Something I would like to note about the "biblical accuracy" of the scourging. While yes, the Bible itself doesn't go into much detail about the specifics of the flogging, if you do independent research into roman torture/capital punishment, you find that the movie is probably pretty on point.
The writers of the gospels most likely didn't find it necessary to focus on every graphic detail that happened during the torture itself, as the specifics of said torture weren't really the point.
That being said, the Romans took very much pride in their torture and punishments. Remember these are the same people that punish a legion for cowardice by making legionnaires divide into groups of 10, draw straws, and have 9 of the men kill the one with the shortest straw. There's do doubt in my mind that secular research into Roman torture methods was done for this film to more accurately portray what Jesus would have actually went through.
Now that might not make it "biblically accurate" but it does make it more historically accurate. Whether or not that matters is up to the viewer.
While I’m unsure as to how accurate this film is to Jesus’ actual torture and execution, it definitely is the best portrayal of his penitence, selflessness, and faith in his own species in death.
I remember my mom making me watch the whipping scene the whole way through and me crying halfway and her telling me how that was a sacrifice for me to live. I'm mostly agnostic now, and she's still very christian. It was very traumatic for me.
As a person who grew up in a Catholic country, the thing that shocked me about this movie wasn't the gore but the strong belief from Mel Gibson that it needed to be made. I know Protestants grow up with a small, flat, golden cross, not with the crucified, pleading, bloody Jesus but I still felt that any Christian just knows the story. I've never thought that anyone who was explained the basics of a crucifixion found it to be an easy death.
Okay, so I liked the movie. But you do make good analysis and points as to why you don't like it. With all that said, I just don't agree with you at all.
I grew up Catholic and watched this movie for the first time… probably around 6th grade? I can’t exactly remember, a lot of my childhood memories are pretty spotty these days if you know what I mean lol tbh I was extremely desensitized to the violence anyway by that point because I had been verbally, emotionally, sexually and physically abused as a child (the irony of growing up in a “good, religious community”). I’ll be honest, I haven’t even watched the video yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I liked the movie when I saw it. Then again, I was so young, so I didn’t understand the anti-semitism at the time. I was just taught to see them as the bad guys who killed our Lord. Funny but not funny story, I was dating a Jewish woman in college and one of my family friends had apparently said to my parents, “but you gotta remember, they killed our Lord!” And my parents told me and thought it was funny/true and I was just like “lmao wtf is wrong with you guys?” but anyway. I think there’s something to say about the artistic purpose of making the film so gory. Sure, it’s to help get across the point of all the suffering he endured and how he “did it for us and our sins” but another interpretation could just be him using himself as a demonstration of the corruption of power at the time. Say what you want about Christianity, Catholicism, etc. but Jesus did not deserve to die the way he did. He just spoke his mind and provided some insight on the human spirit/condition. The manner in which he died was tragic considering he didn’t do anything to justify it, but my interpretation was that he wanted to be the person to expose the abuse of power to the world by allowing himself to be an “example”, if that makes sense. I think people pull the wrong message from the story, honestly, because I don’t think it’s supposed to represent how much suffering a person should be willing to endure, but rather an example of the egoism and corruption in the institutions of power at that time. I don’t think it was meant to shame us (even though most Christians and Catholics take that stance even if they don’t realize it) but to make us aware that the powers at be in the world don’t truly have our best interests at heart. After all, how else can a guy who just spoke his mind and was supposedly a well respected and peaceful person who had some impactful and interesting things to say about the human soul damned to such a horrifying death by the Man? Envy? Jealousy? Self-Righteousness? All the things he had been exposing in him and his followers’ persecutors his whole life? Idk to an extent, I can understand the movie for what it was trying to do with its gory nature, but obviously the overt anti-semitism in the film and young children being shown this film are huge problems. My parents let me watch this movie before they let me watch The Matrix smh. And you could argue “Well maybe they thought it’s because PofC was a movie about Jesus and religion and that The Matrix is about philosophy which could potentially turn you away from the religion”, but even with that extremely flawed potential logic my dad let me watch Sean Connery’s James Bond shoot bad guys with guns and slap women around when I was 5 years old, but Ed, Edd n Eddy was considered “inappropriate” lmao
As a progressive Christian, this video was insanely satisfying and rewarding to watch. Really just a summary of what I dislike about America Christianity, Evangelism, and Conservatism. I think its important for any religious person to watch and take in critical media of your faith, even if aimed primarily at one sect of it, because it holds us accountable to not follow in their footsteps. We cannot back up this unabashed, antisemitism, authoritarian guilt fest. We need to make a better world by listening and refuting dominionism and fundamentalists with unconditional love. Amazing analysis, I was engaged the whole time and your rhetorical style was super intriguing. Again, thank you for this video
Your line "i'm sorry for being alive" Really hits me for how much christians so accostumed to the belief of inhereted sins so much that they having guilty consience for the rest of their lives
So I was 10 years old and attending a Christian daycare around the time that this movie came out (for this context, neither I nor my older sister were raised Christian by our parents). While I didn't see the movie around this time, the daycare at one point did have a book on it with full-color photos that showed Jesus being completely shredded and bloodied and gored and all that and it honestly didn't sit well with me. My dad did see the movie, but he was more unnerved by the amount of torture that was depicted in the film and the fact that Christians were taking kids to see it didn't help matter. Once I got around to seeing the film for myself as an adult, I immediately understood why he was unnerved– and this is coming from someone who would handle blood and gore in horror movies.
The true reason I believe Mel Gibson refused to humanize the Pharisees (besides anti-semitism) was that he didn't to leave any room for him and his fellow evangelicals to potentiality see themselves in them, because that would completely disrupt the narrative you mentioned he was trying to push of preserving the heirarchy and taking back control of this 'wayward world.'
Dude great video! I actually watched the whole thing while at work lol i remember coming out of the theater watching the passion feeling very nauseous. The same feeling i get watching a real life gore video 🤢
we were forced to watch it as kids in some bible camp and in RE class, i think i was like 12 there were some younger kids. We were sobbing and shaking, im pretty sure i had nightmares after. After the movie was finished some priest came over (it was screened in some class on a projector) and basically said that we are crying because we have so much compassion for Jesus and what he went throught and that he did all that for our sins and he loves us even tho we dont deserve it. Its just so strange whenever i think about it. It wasnt necesarily that. We were ugly crying because we were kids who saw a depiction of a man being brutalized on camera. Also the fact that there was shown a suicide on screen. I dont think no kids should ever see it. The same as kids are not allowed to watch gore horrors or Deadpool.
I grew up Roman Catholic and in hindsight, I'm stunned by the amount of old ladies from my church that went and saw it.
Something I would like to note about the "biblical accuracy" of the scourging. While yes, the Bible itself doesn't go into much detail about the specifics of the flogging, if you do independent research into roman torture/capital punishment, you find that the movie is probably pretty on point.
The writers of the gospels most likely didn't find it necessary to focus on every graphic detail that happened during the torture itself, as the specifics of said torture weren't really the point.
That being said, the Romans took very much pride in their torture and punishments. Remember these are the same people that punish a legion for cowardice by making legionnaires divide into groups of 10, draw straws, and have 9 of the men kill the one with the shortest straw. There's do doubt in my mind that secular research into Roman torture methods was done for this film to more accurately portray what Jesus would have actually went through.
Now that might not make it "biblically accurate" but it does make it more historically accurate. Whether or not that matters is up to the viewer.
My religious trauma with this movie is HUGE till this day, thank you for such an amazing essay!
While I’m unsure as to how accurate this film is to Jesus’ actual torture and execution, it definitely is the best portrayal of his penitence, selflessness, and faith in his own species in death.
I remember my mom making me watch the whipping scene the whole way through and me crying halfway and her telling me how that was a sacrifice for me to live. I'm mostly agnostic now, and she's still very christian. It was very traumatic for me.
Great video mate. Liked and subbed.
Shame on you!
I don’t think Stephen King should talk about a little girl’s body. Not after “It”.
As a person who grew up in a Catholic country, the thing that shocked me about this movie wasn't the gore but the strong belief from Mel Gibson that it needed to be made. I know Protestants grow up with a small, flat, golden cross, not with the crucified, pleading, bloody Jesus but I still felt that any Christian just knows the story. I've never thought that anyone who was explained the basics of a crucifixion found it to be an easy death.
Okay, so I liked the movie. But you do make good analysis and points as to why you don't like it. With all that said, I just don't agree with you at all.
I grew up Catholic and watched this movie for the first time… probably around 6th grade? I can’t exactly remember, a lot of my childhood memories are pretty spotty these days if you know what I mean lol tbh I was extremely desensitized to the violence anyway by that point because I had been verbally, emotionally, sexually and physically abused as a child (the irony of growing up in a “good, religious community”). I’ll be honest, I haven’t even watched the video yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I liked the movie when I saw it. Then again, I was so young, so I didn’t understand the anti-semitism at the time. I was just taught to see them as the bad guys who killed our Lord. Funny but not funny story, I was dating a Jewish woman in college and one of my family friends had apparently said to my parents, “but you gotta remember, they killed our Lord!” And my parents told me and thought it was funny/true and I was just like “lmao wtf is wrong with you guys?” but anyway. I think there’s something to say about the artistic purpose of making the film so gory. Sure, it’s to help get across the point of all the suffering he endured and how he “did it for us and our sins” but another interpretation could just be him using himself as a demonstration of the corruption of power at the time. Say what you want about Christianity, Catholicism, etc. but Jesus did not deserve to die the way he did. He just spoke his mind and provided some insight on the human spirit/condition. The manner in which he died was tragic considering he didn’t do anything to justify it, but my interpretation was that he wanted to be the person to expose the abuse of power to the world by allowing himself to be an “example”, if that makes sense. I think people pull the wrong message from the story, honestly, because I don’t think it’s supposed to represent how much suffering a person should be willing to endure, but rather an example of the egoism and corruption in the institutions of power at that time. I don’t think it was meant to shame us (even though most Christians and Catholics take that stance even if they don’t realize it) but to make us aware that the powers at be in the world don’t truly have our best interests at heart. After all, how else can a guy who just spoke his mind and was supposedly a well respected and peaceful person who had some impactful and interesting things to say about the human soul damned to such a horrifying death by the Man? Envy? Jealousy? Self-Righteousness? All the things he had been exposing in him and his followers’ persecutors his whole life? Idk to an extent, I can understand the movie for what it was trying to do with its gory nature, but obviously the overt anti-semitism in the film and young children being shown this film are huge problems. My parents let me watch this movie before they let me watch The Matrix smh. And you could argue “Well maybe they thought it’s because PofC was a movie about Jesus and religion and that The Matrix is about philosophy which could potentially turn you away from the religion”, but even with that extremely flawed potential logic my dad let me watch Sean Connery’s James Bond shoot bad guys with guns and slap women around when I was 5 years old, but Ed, Edd n Eddy was considered “inappropriate” lmao
I am also a formerly religious man named Nathan. I loved your fond recollection of the good parts of our previous faith❤
Also, best vid of 2023
from a religious perspective I wondered if this movie was actually sacrilegious in its showiness. wondered if it was exploitative.
Kitty!
As a progressive Christian, this video was insanely satisfying and rewarding to watch. Really just a summary of what I dislike about America Christianity, Evangelism, and Conservatism. I think its important for any religious person to watch and take in critical media of your faith, even if aimed primarily at one sect of it, because it holds us accountable to not follow in their footsteps. We cannot back up this unabashed, antisemitism, authoritarian guilt fest. We need to make a better world by listening and refuting dominionism and fundamentalists with unconditional love. Amazing analysis, I was engaged the whole time and your rhetorical style was super intriguing. Again, thank you for this video
Your line "i'm sorry for being alive" Really hits me for how much christians so accostumed to the belief of inhereted sins so much that they having guilty consience for the rest of their lives
So I was 10 years old and attending a Christian daycare around the time that this movie came out (for this context, neither I nor my older sister were raised Christian by our parents). While I didn't see the movie around this time, the daycare at one point did have a book on it with full-color photos that showed Jesus being completely shredded and bloodied and gored and all that and it honestly didn't sit well with me. My dad did see the movie, but he was more unnerved by the amount of torture that was depicted in the film and the fact that Christians were taking kids to see it didn't help matter. Once I got around to seeing the film for myself as an adult, I immediately understood why he was unnerved– and this is coming from someone who would handle blood and gore in horror movies.
The true reason I believe Mel Gibson refused to humanize the Pharisees (besides anti-semitism) was that he didn't to leave any room for him and his fellow evangelicals to potentiality see themselves in them, because that would completely disrupt the narrative you mentioned he was trying to push of preserving the heirarchy and taking back control of this 'wayward world.'
Beautiful film – didn't watch the video, i had to go walk my dog, ill watch it later tho! i Promise!
Dude you're back!! Wtf lol
Dude great video! I actually watched the whole thing while at work lol i remember coming out of the theater watching the passion feeling very nauseous. The same feeling i get watching a real life gore video 🤢
we were forced to watch it as kids in some bible camp and in RE class, i think i was like 12 there were some younger kids. We were sobbing and shaking, im pretty sure i had nightmares after. After the movie was finished some priest came over (it was screened in some class on a projector) and basically said that we are crying because we have so much compassion for Jesus and what he went throught and that he did all that for our sins and he loves us even tho we dont deserve it.
Its just so strange whenever i think about it. It wasnt necesarily that. We were ugly crying because we were kids who saw a depiction of a man being brutalized on camera. Also the fact that there was shown a suicide on screen. I dont think no kids should ever see it. The same as kids are not allowed to watch gore horrors or Deadpool.