2 of 10

• The gospel according to Mel, drawing a crowd on 'Tonight' | Mel Gibson's appearance on Leno's "Tonight Show" to talk about his controversial flick "The Passion of The Christ" clocked the late-night talk show's biggest overnight ratings in four years (The Washington Post)
  
  

The sequel?:

• 'The Passion' could be a hard act to follow | Industry observers and players say the movie's windfall — some experts predict it will earn $350 million in North American theaters alone — will make studio chiefs take notice, if perhaps not action (USA Today)
  
  
• One-hit wonder | Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" may be rewriting winter box-office records, but don't bank on a big-budget "X-ploitation" movie genre just yet (New York Post)
  
  

Passion viewers:

• The power of 'The Passion' reverberates for believers | Folks can't talk after seeing film (The Washington Post)
  
  
• American pious | Mel Gibson's 'act of faith', his film The Passion of The Christ, opened in the US last week and caused an ungodly row amid claims of anti-Semitism. But the Christian right loved it … and bought the T-shirt (Sunday Herald, Glasgow)
  
  

Religious film:

• The uproar wrought by 'religious' films | An article from 1966 (Malcolm Boyd, The Washington Post)
  
  
• The man who brought Judas to life | It seems to me a strange thing, mystifying (to quote the show), that singer and actor Carl Anderson, whom audiences knew from the stage and screen versions of the 1970s rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar," died the same week Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" splayed itself into movie theaters (The Washington Post)
  
  
• More than a movie, this is sacred art | Some may see a good deal of "Payback" or "Braveheart" in the graphic violence of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ," but a close look shows that this film is in many ways a dramatic return to a very old religious tradition (David Morgan, Newsday)
  
  
• Scourging and buzz | Christian movies rarely inspire the word of mouth to launch a blockbuster (US News & World Report)
  
  

Passion violence:

• Movie misgivings | That Mel Gibson has depicted the brutal torture and execution of Jesus at length and in graphic, relentless detail is perhaps the only point on which all the friends and all the foes of his film agree (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)
  
  
• In the eyes of children | many parents nationwide who treasure the Christian message in Mel Gibson's film and want to share it with their children wonder whether their youngsters are mature enough to withstand the graphic scenes of Jesus Christ's Crucifixion and to absorb its meaning (The Washington Times)
  
  
• 6th-graders are shown excerpts of 'Passion' | Teacher on leave over R-rated film (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Parental approval for an R-rated film | For many Christians, the violence of 'Passion' serves a purpose (The Washington Post)
  
  

Passion in France:

• 'The Passion' will screen in France | Tarak ben Ammar, who manages Carthago Films, said he would distribute the film (Associated Press)
  
  
• No French boycott of Gibson's 'Passion' –Industry | French film distributors denied on Friday they were boycotting Mel Gibson's controversial movie (Reuters)
  
  
• French cinemas refuse to screen The Passion | France is the only European country where there is still no distribution deal for the film (The Daily Telegraph, London)
  
  

Controversies and critiques:

• 'Passion' tells free speech story of Crucifixion, Us versus Them | They say the movie is about love and sacrifice. I think it's about free speech (Laura Berman, The Detroit News)
  
  
• Gibson's Passion forced to find sanctuary | Today, the Easter People, the dancers in sanctuaries, those who claim They Are Church and all the assorted Lollards and Fifth Monarchy Men who have converted Catholicism into a crankfest regard the Passion with as much alienation as any atheist (Gerald Warner, The Scotsman)
  
  

next page... |  2 of 10

share this page

March (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48