It is a religious movie unlike any other. There is no hint of the English language, no clear moral to the story, and contains enough blood to paint a house red. Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ", is a direct adaptation of the passion story as it appears in the bible. The passion story is the capture, enslavement; torture, crucifixion, death, and rise of Jesus. The movie does not contain any back-story, so anyone without knowledge of Christian scripture might have trouble understanding some of the subject matter. However, it is not hard to understand why Mel Gibson made this movie. He ultimately wants the audience to feel Jesus" pain, and understand the torture Jesus was forced to endure.
The role of Jesus is played by actor, Jim Caviezel. The emotion that Caviezel puts into his performance is excellent. Also, Caviezel does a great job of acting while still having to speak Aramaic throughout the entire movie. The roles of Mary, Mary Magdeline, Judas, and Pilot, are also very well executed. The only problem I found with the acting and characterization was the mystery surrounding some of characters. Unless the viewer knows exactly what occurred previous to the passion story, then some scenes will not make sense. Also some characters are not properly introduced or named in the movie; so unless you know who they are already, it will be hard to identify them in the movie. .
The violence in this movie is grisly. Mel Gibson does not pull the camera away from any of brutality that occurs throughout the story. Images of whipping, clawing, nailing, and beating, are splattered onto the screen without the slightest bit censorship. The violence factor serves to help and hurt this movie. Some people will be able to view this movie and understand why Gibson chose to show the gore. Some people simply might not have a strong enough stomach to handle the entire movie.
I rate this movie an eight out of a possible ten.