Right after I clicked on the link for this website, I knew I was in for something deep. The introductory screen began with this quote: “You are my friends, and the greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them.” This was followed close behind by the main splash page, which depicted the Messiah crucified between two thieves, and just below were several choices relating to the movie.
Visually, the movie does not appear to be a false interpretation of Gospel so far. The greatest example comes in a screenshot from the film, where Jesus is standing trial a second time after being severely flogged. There is no watering-down of the violence in this scene-the actor portraying Christ is almost completely stained with blood, from head to foot.
Not only that, but the crown of thorns do appear to be piercing his scalp, whether or not Caviezel actually shows this emotion.
However, the website does raise a few questions–why begin the experience with a quote that does not appear to be Biblical, but rather from a movie script? Moreover, why are there no captions relating to the small assortment of photographs from the film? It is easy to spot the Virgin Mary in one of these shots, but on the other hand, the identity of the bareheaded woman further down remains a mystery. So also does the identity of the man sitting on Jesus’ left, during the key scene of the Last Supper.
Along with these small mistakes, there are also other parts I would have worked on. For example, perhaps there should not have been a music player in the right-hand corner, since it provides the viewer with a continuous soundtrack that can almost never be turned off. And perhaps the ‘Spread the Word’ section should also be removed, since it focuses more on the movie than the actual message of Christ’s Passion.
Friday, July 4, 2025