The Passion of the Christ

After my break from blogging, I'm back. I think the idea of having to write a post about this movie is part of what kept me away for so long. How does one discuss such an iconic piece of history on film?
The Passion of the Christ is about the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, beginning with his temptation in the Garden of Gethsemanee. If you don't know the story, I'd suggest reading it in the Bible (some good places to look: Mark 14-16, John 18-20, Luke 22-24 & Matthew 26-28). However, if that seems like too much work, I can summarize. In the garden, Jesus is tempted by the devil to disobey God's commandment to sacrifice himself on the cross. The disciples are supposed to be praying for him, staying awake with him on his last night, but they keep falling asleep. Then Judas leads soldiers to Jesus, identifying him by kissing him. He is then tried by the Jewish leaders for falsely claiming to be the saviour and for his preaching and performing miracles as a part of that. Meanwhile, his disciple Peter denies three times that he knows Jesus. The Jews take Jesus to Pilate the next day to have him proclaim a sentence, but he questions whether it is the right choice, and asks the people whether they would rather crucify Jeaus or a known murderer. They choose Jesus. So he is beaten, then nailed to a cross, between two criminals, and he is given a sign and a crown of thorns to mock his claim to be king of the Jews. 
He does and is buried in a tomb, blocked by a large rock and guarded by soldiers. People are afraid that his followers will retrieve his body to prove that prophecies of him coming back after three days were true. However, he rises of his own power and walks out of the tomb to meet his followers once more before ascending to heaven.
That is the part of his life that this movie shows, and it does it really well. All of the characters speak their proper languages (Hebrew, Roman) and the whole thing has subtitles, but you get used to it pretty quickly. As a historical film, The Passion of the Christ does a great job of replicating settings and events. Even if people do not believe that Jesus was the Christ, it shouldn't be denied that these events happened (though perhaps not every detail depicted). Thus, as a historical film it is really good.
One thing that was a little out of character was the depiction of scenes including the devil. He looked like a beautiful woman who shaved her head and dressed up as Voldemort. And suddenly, every time he appeared, the scenes got a very artsy indie feel to them.
This movie is heartbreaking to watch, although perhaps not as much as I had expected. It's powerful, not just something you watch casually. But I think everyone should see it at least once, just to understand.

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