From the WSJ Opinion Archives
THE WESTERN FRONT

God's Second Act
Mel Gibson brings him back to Tinsel Town.

by BRENDAN MINITER
Tuesday, March 2, 2004 12:01 A.M. EST

Mel Gibson says his new movie, "The Passion of the Christ," is a story about love. For months critics have said otherwise--that it's gratuitously violent with anti-Semitic undertones, or that it risks sparking violence against Jews.

Now millions of Americans are judging for themselves. What they are figuring out is that the controversy surrounding this film says more about those who would have kept it off the silver screen than about the film itself. This is a powerful, important film that lays down a cultural marker at a time when the nation is facing its own struggle of overcoming evil without compromising its moral character. It's the right movie at the right time for America.

The critics are right about one thing: "The Passion" is a violent film. But it's not gratuitously violent. The story is about suffering and therefore had to convey the pain Jesus endured. Roman soldiers chastised Jesus with sticks and metal-tipped whips that tore his flesh away. They then forced him to carry a heavy wooden cross through the streets before being crucified. They pounded nails through his hands and feet before hoisting his body into the air. Scholars tell us that some men could survive hanging from a cross for a week. But the trauma from his whole ordeal may have killed Jesus within six hours of being crucified. Not showing the severity of that beating would have diminished the struggle Jesus had to endure and deprived viewers of a real sense of his sacrifice.

The brutality is hard to watch, but it is also essential to the story, and it offers an important lesson. Suffering is central to the human condition, something that all of us must learn to handle. Some clearly suffer much worse than others, of course, but everyone has a cross to bear. From serious disease to things not going well at work or at home, life is often difficult if not downright painful. How we endure these trials is a testament to our moral character. What Jesus had to endure is more than could be expected of any person. Yet looking down from the cross, Jesus forgave his tormentors even while still hanging in agony.

Judging by the applause that erupted in the Brooklyn theater where I saw the film with a mixed crowd of Saturday night moviegoers, it's getting a good reception from a much wider audience than anyone predicted. Which of course is exactly the outcome the cultural elite feared--a low-budget, subtitled movie based on the Gospels becoming a blockbuster. It broke all the rules--no one utters a word in English, it's deeply religious and is not geared for the lucrative late-teen-to-early-20s age group--and still it became a hit. When such a film reaps $76 million at the box office on its opening weekend, it is reflective of a larger cultural phenomenon. Movies don't have to be dumbed down to be successful, because the public is hungry for serious, moral films. And since nothing moves Hollywood like money, Mr. Gibson's gamble may now pay off for the rest of us. This will likely have a greater impact on movie content in coming years than any government regulation ever could.

In 1956 "The Ten Commandments," staring Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as a pharaoh enslaving the Israelites, came to theaters. The film, controversial at the time for its price tag, is still one of the top grossing movies of all time. In 1959 Mr. Heston was back to star in "Ben-Hur," another epic film with religious undertones. It won the Oscar for Best Picture. Today it is once again possible to imagine Hollywood turning out such films (especially if "The Passion" tops $200 million). Thanks to Mr. Gibson, God is back in Tinsel Town.

Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Tuesdays.

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