection.
The film has been controversial and received mixed reviews, with some critics finding the extreme violence distracting and excessive, as well as claiming that the film subliminally promoted antisemitism. The film grossed $612 million during its theatrical release. It received three Academy Award nominations in 2005. It remains the highest grossing non-English language film of all time.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Directed by: Mel Gibson
Starring: Jim Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern, Monica Bellucci, Mattia Sbragia, Hristo Shopov, Claudia Gerini, Maia Morgenstern, Francesco De Vito, Luca Lionello, Fabio Sartor
Screenplay by: Enzo Sisti, Mel Gibson, Steve McEveety
Production Design by: Francesco Frigeri
Cinematography by: Caleb Deschanel
Film Editing by: Steve Mirkovich, John Wright
Costume Design by: Maurizio Millenotti
Set Decoration by: Carlo Gervasi
Art Direction by: Pierfranco Luscrì, Daniela Pareschi, Nazzareno Piana
Music by: John Debney
MPAA Rating: R for sequences of graphic violence.
Distributed by: Newmarket Films
Release Date: February 25, 2004
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