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Passion of the Christ (The)
R4 - Australia - Icon Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (20th September 2004). |
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The Film
 The Passion of the Christ has been a project long in the pipeline for Academy Award winning director Mel Gibson, a Catholic himself the ability to realise this film would be his ultimate goal. After a slew of films now out of the way Gibson found the time in late 2002 and early 2003 to make this film, taking on duties as co-writer, director and producer financing the entire $30 million (USD) budget himself through his Icon production company. For the long production period news from the set was limited, aside from the occasional photograph leaked to the media or released officially all we knew was that the film will follow the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life on earth and would be in Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin without subtitles (although subtitles where added when it was released). In late 2003 the first trailer was released, completely void of any dialogue but featured breathtaking shots with music from the score. But when the studio saw the first cut of the film they told Gibson to take it somewhere else, featuring extreme graphic violence and an anti-semitic stance, over the next few months he took the film to virtually every studio for a distribution deal but the anti-semitic stigma the film had garnered through the press kept Hollywood away. Eventually Newmarket Films, a small independent distribution company originally founded by b-movie icon Roger Corman, picked the film up for distribution. Before the film’s release the media went into overdrive discussing the violence in the film and whether it will actually make money or not. Whether it was good or bad publicity the film was gaining a reputation before the public even had a chance to see it. The film opened on Ash Wednesday the 25th of February 2004 in the US to the #1 spot with a record-breaking 5-day gross of $83,848,082 (USD) and eventually earned a total of $370,274,604 (USD) domestically and a worldwide box office of over $600 million (USD) making The Passion of the Christ the 24th all-time worldwide box-office earner and the #9 all-time US box-office earner. Despite the controversy, despite the distribution problems and despite the anti-semitic criticism the film was a huge success. As stated before the film focuses on the last 12 hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life (James Caviezel) and begins in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus has gone to pray after sitting the Last Supper, Jesus must resist the temptations of Satan (Rosalinda Celentano). He is then betrayed by Judas (Luca Lionelle), Jesus is then arrested and taken within the city walls of Jerusalem where leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death. Jesus is punished by whip, but when the punishment is unsatisfactory the crowd choose to free a murderer back into society than let Jesus go, and is sentenced to be crucified. The Romans lay a cross on his back and force him to carry it to the mound where the crucifixion will take place. The torture and subsequent crucifixion are shown here in graphic detail, and may be a bit much for some viewers to take, so watch this at your discretion. Controversy aside and whether you are a Christian or not, or whether you believe this story or not The Passion of the Christ is an extremely well made film, the performances from the cast are nothing short of spectacular especially Caviezel, who personally went through a tough time while filming (Being accidentally whipped twice, apparently he was struck by lightning while filming the Sermon on the Mount and during the crucifixion, experienced hypothermia and his shoulder was separated when the prop cross fell on him), additionally Monica Bellucci as Magdalene and Maia Morgenstern as Mary although feature little dialogue their scenes include a phenomenal amount of emotional acting, that would be draining on many actors having to repeat those performances over and over again for shot coverage but they manage to pull it out each time. Additionally the photography by 4 time Academy Award nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel is simply stunning, the colour palette suits the period and environment accurately, one other stand out aspect is the beautifully conducted score by John Debney which is both powerful and moving considering the images they are cut with. Artistically and technically this film is excellent, whether you wish to view this is entirely up to you, making a recommendation seems useless in this context.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 2.40:1 this anamorphic transfer is technically excellent, for artistic reasons the look of the film is particularly washed-out with muted colours that are almost earth tone exclusive in palette, and features high contrast and often-harsh lighting, the transfer accurately represents the filmmaker’s vision, overall the image itself is sharp, shadow detail is generally good however I couldn’t help notice that some detail is lacking in some of the scenes that take place at night. Aside from this we have a fairly strong transfer with very little flaws.
Audio
As most people will know by now Gibson decided to make this film in the original dialects of the time, what we have here is a mix of Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin dialogue. This is the only language available on this DVD and is presented in two audio tracks. The first is a full bit-rate DTS 5.1 surround track and the other is a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. I had the opportunity to view the film with both tracks. The DTS track is absolutely fantastic, featuring a sense of dynamic range, depth and clarity. Dialogue is distortion free and always easy to hear additionally the music score immerses the viewer and employs spot on 5.1 separation and placement within the sound field, as do sound effects and the ever-present and stunning atmospheric surrounds that help literally transport the viewer back to that time. Each speaker is utilized extensively throughout this film and nothing seems out of place, this reference quality track is quite possibly one of the best DTS sound transfers for the year and will give your system a decent work out. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track, although generally quite good doesn’t stack up to the power of the full bit-rate DTS track. While dialogue is clear, the score is well presented and directional surrounds are evident, this track lacks both depth and range that the DTS track is able to deliver.
Extras
I was a little disappointed with the extras on this DVD, there are no commentaries, no documentaries, not even a trailer. All we have is an audio descriptive soundtrack. This is basically a narration track that describes the on-screen action. This soundtrack would be utilized by the visually impaired. Although this is something that more DVD’s should include, I would certainly not call it an extra feature, it’s like saying an interactive menu or scene access are extras. Aside from this descriptive track we have nothing else.
Overall
The Passion of the Christ is an extremely well made piece of cinema, strong performances, bold photography and a great score add value to this piece, however the graphic violence can be unpleasant to some. The DVD features a stunning transfer that presents the film accurately and a booming soundtrack that includes a full bit-rate DTS 5.1 surround track. Unfortunately aside from the audio description there are no extras, since this is such a controversial film it would have been great to hear an audio commentary by Gibson lending his thoughts on it and the reaction it got. There was also a making-of documentary made (shown on TV) why this and the trailers where not included on this DVD is anyone’s guess, perhaps we will get a Special Edition sometime down the line.
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