Mel Gibson Stirs Passions

Posted on February 24, 2004

Who could forget a young and handsome Australian named Mel Gibson in Mad Max, the film that made him famous? And who knew that he'd turn from the People's Sexiest Man Alive to today's Most Controversial Director Alive?

I haven't yet seen The Passion of the Christ, Gibson's film which portrays the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus Christ. So far, critics either love it or hate it. Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper loved it. Roeper said, "This is the most powerful, important and by far the most graphic interpretation of Christ's final hours ever put on film." But David Ansen of Newsweek said it "plays like the Gospel according to the Marquis de Sade ... an R-rated inspirational movie no child can, or should, see ... Gibson's movie is more likely to inspire nightmares than devotion." Ouch.

So what is this movie: a brilliant and moving portrayal of the greatest story ever told or an anti-Semitic, violent gore-fest? I suppose I'll have to see it for myself before I can give an opinion