the Passion - the review

Ever since the youngster saw Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, he's been bugging us to rent and watch it. Being more of a Ferris Bueller guy, I was not all that enthusiastic. I mean, I know what I believe and all that, but watching someone get beaten and crucified isn't my idea of entertainment, and that's why I watch movies....to be entertained. I know what happened. I just don't want to watch it happen. It's already real enough for me.

But after a few weeks of, "When Dad? When are you going to watch The Passion with me?", I relented. He wasn't letting go of it, and since, for whatever reason, it was important to him for me to see it, I figured it's part of being a dad.

So last night we watched it and, to be honest, my opinion hasn't changed a whole lot. It was a hard movie to watch. It was very violent. I don't doubt that it was brutally honest and a realistic portrayal of what happened, maybe with some artistic license thrown in. I knew it would be. That doesn't make it something I want to, or feel compelled to watch. That, and the youngster spent the night on the floor next to our bed after assuring me that he would be OK watching it a second time.

The Spanish Inquisition, the Reign of Terror, the Holocaust, the Mei Lai Massacre...more moments where the human race hasn't performed very admirably. We've done some pretty stupid shit through the ages out of fear, ignorance, or whatever, and I'm not that anxious to watch any of them on the big screen.