Tuesday, March 02, 2004
The Passion part 2
I went to see the Pasison again last night, with the first private screening of Springwood Churh of Christ. It was a completely different experience to last time -ie I stayed awake! I discovered that the story was much stronger than I thought and there were many quite powerful scenes.
I particularly liked the way the audience was encouraged to sympathise with Mary - an often forgotten or disregarded figure amongst protestants. Probably my favourite scene was when Mary watched Jesus fall, then remembered seeing Jesus fall as a small child. To me that scene hit emotionally the best, as anyone could resonate with the pain of a mother watching their young child fall - and you could imagine the magnification of agony that watching a child go through so much more pain would entail. Maybe it is simply impending fathergood striking me, but that was quite moving to me personally.
The scene of Peter's denial I found quite strong also, especially Jesus and Peter exchanging glances. I must admit that the scene was very different to the strong image I previously had in my head. I went home afterwards and reread all 4 gospel accounts of the passion, and decided that for the Peter betrayals I'll stick to my existing image - less people, a bit darker, outside the main room.
Pilate seemed a particularly strong character - strong in the sense of characterisation, not in terms of convictons or moral fibre. He seemed realistic and human. I found myself thinking very loudly "You've got to release Him! You can''t crucify Him - show some courage!" Which I thought was a bit strange, given I knew the ending, and furthermore understand the necessity of the crucifixion (as much as I can understand this mystery!)
It was also nice to see the way evil was portrayed - Pilate and Judas both seemed very human and not just pure evil. It is easier to imagine "bad people" as purely bad, and imagine ourselves as "good people", but truth is much more complicated in that we all are bad and have potential for incredible evil. I particularly like the way Satan was portrayed as an attractive person, rather than a caricature of evil, hideously ugly - again going against the stereotypes of evil as being recognisable and "other people."
Overall, it was very powerful. I cried a bit, while Ruth had to look away and bawled through large amounts. Some people had to leave during the film, while many looked quite harrowed as they walked out at the end.
(0) comments
I went to see the Pasison again last night, with the first private screening of Springwood Churh of Christ. It was a completely different experience to last time -ie I stayed awake! I discovered that the story was much stronger than I thought and there were many quite powerful scenes.
I particularly liked the way the audience was encouraged to sympathise with Mary - an often forgotten or disregarded figure amongst protestants. Probably my favourite scene was when Mary watched Jesus fall, then remembered seeing Jesus fall as a small child. To me that scene hit emotionally the best, as anyone could resonate with the pain of a mother watching their young child fall - and you could imagine the magnification of agony that watching a child go through so much more pain would entail. Maybe it is simply impending fathergood striking me, but that was quite moving to me personally.
The scene of Peter's denial I found quite strong also, especially Jesus and Peter exchanging glances. I must admit that the scene was very different to the strong image I previously had in my head. I went home afterwards and reread all 4 gospel accounts of the passion, and decided that for the Peter betrayals I'll stick to my existing image - less people, a bit darker, outside the main room.
Pilate seemed a particularly strong character - strong in the sense of characterisation, not in terms of convictons or moral fibre. He seemed realistic and human. I found myself thinking very loudly "You've got to release Him! You can''t crucify Him - show some courage!" Which I thought was a bit strange, given I knew the ending, and furthermore understand the necessity of the crucifixion (as much as I can understand this mystery!)
It was also nice to see the way evil was portrayed - Pilate and Judas both seemed very human and not just pure evil. It is easier to imagine "bad people" as purely bad, and imagine ourselves as "good people", but truth is much more complicated in that we all are bad and have potential for incredible evil. I particularly like the way Satan was portrayed as an attractive person, rather than a caricature of evil, hideously ugly - again going against the stereotypes of evil as being recognisable and "other people."
Overall, it was very powerful. I cried a bit, while Ruth had to look away and bawled through large amounts. Some people had to leave during the film, while many looked quite harrowed as they walked out at the end.
