© the otherpress e¢ Culture JESUS CHRIST! | Simon Hatton OP Contributor In the movie world, as we all know, a good controversy translates direct- ly into box-office sales. And in pro- moting his new film The Passion of the Christ—which recounts the last 12 hours of Jesus of Nazareth’s life— Mel Gibson took a_ proactive approach to controversy, stating “The film will lay the blame for the death of Christ where it belongs” (i.e. the Jews). That statement has all the subtlety of a Howie Mandell comedy routine. Gibson is also cov- ering his bases in the area of bad reviews, calling his critics “the forces of Satan,” which quite cleverly makes any attack directed towards The Passion... not simply one on the film but on religious belief itself. Unfortunately, Gibson’s movie has about as much to do with reli- gion as Britney Spears has to do with After suffering through a mere 15 minutes of this song writing. pious, bloody mess, we are thrown into what appears to be a two-hour- and-six-minute glorified snuff film. Rather than trying to give his movie any depth or narrative context, Gibson goes to great lengths to give us an up-close-and-personal view of the graphic, vicious, and torturous beating/murder of a man. If, unlike me, some of you are not so learned on current theological and historical studies, you might be left to wonder why such savagery was being inflict- ed on this poor man. But if there is supposed to be any message to this movie it is definitely obscured by violence. In traditional mainstream epic movie-making fashion, Gibson uses every overused cinematic tool to personify the agony of the last 12 See! Page 16 hours of Jesus’ life. These less-than- innovative techniques include the numerous slow motion scenes in which the cross carrying Jesus falls to the ground with exaggerated Dolby-pounding thuds, and the masochistically long scene in which Jesus is whipped using scourges, tearing the skin from his body in unnerving graphic detail—once again in slow motion. As we all know slow motion is very dramatic. I must admit I have never been a fan of the “epic” movie genre, but The Passion... transcends my usual disap- pointment in such films. The assumption made here is that we all know the story and background of Jesus’ life. This leaves us with a non- story of a man persecuted for his beliefs. I am sure that five or ten minutes of bloodletting could have been sacrificed to educate the view- er, even briefly, on why Jesus posed so much of a threat to his persecu- tors that they would have felt it nec- essary to have him mercilessly tor- tured and killed. In the last scene of the movie we are shown the moment where Jesus is resurrected, but rather than the peaceful stoic expression expected of a man whose suffering has finally ended and is about to enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus’ expres- sion is hard—that of an angry man that would like to exact revenge. Do I hear a sequel, Revenge of the Passion of the Christ? Perhaps in the next installment a buffoon-like sidekick could be added to the cast. Now that’s a character I could get behind the persecution of with little to no explanation. http://www.otherpress.ca March 10, 2004 American Splendor Kim Meier David Lam Correspondent One night I was flipping through channels and stopped at Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper telling me about their favorite movies of 2003. Among movies I agreed with (like 21 Grams) and movies | dis- agreed with (like Seabiscuit) | noticed one movie I’d never heard of, American Splendor. So | decided to rent it. American Splendor is a movie about real-life comic book author, Harvey Pekar, and his experiences with fame as he goes from filing clerk to Late Night with David Letterman regular. It’s a quiet, hum- ble movie starring Paul Giamatti (Man on the Moon) as the awkward Pekar, a man who loses his voice when he gets nervous. Hope Davis (About Schmidt, Hearts in Atlantis) plays his blunt wife Joyce Brabner, who contacts Pekar by mail and proposes to him on the same day that they meet in person. The movie is very laid-back and unassuming. Events unfold as on the pages of a comic book, and illustrations are used throughout the movie to accentuate the signifi- cance of incidents. We are brought back and forth between the story as told by the directors, and the story as told by the real Harvey Pekar himself, who narrates the movie. We also get to meet the real ver- sions of other characters in the movie, like Toby Radloff, the sweet- but-slow, nerdy co-worker por- trayed by Judah Friedlander. ORDINARY LIFE 1S PRETTY COMPLEX STUFF. What makes American Splendor so compelling is the realization that it really is a true story. When Giamatti visits the set of Late Night with David Letterman, the original NBC clips are shown—all except for Pekar’s last appearance on Letterman, when he became fed up with being ridiculed and confront- ed Dave with a debate over NBC and the questionable business prac- tices of its owners General Electric. This scene is played by Giamatti and a Letterman stand-in; presum- ably, NBC didn’t want to release the rights to this controversial episode. American Splendor isn't a long or intellectually challenging movie, but it drips with a sarcasm that anyone can relate to and enjoy. It’s one of those movies that you can think about after the fact, and like it even more. NEEV A BETTER WAY TO SPEND YOUR TIME THE OTHER PRESS IS HIRING!!!