Kind of a mixed bag for me really. I get that he suffered and that sucks, but the message of all that suffering, the reasons behind it, and the forgiveness he tried to tell us all to display, to love your fellow man, despite his ignorance, was totaly lost. There was only one moment where Jesus conveyed this message -- during a flashback no less -- at a moment that was one of the most powerful in the film during a scene, which is the obvious motif of the whole film, where Romans are beating the blood right out of his open wounds and we\'re supposed to understand that from all this? I don\'t think so.
Let me put it this way, suppose you\'re watching another movie where the carnage is high and the suffering is nigh unbearable, say saving private ryan, and one of the lieutenants on Omaha Beach stands up in the middile of all the blood letting, soldiers losing legs, arms, our nations sons dying because of some dictator with a screw loose, and says to the people in the theatre, "love thy enemy for there is no reward in only loving those who love you." What would be your reaction to this? Would you agree? Different movies, sure enough, but be reasonable here, the message is of forgiveness and love despite death and pain and here we are complementing the realistic gore and the pain he must have felt.
I don\'t know about anyone else, but there was never any doubt that he went through a great deal of pain with the crucifixion, no doubt in my mind at all at least, but the overall message was totaly lost. I have to agree, for one of the first times ever, with the review from the New York Times. They pretty much "nailed it" on that one. Yes yes, I\'m going to hell for that one, I know.
