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Summary: this is for people who were moved --> good and bad
Review: If you saw the Passion (I did) and were moved by it (I dont know how you couldn't be) then I think you would like this book. It is not only for people who loved the movie, but even those who were saddened by it. The photography is so beautiful and so detailed, you might think for a minutes that you are looking at photos of the real thing! It is a beautiful done book about a very powerful movie.
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Summary: Beautifully done.
Review: Other readers have commented on the movie as well as the book. I want to comment just on the book. It might seem that there is no need to buy the book if you have seen the movie (which I thought was wonderful). But when you see the still photos you can appreciate, in a way that you can't in the theatre (because you are so pulled into the story) how gorgeous the movie is. Many of the stills look like paintings and are reminiscent of Rembrandt and Vermeer as well as Caravaggio. I only regret that there were not even more photos. I wanted one of the scene where Mary holds Christ in the pose of Michelangelo's Pieta, for instance. However, there was a good selection.
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Summary: passionate interpretation
Review: This book provides an accurate textural and photographic distillation and record of the movie. As such, both the strengths and weaknesses of the former (discussed and debated to death in the press) are reflected here as well. For those interested in other, more objective and scholarly interpretations of the Passion from different perspectives, two books are worth having a look at. Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man by Ann Wroe is an absolutely brilliant interpretation of the history of how we have regarded this most important and confusing character. And to see how the element WATER figures into the events, consult the Prologue "Aponiptein, Dikaion Touton" (meaning "to wash off from" and "this innocent person" in latin) in my recently published book Deep Immersion: The Experience of Water.
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Summary: A Treasure to Keep
Review: I'm so glad I bought this book. Its even nicer than I thought it would be. This is NOT just a picture book. There is a foreword by Mel Gibson, and throughout the book, along with photography from the movie, is the story of "The Passion," with Bible scriptures - book, chapter, and verse, noted to back up the story. The pages are thick, with a rich feel and look. It has a very nice dust jacket with a scene of Jesus being forced to carry his cross that extends from the front of the jacket to the back. Take the dust jacket off, and the hardback cover has the same picture front to back. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially those who don't want to see the movie because they are afraid of the violence. This is a great book. It tells the Easter story and shows the story.
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Summary: He suffered and died just for YOU!
Review: If you saw the movie and felt like I did, this book will flood you with all those feelings again! When I saw the movie, I left like many others. I left saying, "I am so sorry God" and feeling totally shocked. Although I know that some details didn't follow scripture fully, I believe those were Mel Gibson's interpretation. But the main reason for the movie was to show you how Christ suffered and died for us. And I think Mel Gibson was true to scripture. Some people say, "How could any man suffer through that much scourging". Well, He wasn't a man; He was God in human form. Use this book to bring the scriptures to life in visual form. I think it will strengthen your faith as you are reminded what He did for you. Thank you God for sending Your Son, so that I may have eternal life.
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Summary: A movie about the human condition.
Review: This is an EXCELLENT movie. There is absolutely nothing anti-Semitic about Mel Gibson's "The Passion." The director has done a great service to those of us in the world who live with constant fear of brutality and injustice. He has certainly made those of us who are comfortable in our skins to consider what the alternatives may have been had we not been lucky enough to be born into fortunate circumstances. Jesus was a Jew. His parents were Jews. His disciples were Jews. He was judged, however unjustly, according to prevalent Jewish law at the time. So what? Many Christians were subsequently martyred by supposedly Christian states. Forget all this. Move on! All these people lived before any of us. That was their life. It's not ours. They're gone. Let's move on! If anything, the trial and persecution of a gentle man should teach us all to temper our own spirits and to curb our most ardent convictions. Stop it! Suffering is suffering. Brutality and injustice are just what they are. The six million plus Jews crucified on the swastika were ALL Jesus; they ALL suffered immeasurable cruelties; they all demonstrated enormous courage in the face of inevitable destruction. Christianity is nothing more than Judaism incarnate. The story of Jesus has always inspired an understanding of the levels of suffering that we, as civilized human beings, are capapable of inflicting on other human beings. How much much more energy will we expend on vapid Messianic theories and sanctimonious arguments? Leave it alone and let us all--Muslim, Jew, Christian--upgrade our spirits to a fuller understanding of humanity; without the racial and political boundaries. We are all brothers! The danger lies within the minds of those who do not believe this in their hearts. How much longer will be create schism and discord? Don't you realize that ardent defense of religious beliefs converts the believer into the very thing he/she despises? Let this story speak to one and all. See it without the narrow-vision microscope that may have been imposed on you through arbitrary birth. Smash it and breathe a sigh of relief.
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Summary: How Can Any Intelligent Person Say This Is Anti-Semitic?
Review: This book is a means for Christians who want to draw closer to their beliefs. Some reviewers call Mr. Gibson "profoundly anti-Semitic," but I contend that any who would accuse Mel Gibson and the message of this film of anti-Semitism, is him or herself profoundly bigoted. In this book and in the film, we see a group among the Jews, namely, the priests of the Sanhedrin calling for the assassination of Jesus. The book and film clearly portrays the duplicity and psychotic brutality of Roman justice. If one merely pays attention to the film and looks at the book without the clouding of anti-Christian attitudes, many people in Jerusalem were shown as mourning and protesting the torture and death of Jesus. History also demonstrates numerous accounts of the partnership between Pilate and Caiaphas. You can read this extensively in the writings of Philo and Josephus. This book, like the film is purely meditative in nature and meant for Christians. Like so many thousands who have experienced the images of this movie, I was moved to look at my faults and to desire to become a kinder, more compassionate person. It does not accuse nor condemn anyone other than all humanity. Reviewers who denounce this book and the film as anti-Semitism clearly have an agenda that has been pushed to exhaustion. At the same time, the true Christian condemns all anti-Semitism for what it is -- a blight on humanity. Further, any public forum that declares faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah is not anti-Semitic. If this is true, then the New Testament must be counted among the materials viewed as anti-Semitic.
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Summary: Re: Albert Greenberg
Review: To quote you: And no one--not Mel himself--could survive that kind of beating more than a half hour perhaps? But over two hours? Puleeze...It has all the reality of a sadomasochistic snuff show." Apparently you've never read exactly how and what happened to Christ as he was crucified. Or bothered to apparently. Apart from the never-ending pain - he ultimately suffocated - which is what happens when you are hung nailed to a cross. You do not die because of the pain. You die because your lungs collapse, filling with blood, causing you to suffocate. There is a very strong Christian-Judeo-Muslim religious tradition. And yes the three go hand-in-hand. But to deny that the Jews caused the death of Christ - is to rewrite history. This is not a new vision of hatred, this is our shared past. If you have issues with it, maybe you should read more. And for you to say something as, "Puleeze...It has all the reality of a sadomasochistic snuff show," not only shows your lack of knowledge, but does the same thing to the murder of Christ that the denial of the holocaust does to your faith. Write intelligently or don't write at all.
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Summary: Mel Has Great Courage
Review: Let me first say that I have not yet seen The Passion of the Christ movie, but I plan to. I have paid close attention to the controversy surrounding Mel's film, and I would like to voice my support for Mel. He has braved what is in my opinion ridiculous criticism for his work, from the so-called 'elite media' and from other groups. Some have out and out called him anti-semitic, while most "sophisticated" elites stear clear of calling him that by name but instead suggest that the film could merely inflame anti-semitism or hypocritically criticize the film for being too violent. For a great example of just how out of touch the elite media is, look no further than their tirades against Gibson. They claim to defend freedom of speach, but we now have learned that this ONLY applies to those opinions that they subscribe to. Some criticism may be legitimate - some Jewish leaders are genuinely concerned about a re-surgence of anti-Semitism...I would only suggest that they are mis-guided. Most who have seen the film have come away harboring no ill will to the Jewish people. Also, the core audience for this film - Conservative Christians - are probably the most pro-Israel group in the world. I believe that Jewish leaders have nothing to fear from this movie.
Some criticism has been legitimate but out of place, but some has been downright foolish. Look to Hollywood critics who blasted this film for its violence but praised such films as "Kill Bill" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
I am delighted that this film has been such a success, and I have heard that it even may become the biggest blockbuster ever made upon its world-wide release. Congratulations, Mel! God bless!
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Summary: The Passion fo Hate
Review: I can understand people being moved when they see religious symbolism that they have grown up with all their life being portrayed on the big screen. But please understand that Gibson's work is profoundly AntiSemitic. Historians agree. The early gospel authors did not want to offend Rome for fear of persecution. So they made Pilot sympathetic and made it seem as if "the Jews" were the real power in deciding the death of Jesus. Jerusalem in the time of Jesus was strewn with thousands of crosses--filled with Jews. That Pilot crucified! And if Pontius was such a sweetheart, why did he let his soldiers beat Jesus to a pulp? Didn't he even have control over his own men? Gibson's father is a known Holocaust denier. Gibson is either too cowardly to come out and say so, or he's too cowardly to speak the truth about his own hate. (He just rejects Vatican II that exonerated the Jews for the death of Christ.) And is Gibson really just portraying the Gospels? The scene where Jesus is thrown over the bridge is from the AntiSemitic ravings of Anne Emmerich. The raven plucking out the eye of the criminal? The weird gargoyle children taunting Judas? Is that "artisitc license", or MadMax on a binge? And no one--not Mel himself--could survive that kind of beating more than a half hour perhaps? But over two hours? Puleeze...It has all the reality of a sadomasochistic snuff show. Get a grip people. You can't spin hate. And Gibson is full of it..in every sense.
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