The Passion Of The Christ (2004)

Few stories have shaped human history as deeply as the final hours of Jesus of Nazareth, and few films have depicted them with such unflinching intensity. Long after the controversy and heated debate have faded, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" remains a film impossible to ignore. Dismissed by some early on as "Gibson's folly," it was in the end an act of personal conviction for its director, who financed the $30 million production himself to realize his vision of the Passion - here meaning "suffering" - as a raw, uncompromising portrayal of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life. Drawn closely from the Gospels and spoken entirely in Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin with subtitles, it unfolds as a relentless ordeal of scourging and crucifixion. For believers and nonbelievers alike, this isn't a film meant to entertain, nor one you simply like or dislike. It exists for one purpose: to depict the suffering and death of Jesus in such harrowing detail - Gibson's own hand is seen driving the nails - that even skeptics may feel a pang of sorrow. Jim Caviezel's portrayal of Jesus is less a performance than an act of complete surrender, so intense that some viewers may be moved not only for Christ but for Caviezel's extraordinary endurance. Maia Morgenstern is heartbreaking as Mary, and Monica Bellucci co-stars as Mary Magdalene. The film drew accusations of antisemitism from critics and some religious leaders, which Gibson denied, even as it became a massive worldwide hit and earned three Oscar nominations, including one for Caleb Deschanel's cinematography.