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Much Ado?
he Pas-
sion of the
Christ,"
Mel
Gibson's somewhat
controversial film
depicting the cruci-
fixion of Jesus, has
drawn concerns from
HARRY
some
Christian the-
KIRS BAUM
ologians because of its
JN Columnist
literal translation of
one of the Gospels.
Jewish groups have declined comment until
the movie's official release on Feb. 25.
If only the above statements were true.
The Passion appeared on the anti-
Semitic radar screen while the movie was
still being filmed last spring.
The controversy continued as Jewish
group leaders like
Abraham Foxman of
the Anti-Defamation
League and Rabbi
Marvin Hier of the
Simon Wiesenthal
Center became upset
when they weren't
invited to early
screenings in the fall.
They went to the
press with their com-
plaints.
If I were Mel, why
"Oy vey!"
would I invite some-
one to a private screen-
ing if they've already slammed my movie
and raised the flag of anti-Semitism?
I don't like to be told how to feel
about a movie. I like to see it for myself
and make my own decision.
My parents are Holocaust survivors, so
I'm hard-wired to recognize danger, and
a movie is not on the worry list.
I remember the same type of Jewish
angst over the 1973 rock movie Jesus
Christ Superstar.
Producer Norman Jewison was labeled
anti-Semitic by similar groups because of
the way the film portrayed Jews. Funny,
two years earlier, Jewison was the same
producer of that other famous anti-
Semitic film, Fiddler on the Roof.
Gibson finally defended himself and
his movie on ABC News' Prin2etime
with Diane Sawyer on Feb. 16.
"This is my version of what happened,
according to the Gospels," said Mel,
answering the "literal" question.
"I'm just Roman Catholic the way
they were until the 1960s, Latin mass
with a properly ordained priest," he said
later, answering the "traditionalist" ques-
tion.
Jesus "was born in Judea, into the
house of David; he was a child of Israel,"
Mel said of Jesus, answering the "Who
killed Jesus?" question. "There were Jews
and Romans in Israel, there were no
Norwegians there."
Yes, some of his answers could be
interpreted as lacking clarity, but it
depends on whom you ask.
At one point, Sawyer called the movie
a "Rorschach test" for moviegoers.
Philip Cunningham, a Catholic schol-
ar interviewed during a segment, said
he's asked people what they feel when
they see a crucifix?
"Christians say, 'I think of God's love,
salvation. I think of Jesus and the
Gospels,"' he said. "Jews say, 'I feel fear. I
feel terror.'"
An ABC News
poll found that 80
percent of
Christians do not
blame the Jews for
the death of Jesus.
The Passion won't
change the way
anybody thinks
about the Jews. I
don't expect to see
Christians stream-
ing from the Star
Southfield theaters
a mile away to lay
siege on the Jewish JVews because of Mel
Gibson's movie.
The people who hate us will continue
to hate us, and they are the ones we need
to worry about.
Yes, if you look hard enough, there's
bigotry all around us, and everybody's a
victim.
This week, Indian groups voiced dis-
pleasure over the rap group Outkast's
recent Grammy performance.
I received a terse e-mail from a reader
after a recent column about the Iowa
primary. He seemed to be upset that I
was making stereotypical comments
about Iowans.
Towards the end of the interview,
Sawyer comments on a close-up shot of
Jesus' hand being nailed to the cross.
"It's your hand holding the nail," said
Diane.
"Yeah, my left hand," said Mel, who
also believes in literal signs of good and
evil. In Italian, sinistra, the sinister
hand."
Hey, watch it, .Mel. I'm left-handed. CI
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2/20
2004
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