Related: • Special section on The Passion • What Others Are Saying

Roger Ebert called The Passion of The Christ the "most violent movie I've ever seen." Many other mainstream critics also blanched at the bloodfest, complaining that director Mel Gibson got a little too graphic with the gore. The MPAA gave it a well-deserved R-rating "for sequences of graphic violence."

Even Christian critics—and millions of Christian moviegoers—found the film was gut-wrenchingly violent, warranting its R-rating. Some—including Christianity Today Movies—advised parents to think long and hard before taking their children to the film.

It appears that Gibson was listening to those comments. He and his production company, Icon, are re-releasing the film to theaters this week—just in time for Easter—but only after editing out some of the most gruesome parts.

The Passion Recut, coming to about 500 theaters nationwide on Friday, is about five to six minutes shorter than the original version, with some of the bloodiest scenes scaled back or eliminated entirely. Bruce Davey, president of Icon, told Daily Variety that "the scourging scene in particular has been substantially adjusted."

"I toned down some of the more brutal scenes without removing them or compromising the impact of the film," Gibson explained in a statement. "By softening some of its more wrenching aspects, I hope to make the film and its message of love available to a wider audience."

To that end, Icon and its co-distributor, Newmarket Films, attempted to garner a PG-13 rating for the new version. But the MPAA still deemed it an R-rated movie, said Newmarket president Bob Berney. (In Britain, Recut earned a rating of "15," meaning no one younger than 15 can see the film. The original version had earned a rating of "18.")

Berney said Icon and Newmarket have decided to release the film as "unrated" in the U.S., adding, "Perhaps it's ultimately somewhere in between [R and PG-13]. The end result is a shift in tone and balance that makes the film more accessible to a wider audience, particularly those that had concerns about some of the extreme moments in the original version."

Icon's Davey added that The Passion Recut was made "without compromising the integrity of the original film one bit."

As of this writing, Christianity Today Movies has not yet seen the new version (read our coverage of the original here), so we can't comment on just how much Gibson has softened the film's violence. But he apparently heard people's complaints about the graphic nature of the movie, and has responded in kind.

The original poster (left) was more bloody in its details than the new one.

"It has always been my wish to make the film accessible to as many of those who would want to see it as possible," Gibson said. "After the initial run in movie theaters, I received numerous letters from people all across the country. Many told me they wanted to share the experience with loved ones, but were concerned that the harsher images of the film would be too intense for them to bear. In light of this, I decided to re-edit The Passion of The Christ."

Gibson noted that The Passion Recut "is the same film in spirit," calling his original "a universal story of faith and sacrifice that speaks to the human spirit."

As part of their marketing strategy for the film, Icon and Newmarket have significantly softened the original poster image for the film, as shown in the images below:

This image is being used on the new film's promotional materials.

The newer poster also contains this blurb: "Re-imagined for new audiences to discover and everyone to be inspired by."

Additionally, the official website for The Passion Recut includes a section called "spread the word," with free downloadable flyers and promotional materials, all of which include the following image:

The warmer image of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane also includes a portion of the Gibson comments noted above: "By softening some of its more wrenching aspects, I hope to make the film and its message of love available to a wider audience."

Perhaps it will reach a wider audience, at least demographically. But the film will be hard-pressed to match the phenomenal box office numbers it reached last year—$370 million domestically and $611 million worldwide, making it the top-grossing R-rated film ever.

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) writes, "The slightly-less-violent revision is missing roughly six minutes of the movie's bloodiest scenes … softening the film's graphic nature a bit without eviscerating its emotional and spiritual poignancy. Even with the cuts, however, the cumulative effect is still too intense for young children and those sensitive to violence, though perhaps some parents may now feel it appropriate for older adolescents."

Copyright © 2005 Christianity Today Movies. Click for reprint information.

Read more  'News'

				Try 3 Issues of Christianity Today FREE! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Christianity Today as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

Subscribe to the FREE CT at the Movies Newsletter:    RSS Feed   RSS Help