The Passion of the Christ
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 film co-written, co-produced and directed by Mel Gibson. It is based on the biblical stories of Jesus of Nazareth and focuses on his last twelve hours. It details his arrest, trial, and crucifixion, events commonly known as "The Passion".
Plot
In Gethsemane, Jesus Christ prays in the night while his disciples Peter, James, and John sleep. Satan appears to Jesus in a hooded ghost-like androgynous, albino form, and tempts him. Jesus' sweat turns into blood and drips to the ground while a serpent emerges from Satan's guise. Hearing his disciples, he rebukes Satan by crushing the snake's head.
Bribed disciple Judas Iscariot leads a group of temple guards to the forest and betrays Jesus' identity. As the guards arrest Jesus, a fight erupts wherein Peter draws his dagger and slashes the ear of Malchus, one of the guards and a servant of the high priest Caiaphas. Jesus heals Malchus' injury while reprimanding Peter. As the disciples flee, the guards secure Jesus, and beat him during the journey to the Sanhedrin.
John informs Mary, mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene of the arrest, while Peter follows Jesus and his captors. Magdalene begs a passing Roman patrol to intervene but a temple guard claims she is unbalanced. Caiaphas holds trial over the objection of some priests who are expelled from the court, during which false accusations and witnesses are brought against Jesus. When Caiaphas asks him whether he is the Son of God, Jesus replies, "I am". Caiaphas angrily tears his robes and Jesus is condemned to death for blasphemy. Peter is confronted by the surrounding mob for following Jesus. After cursing at the mob during the third denial, Peter flees when he recalls Jesus's forewarning of his defense. A guilt-ridden Judas attempts to return the money he was paid in order to have Jesus freed, but is refused by the priests. Tormented by demons, he runs away from the city and hangs himself.
Caiaphas brings Jesus before Pontius Pilate to be condemned to death, but at the urging of Pilate's wife Claudia, who knows Jesus is a man of God, and after questioning Jesus and finding no fault, Pilate transfers him to the court of Herod Antipas, as Jesus is from Antipas' ruling town of Nazareth, Galilee. After Jesus is found not guilty and returned, Pilate offers the crowd the choice of chastising Jesus or releasing him. He attempts to have Jesus freed by the peoples' choice between Jesus and violent criminal Barabbas. The crowd demands Barabbas be freed and Jesus crucified. Attempting to appease the crowd, Pilate orders that Jesus simply be flogged. The Roman guards scourge, abuse, and mock Jesus, before taking him to a barn where they place a crown of thorns on his head and tease him saying “Hail, king of the Jews”. A mutilated Jesus is presented before Pilate, but Caiaphas, with the crowds' verbal backing, continues demanding that Jesus be crucified and Barabbas released. Pilate reluctantly orders Jesus' crucifixion. Satan observes Jesus' sufferings with sadistic pleasure.
As Jesus carries a heavy wooden cross along the Via Dolorosa to Calvary, a woman avoids the escort of soldiers and requests that Jesus wipe his face with her cloth, to which he consents. She offers Jesus a pot of water to drink but the guard hurls it away and dispels her. During the journey to Golgotha, Jesus is beaten by the guards until the unwilling Simon of Cyrene is forced into carrying the cross with him. At the end of their journey, with his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and others witnessing, Jesus is crucified.
Hanging from the cross, Jesus prays to God asking forgiveness for his tormentors, and provides salvation to a criminal crucified beside him, for his strong faith and repentance. Succumbing to impending death, Jesus surrenders his spirit to the Father and dies. A single droplet of rain falls from the sky to the ground, triggering an earthquake which destroys the temple and rips the veil covering the Holy of Holies in two, as Satan screams in defeat from the depths of Hell. Jesus' body is taken down from the cross and entombed. Three days later, Jesus rises from the dead and exits the tomb resurrected, with wound holes visible on his palms.
