Perhaps the most beautiful of all artistic depictions of Christ’s suffering is Michelangelo’s Pieta. Yet its tenderness and tranquillity can lull the imagination into overlooking the sheer physical horror that Christ endured.

Students of that most mysterious of all relics, the Holy Shroud, have long researched in meticulous detail the secrets yielded by this haunting image: the bruising on the nose where Jesus was buffeted; the swollen thorax, as he struggled for breath; the fearful symmetry of the flagellation marks all over his torso and limbs, to name a few.

Now we have the much-publicised film by Mel Gibson to bring the truth of Christ’s last hours to mass film-going audiences. The publicity it has generated has been enormous, as have the attendant controversies: is it gratuitously violent? Does it take liberties with the Gospels? Is it anti-Semitic? This timely book is designed to answer these and other questions that film-goers might have.

It is a shrewd guess that for many people around the world the film will be their first encounter with the story of Christ’s passion and death. Apart from its sheer visual power, what will they make of it? All the answers they might be seeking are to be found in the Guide. Yes, there is violence, particularly in the harrowing scourging scene, but crucifixion was a most cruel and prolonged form of punishment. Yes, the director does take creative licence with the texts, but to deepen our understanding of the Gospel narratives rather than to distort them. Further, no-one having seen the film could make the charge of anti-Semitism, for it makes it clear that Christ died for the sins of all (and Mel Gibson makes this point forcibly by filming his own hand driving in the first nail).

As the book explains, Satan is real. Although not mentioned in the Gospels as ‘stalking’ Christ on the road to Calvary, the film is true to the underlying drama of our salvation, in which the devil is deeply implicated. Again, flashbacks to the Last Supper during the crucifixion itself make a subliminal link between the unbloody and the bloody sacrifice. The book points out that the film, although heartily endorsed by other Christian denominations, is explicitly both Eucharistic and Marian. It is also true that victims of crucifixion would have only carried the crossbeam to the site of execution and that the nails would have entered the wrists (as the Shroud shows) rather than the hands; that he chose ‘art’ before ‘fact’ here demonstrates the director’s creative deference to a long tradition of Christian iconography.

As well as clear, brief answers to obvious questions thrown up by the film, such as the age-old ‘Why did Jesus have to die?’, the book also includes an excellent chapter on ‘The case for Christ’, examining then refuting theories that he was a legend, liar, lunatic or ‘light and fluffy New Ager’. A further chapter puts the case for the claims of the Catholic Church. Finally, part 4 asks the reader/ film-goer, ‘Where are you going?’, giving practical suggestions for this personal journey that point beyond the celluloid, the plush seats and the popcorn. Appendices include the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, the Stations of the Cross and a comprehensive bibliography for the general reader. All this in only 86 pages. Bulk orders decrease the price.

Regardless of the cynics, Mel Gibson intended his film to evangelise - to share his own deep, Christian faith. This Guide takes us beyond its raw emotion and challenges us to examine The Passion in the cool light of our reasoning faculty. Why not invite non-Christian friends to see the film with you and then give them a copy? After all, it is a little different from that other blockbuster, The Titanic.

© 2004 Francis Phillips

Theotokos Catholic Books - Book Reviews Section - www.theotokos.org.uk