Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ has arrived, and with it a deluge of interpretations and reactions, fed by fervent attitudes that can only come with the emotional sparks ignited by religion. A couple of things are for certain -- everyone who sees this movie will have their own particular take on it, and many of those opinions will be especially strong. The general critical reaction has been interesting to observe -- it's decidly split -- but nearly all the reviews warned against the graphic depiction of beatings and torture. Feeling somewhat  guarded, I watched the movie and was surprised by my own reaction: I liked the movie quite a bit.

Much of what I saw was what I expected. The depiction of the last hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, played by Jim Caviezel, is single-minded and brutally violent. The film concentrates on the suffering he endures immediately before he is led to his crucifixion. This is a story with a specific focus -- it isn't directly about Jesus's teachings and it isn't his biography, either. It's self-contained and explains little about the events that led to this moment.

That says two things right away. First, the film plays specifically to an exclusive audience, barely mentioning any of the major characters by name. It never gives a context for the numerous flashbacks of important points in Jesus's life. Those of us who are not Christians are essentially getting a view of one of the foundations of this religion from the outside, as if we were peeking through a window and glimpsing whatever it was we spied on the inside, without the benefit of anyone expaining anything to us. Second, the film acts as a reminder to Christians. Its goal isn't to convert anyone -- instead, it wants its audience to recall and relive, in great visceral detail, this cornerstone of Christian beliefs.

How good it will be at doing that is a bit questionable. Even with its air of authenticity, with its excellent period production values and its usage of Aramaic and Latin instead of English, the movie is very obviously Gibson's interpretation of this event, and it's imprinted with his lack of nuance. The violence tries to be shockingly harsh; the overuse of slow motion, the crunching sound effects, and the portentous soundtrack clearly indicate that Gibson is trying to hammer his point home. Although an artistic film, The Passion is made with mass audience-appeal methods. It comes with an inevitable loss of intimacy, which may be essential to a movie like this.

What grip it does have on the audience, however, is quite strong and comes through as a raw, almost animal depiction of base human instincts -- greed, self-preservation, and the willful destruction of perceived threats. However, by juxtaposing these horrors, notably driven by that most dangerous entity, the human mob, with the willingness of its victim and protagonist to forgive them, it advocates the use of willpower to rise above it -- to show tolerance as the higher alternative. If nothing else, this movie, devoid of explanations, history, and even emotional context, does have that -- a plea to all of us to forgive the ugliness of humanity by asking us to radiate what's good about humanity. In delivering this point of view, the movie is effective -- the mob is downright uncontrollable, the soldiers and torturers merciless and cruel, while Jesus and his followers tolerate and endure what's happening. Depicted as a slow burn through most of the movie, it's a grueling endurance test culminating in the long march to the hilltop, not unlike the late long march in Gerry, where ample time is given to the audience to reflect on whatever reactions the images have elicited.

I'm aware this is a Jewish mob being shown, but rather than transfer any animosity I felt about them to the Jewish population (which, I felt, would take a big stretch), I saw the mob itself as a metaphor for any group of people who find it justifiable to persecute others in this day and age. Watching The Passion of the Christ gave me the thought that Jesus is carrying his cross to the hilltop everyday; that is, there are always people being persecuted by a blind mob (somewhat ironically, it made me think of a current issue we are facing today -- the attempted ban on gay marriages). And as much as we would like to be seen as the victim rather than as part of the mob, it's worth our while to think about what side we really fall on in many issues. Depicting Jesus's high road as one so immensely challenging illustrates how difficult it always is to remove one's self from a mob.

While The Passion of the Christ is an effective portrayal of this phenomenon of human social behavior, does it work equally as well as a spiritual uplift? I've purposely avoided discussion of religious aspects in this interpretation, but I can say this -- I expected to leave my viewing of the film feeling battered and bruised, but instead I felt very peaceful. Seeing the strength required for forgiveness uplifted me. May the communication of this sensation to others feel just as divine.

(Released by Newmarket Films and rated "R" for sequences of graphic violence.)

Review also posted on www.windowtothemovies.com.