If I'd known Mel Gibson had suffered from manic depression in the past, I'd have thought twice about using the "Mad Mel" tag in my Times column the other day. No offence intended.
As for the politics of The Passion, there's a very interesting take from Crunchy Con author/blogger Rod Dreher:
I asked a Christian friend of mine who works in the film industry what she made of the Gibson fiasco. She wasn't sure what to make of it, but she did say that anybody who saw "The Passion of the Christ" could tell that it was
a work that came from the soul of an artist struggling in darkness. I couldn't agree more - which is what helped make it such a profoundly moving film. I've seen it three or four times, and it never fails to shatter me.
I doubt I would feel that way if I were not a believing Christian, but I am, and as someone who has watched every Jesus film committed to celluloid (had to, for a Weekly Standard piece I did a few years ago), I can say that nothing cracked me open and ripped me apart spiritually like the Gibson version did....
If Mel Gibson's intent in "The Passion of the Christ" was to turn the Christian masses against the Jews, he plainly failed. In fact, the impression I got from the film was of the tragic circumstances that the Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilate found themselves in: both of them truly thought they were doing the right thing.
That still leaves us with those deeply suspect comments about the Holocaust. Andrew Sullivan's interpretation makes sense to me.
