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Norwegian killer confesses to bombings after viewing The Passion
They said The Passion of The Christ would provoke neo-Nazis, and they were right: in one case, it's provoking a neo-Nazi to confess to his sins and repent.

Johnny Olsen, whom the Oslo newspaper Aftenposten calls "one of Norway's most feared men," turned himself in to police on Saturday after watching the film.

"He said that it was the film that made him realize that he had to show his hand. He has been preoccupied with Christianity, guilt, punishment, atonement, suffering and conversion during the 10 years I have known him," Olsen's lawyer said. "It has been a long process but the Jesus film made the difference. Now he shows true regret and is ready to make amends."

Olsen served 12 years in prison for two murders in 1981. He has been suspected, but never charged, in the two bombings to which he confessed, against anarchist squatters in 1994 and 1995.

Even more shocking: it's not an isolated incident. A Texas man who'd gotten away with killing his wife turned himself in to police after seeing the film (though he may still plead not guilty), as did thieves in Arizona (video) and Florida.

More on The Passion of The Christ:

• The God squad | Mel Gibson has freed Hollywood's believers (Elihu Yale, The American Spectator)
  
  
• Hostile mood awaits Gibson's Passion in France | Panned by the critics and local church leaders, the controversial film "The Passion of The Christ" opens in France on Wednesday after winning a court challenge and getting the backing of a Muslim businessman (Reuters)
  
  
• 'Passion' hot in LatAm but Teutons yawn | Mel Gibson 's biblical epic is arousing very different passions around the world, ranging from wild fervor in Latin America and Poland to plenty of enthusiasm Down Under (although well below the manic level Stateside) and muted interest in Germany and Ireland (Variety)
  
  
• Boulder Creek woman helped put Jesus in 'The Passion' | Cole, 39, is a Hollywood agent whose client, Jim Caviezel, starred as Jesus in Gibson's film (Santa Cruz Sentinel, Ca.)
  
  
• Why all the fuss about "the Passion"? | "It is not to my knowledge that the Christians or the Jews have ever looked seriously at the Koranic version of the story of the Messiah. I think that if they have, they could have been spared a lot of nonsensical feuding over whodunit." (Hassan Al-Haifi, Yemen Times)
  
  
• Panel ponders 'Passion' positives | After a month in theaters, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is still prompting dialogue concerning its anti-Semitic overtones. But a panel of experts meeting in Sarasota said the movie is also bringing Christians and Jews closer. (The Sarasota Herald, Fla.)
  
  
• Gibson film "Passion of the Christ" stirs religious controversy in Kuwait | Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ has stirred a religious controversy in Kuwait between majority Sunni Muslims who oppose the movie and the emirate's Shiite Muslims who call for showing it (AFP)
  
  
• Gibson's Passion gets blessing of Manila bishop | The head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines has urged Christians to watch Mel Gibson's controversial "The Passion of the Christ," calling it a film of genuine artistic and religious value (Reuters)
  
  
• Paris court denies 'Passion' ban request | A Paris court Monday rejected a request by three Jewish brothers to ban Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" on the grounds it would foment anti-Semitism in France (Associated Press)
  
  
• Has Mel Gibson displayed too much of his own passion? | You either accept the ineffable horror of the Crucifixion or you don't. Seeing it in broadscreen and full living colour won't lead you a millimetre closer to accepting what - undepictably—follows (Brian Morton, The Scotsman)
  
  

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March (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48