NEWS: Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen: Talk About The Passion

CULTURE: Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen: Talk About The Passion

I got the Definitive Edition 2 DVD set of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ from Satya last week. I was living in Japan when it came out in theaters in America. I found the Japanese reaction to the hullabaloo far more interesting than any of the actual debate going on in America. The Japanese didn’t quite know what to make of all the fuss we were making. Kind of the way you and I can’t make heads or tails out of why the Sunnis hate the Shi’ites. When the film came out on DVD in Japan at Christmas time, the ad campaign made unmistakably clear that the Japanese take on Christianity was far different from the American one.



It's pretty hard to see the photo. But the image on the left is of a tired Japanese salaryman carrying a Christmas present to his girlfriend through a crowded train station (it looks like Shibuya to me). The tag line reads something like "Because Christ died, Christmas was born." The Japanese are very into Christmas as a secular holiday, but generally don't know bupkiss about Jesus.

Those of you who read my blog know I’ve always had a strong interest in Christ and Christianity. It was the film Jesus Christ Superstar that first sparked my interest in religion and I’m always up for a good Jesus movie. But I didn’t see The Passion until I rented it on video about six months ago. At that viewing I found it alternately boring and gratuitously gruesome. I ended up fast-forwarding through most of it. But when the 2 DVD edition came out promising loads of extras about the making of the film, the historical research that went into it, a theological commentary and even deleted scenes, I decided it was worth the investment.

As always, I watched the bonus material first. The most interesting section is called "The Legacy." This features short documentaries on various aspects of the film including the language used, the history of crucifixion in the ancient world, and a kind of “where are they now?” of the historical people the characters in the film are based on. This segment was interesting in that, when talking about sacred figures such as the apostles or Mary Magdelene, the producers stuck with the orthodox explanations. For example, though historians are almost unanimous in their opinion that the gospels were not written by the apostles for whom they’re named, Mel Gibson and company insist that they are. On the other hand, in the case of less sacred figures like Herod and Pilate, we’re given explanations that accord with historical scholarship. It’s this kind of attitude that always bums me out about the religious approach. Certain people and events are beyond question and must never be examined thoroughly and dispassionately. Just as the religious view holds that certain aspects of ourselves cannot be looked into or examined.

And while I was very interested in hearing the theological commentary, I was ultimately disappointed. At the outset, Mel Gibson and two Fathers, one of whom is a prof at Loyola Marymount, tell us how they can’t possibly express the depth of the religious meaning of the film in just two short hours. Then they proceed to waste our time commenting about the lighting and the fake fog and all kinds of other shit. I turned it off after half an hour because it was just annoying. I should have realized these guys were never going to point out where Gibson had strayed from the scriptures and why, or any of the real history behind the gospels. Buncha wusses!

As for the film itself there are certainly things to like about it. It’s exceedingly well photographed and the musical score is tremendous. I also like the fact that Gibson chose to present the characters speaking in as close an approximation as possible of the languages they actually used. He says in the commentaries that in the old Hollywood Jesus movies, Jesus is always an American while the bad guys like Pilate and Herod have British accents. I checked out a few of those and he’s right! It wasn't the Jews that killed Our Lord and Savior, it was the Limeys! I also noticed that in previous Jesus movies, Our Lord always has armpits as hairless as Lindsay Lohan’s baby-maker in contrast to the thieves next to him who are as hairy as a Penthouse centerfold from 1975. At least Mel Gibson’s Jesus doesn’t get Brazilian wax jobs.

But, while it’s very cool that he makes these concessions to being historical, Gibson lays on every bit as much Hollywood style gloss as any of his predecessors. Take the famous scourging scene. Please! Has anyone else noticed that every big Hollywood movie since the '70s has been required to have at least one scene that stretches its own premise to the point of complete unbelievability. Like in Superman, they get us to accept a guy that can deflect bullets and bend steel with his bare hands, but that’s not enough. They have to also have him fly around the world backwards so fast he turns back time. Same with the scourging scene in The Passion. First we’re supposed to believe that Jesus is all powerful and can do miracles like sticking a guy’s ear back on after it’s been hacked off. Then we’re supposed to believe that he stops doing these miracles and suffers like anyone else to take away our sins. But then he survives a beating that no human being could possibly have lived through. How come nobody in the movie is astounded at that? Plus that whole scene is so Hollywood. It’s the new trend to show us all the gore they used to save for slasher movies. Like those guys blowing themselves up in Letters From Iwo Jima. It’s as if we’ve become so desensitized as a culture that film-makers think the audience won’t really feel it unless they slam us in the face with whatever it is they’re trying to make us feel.

I was also disappointed in the resurrection sequence. In Cecil B. DeMille’s 1927 epic King of Kings, Jesus materializes in front of the tomb in full color — and this is before color photography had even been invented, so it’s all tinted by hand. Plus he’s got this amazing giant halo around him, just like Mickey Mouse in the old Disney logo. All Mel Gibson gives us is a set of empty robes on a marble slab and Jesus hanging around next to them looking bored. Puh-leeze! I want a real resurrection scene! With all the CGI and crap they have nowadays you’d think they could’ve at least done that.

Mel says he made the film to get us thinking about the true meaning of Christ’s coming. OK, I did. It’s impossible for me to believe that Jesus was somehow a different kind of being than the rest of us, with super powers and a hot line to God that we don’t have. If you take the story that way, I can’t see any useful meaning to it. That idea just allows you to defer responsibility for your own actions onto some mythical figure.

I tend to see Jesus as a guy who knew he had something very, very urgent and deeply meaningful to convey. In order to see to it that the message got out there he voluntarily became part of The 27 Club. You know how the truly iconic rock stars are always dead by age 27? In effect, Jesus died before he had a chance to make any shitty records. Before he went disco or got into fusion or produced his Combat Rock, Jesus had left the building. But his messy death insured that future generations would take his message seriously. Whether they got it or not was a whole different matter. At least they paid attention. The reverence that got heaped upon him later is exactly the same kind of reverence people these days give to Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley or even The Beatles who broke up before they got as crappy as the Rolling Stones managed to on their later records. Just multiply that kind of adulation by 2000 years. At the core though, was a young guy who felt so passionately about his message that he was willing to die for it. That’s certainly impressive.

The Passion, on the other hand, is less impressive. In fact I’m not too passionate about it (Har! Bet no one has used that line before!) The goriness, which Mel says is intended to drive home Christ’s message, just goes on for far too long and is way too graphic to drive home anything but nausea. It’s a shame, too, because it gets in the way of what is a rare attempt at depicting the historical scene as authentically as possible. As for the extras on the new Definitive Edition DVD, they are certainly plentiful and very well-made. Yet an over-cautiousness not to offend the faithful — including those who made them in the first place — gets in the way of their being truly useful. For a better take on the history of Christ and his time try Asimov’s Guide to the Bible, John P. Meier’s A Marginal Jew, or just about anything by Bart D. Ehrman.

Brad Warner is the author of Hardcore Zen and the forthcoming Sit Down and Shut Up!. He maintains a blog about Buddhist stuff. If you're in Southern California and you want to try some Zazen for yourself, he has a group that meets every Saturday in Santa Monica.

Fuck Jesus.

And hey!, COMBAT ROCK is brilliant.
Love that record.

I always look forward to your insightful, intelligent posts. You really are the best part about the newswire these days.

Yeah, Combat Rock is pretty great.

Now, Cut the Crap on the other hand...

What did we do before DVD extras? Life was a very loney and dark place.

Uh, just two...well, better make that three words:

WHITE FUCKING JESUS!?!?

i never saw this movie, and don't really intend to. Movies that are made to gratify and question my knowledge end up making me feel like i just wasted two hours of my life. They usually end up just doing something "on the edge" to draw more ticket sales, and i firmly believe that's what Gibson was doing with this movie.....he made it about the $$$ instead of the message.

However. I do enjoy reading your articles.

- 1 for all the talk about Jesus.

+ 1 for the REM reference.

Um, thanks for the movie review. Can we get back to zazen now?

I liked the movie ....and Im not a christian .....but in film essence I thought it was great.....heres a question did it take jews to kill a jew in order to bring about a new religion ,..which is essentially of jewish origin ...?