Well, I saw the movie last night that everyone' s talking about. "The Passion of the Christ". I have to admit, I was very curious to see this movie, since it's been talked about for more then a year now. Soooooooooo, what did I think?

I will say, I was quite familiar with the story of the Passion of Christ, having grown up in church. I knew going in that the movie will be violent, seeing Jesus brutally whipped and beaten. The movie certainly showed this in graphic detail. I didn't find it overwhelming, though I realize other people may do so. Then again, the Bible is violent and not pretty in places. I did find the scenes of the suffering Christ quite sobering.

Actually, I thought the most moving scenes were moments of grace that stood out among the violence:
- Seeing the soldier whose ear was cut off by Peter, then healed by Jesus, lingering in wonder, after everyone else leaves.
- The flashback scenes with Jesus and his mother, the humanity and love of their relationship.
- The scene with Mary Magdalene (the woman caught in adultery) clinging to Jesus's foot after being spared judgement.
- Simon the Cyrene, who helped Jesus carry the cross, and the young girl who offered Jesus a drink of water before being chased away by the guards. These scenes meant more to me than seeing how many different kinds of whips Jesus got scourged with, or how much he could bleed

Other good things about the film
- The scene with the earthquake, with the temple leaders looking around in astonishment. A powerful statement.
- The representation of Satan was mysterious, oddly alluring, and positively creepy.
- The cinematography was excellent. Except for the violence, many scenes were beautifully shot.
- The portrayal of Pontius Pilate, as a man who hated his job and was forced into an unenviable position.
- Monica Belluci. :)

Things I didn't like as much:
- As important as it was to see that Jesus truly did suffer physically, I thought the sheer volume of the violence shown was a little bit of overkill. I became numb after a while. I believe with briefer scenes of the bloody suffering Jesus, the impact of those scenes would have been more powerful.
- Why, oh why, did we have to see that maggot-infested dead horse? Was that really necessary?
- If memory serves me correctly, I believe, Roman law only allowed up to 39 blows to be given during the scourging, these soldiers sure didn't know how to count.
-The Roman soldiers beating Jesus were shown as pure animals, scourging with utter delight, not showing even an ounce of humanity. They almost seemed cartoonish.

In summary, I recommend this movie as a powerful work of art with some minor flaws.