"Passion" Plays to Faithful

Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ opens in select theaters tonight at midnight. The buzz, controversy and officially licensed nail pendants are already here.

In New York on Tuesday, a city council member and about three dozen other Jewish leaders gathered in protest outside a Times Square movie theater. In Harrisonburg, Virginia, on Monday, a Baptist churchgoer "cried [his] eyes out" at a preview screening. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the headquarters of a Christian retail giant, sales of Crucifixion-inspired nail pendants boomed.

"We've actually been somewhat surprised by the interest," said Tara Powers, spokeswoman for Family Christian Stores, the 320-store chain offering a full slate of Passion merchandise. "Typically, you see a movie released, then people would go out and buy the product,"

Tie-in products, including a coffee table book and soundtrack, notwithstanding, there is little typical about The Passion.

Gibson self-financed the $25 million, two-hour-seven-minute, subtitled (Aramaic, Latin), R-rated (for "graphic violence") epic about the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus.

In the runup to release, the movie has been derided as anti-Semitic and praised as important. Gibson has been called "crazy" by 60 Minutes' Andy Rooney and a "talented genius" by evangelist Pat Robertson, also slammed in Rooney's commentary on Sunday's broadcast.

Film critics are about as split on the movie, if not its director.

At one point Tuesday afternoon, the movie review site RottenTomatoes.com had tracked 33 critiques--17 positive; 16 negative.

In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert called The Passion "the most violent film I have ever seen," which was more warning, than criticism. In a four-star review, Ebert said he was "moved by the depth of feeling, by the skill of the actors and technicians."

"I can respond to the power of belief whether I agree or not, and when I find it in a film, I must respect it," Ebert wrote.

Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan suggested the film would "unintentionally" comfort anti-Semites.

"What is profoundly disheartening is that people of goodwill will see this film in completely different ways," Turan wrote. "Where I see almost sadistic violence, they will see transcendence; where I see blame, they will see truth."

In the New Yorker, David Denby wrote that he thought to himself, "Mel Gibson has lost it," while watching Jim Caviezel's Jesus get bloodied and nailed to the cross.

"[Gibson's] obsession with pain, disguised by religious feelings, has now reached a frightening apotheosis," Denby wrote.

If ever a movie were critic-proof, it might just be The Passion--and all the church-organized, group ticket sales it has courted.

"It's a story they know. It's not as if the movie you're watching [has a] cliffhanger ending," said Powers of the typical Passion fan. (She herself has not yet seen the movie.)

Following Wednesday's night-owl screenings in cities such as Hollywood and Dallas, The Passion will play on a blockbuster-caliber 3,000-plus screens, en route to an expected debut atop the weekend box office.

Church groups across the country hosted private screenings for their parishes Monday.

In Portland, Oregon, local resident Miranda Parson told KATU-TV, "It was touching. It made my faith stronger."

In Harrisonburg, Virginia, Jordan Smith watched the movie with fellow members of the Rileyville Baptist Church. "I cried my eyes out just to think that Jesus went through all that pain and suffering for me," Smith said to WHSV-TV.

In San Antonio, Texas, one Lutheran church member told WOAI-TV, "It was more than I expected. It was traumatic, but it was the truth."

In New Zealand, the Cornerstone Christian Helpline is offering extended hours during the movie's run for those who need to talk about it.

According to Gibson, talk is what he wanted to inspire.

"This is what the Talmud says. This is what the Gospel says. Let's talk. Let's talk," Gibson said on ABC's Primetime last week. "People are asking questions about things that have been buried a long time."