Good and Evil Locked in Violent Showdown
'Passion' Disturbs a Panel of Religious Leaders

While we await the first take from Joe Vitus on this flick, I thought I'd start culling some preview links on Mel Gibson's The Passion. Personally, I go into this with an anticipatory mind, hoping to like it. That said, flipping through the paper version of the NYTimes at Starbucks, I still got the queasies when looking at this pic, which occupied about 60% of the above-the-fold on the Style section.

That would seem, in a nutshell, to give a single visual reference to what I anticipate being in for. What the Times gives coverage to is that while conservative Catholics and evangelical Protestants seem to find great solace in the movie, more orthodox believers may not. Given the movie's focus, this doesn't seem to stand as a surprise.

The movie, as I read, covers the final 12 hours of Jesus' life. That's a pretty narrow focus. It also meshes together much of the four gospels in telling the story, so there's a synthesis of narratives, and even a few embellishments, reportedly. The degree of gore and blood in the movie would seem to take things a notch up from perhaps SAVING PRIVATE RYAN in terms of its treatment of WWII combat. Without a doubt, that would seem to make a strong impact. So, with that, I can only add that I can't wait to get to the theater after work for this one.