Friends Melanie Rubin and Mary Anne Peruchini decided early on that Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ” is too violent to see.
On Sunday, Peruchini, who attends a Protestant church in Glenview, joined Rubin in her synagogue, Congregation B’nai Torah in Highland Park, where about 80 Christians and Jews, most of whom had not seen Gibson’s film, heard it reviewed by an interfaith panel of religious leaders, all of whom reaffirmed Rubin’s and Peruchini’s decision.
“Because I have such good friends that aren’t Jewish … I don’t have to see it,” Rubin said.
Before its release last month, “The Passion of the Christ,” a depiction of the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life, provoked controversy. While some Jews charged that the film was anti-Semitic, some Christians lauded it as an evangelical tool.
Concerned that the debate could reverse decades of progress in Christian-Jewish relations, churches and synagogues across the Chicago area are co-hosting dinners and discussions about the film.
“It’s getting us to talk about what this movie means,” said Mary Ann Spina, a pastoral associate at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Deerfield, who served on the panel. “I hope what Gibson does for us in the film is to get us to talk to one another … and foster greater understanding and unity.”
But no one on the panel recommended the film, citing too much violence, anti-Semitism and absence of spiritual substance.
Rev. Mark Lund of Zion Lutheran Church in Deerfield, another panelist, criticized the film’s origins, faithfulness to Scripture and anti-Semitic overtones.
He said the movie is based on an amalgam of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all of which vary in their accounts of Christ’s final hours.
But Gibson also integrates pious traditions, passion plays and the writings of a 19th Century mystic, all of which distort Christian theology, Lund said.
Lund especially criticized the movie’s final resurrection scene, which he said was accompanied by a cadence resembling a battle march.
“With a new hardness not seen before, Jesus jumps up to seek revenge on those who killed him,” Lund said. “In Gibson’s version, that can only be one group of people. The [first] two hours and five minutes of the film make it clear just who is going to be in trouble now.”
But though some disagreed that the movie held the Jews collectively responsible for the Crucifixion, others questioned whether the flap about the film sparked enough curiosity to drive ticket sales and make the movie into the blockbuster it has become. For a second week in a row, it is ranked No. 1 at the box office.
B’nai Torah Rabbi Jonathan Magidovitch, who did not think the movie was anti-Semitic, said it is always better to address concerns than to stay silent.
“The deep respect we all have about making the movie is matched by the deep respect for people to talk about it,” Magidovitch said. “I think it’s healthy to subject the ideas to the marketplace. … Meetings like this one are part of that process.”
Panelist Audrey Gordon, staff chaplain at B’nai Torah, reminded participants that the movie’s distribution is not limited to the United States and could be seen in countries where Jews are already in danger.
“Should we have shut up?” she asked. “Are we too sensitive? I don’t think we are in a `too sensitive’ time.”
The unfavorable reviews disappointed Alison Kinard, 39, a parishioner at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Highland Park.
“It saddens my heart that you’re missing the whole essence of the movie,” she said. “It’s the message that Jesus came and he did what he did for us.”
She said she did not leave the theater blaming Jews. “If anything, I left saying, `Woe is me,'” she said.
Richard Liebman, 54, a member of B’nai Torah, said he appreciated Kinard’s comments, but the issue of anti-Semitism is too personal.
“If everyone saw the movie through your eyes, we wouldn’t have a problem,” he told her afterward.
Magidovitch responded to Kinard in kind.
“Bless you,” the rabbi told her in front of the crowd. “I want to share a world with you, and I’m grateful that I do.”
