We saw it last Friday with friends. Many were Catholic (many also have St. Pio for their baptism or confirmation saint! Adult converts...) and some were not particularly religious just curious about the film.

As a Christian I can't recommend the film highly enough. It is extremely powerful emotionally, and more, spiritually. I felt it 'brought home' the Passion and also God's love for us in a way that no readings have done. I don't know why that is, but for me, it just is. If a film can do that, let it be done. It is a much better (IMO) use of that art form than is usually given. There are many tools with which to reach and inspire and to glorify God and finally this one has been used for that purpose. (I am not saying it is the only good Christian film! Just that lately most films are hardly moral).

Back to the film - although I did not find the graphic nature (it seeks to be a very realistic depiction of the Passion, i.e. scourging and crucifixion) too much to bear watching - I did turn away a few times or close my eyes. It was a natural reflex. I believe all responses will be personal and legitimate to the individual. My mother and brother would like to see it but are undecided. Knowing my mother to be faint hearted in such matters, I think it would be best if she did not, or waited until she can see it on a small screen at home (where she can take breaks to catch her breath if need be, etc.) and my brother perhaps not at all. However I do highly recommend it to anyone who feels they can go.

I did not find anything a bit gratuitous and certainly nothing groveling in violence as some press has claimed. In fact it cuts away from certain moments to a far or side angle, etc. It seeks to show what happened but I feel it is extremely respectful.

In actuality as well, one might point out that since the Scriptures say Jesus was no longer recognizable as human afterward, that the film actually showed restraint. Jim Caviezel (the actor who portrays Christ) said in an interview I saw that the restraint was a conscious choice by the filmmakers. They did not want people to "shut down". I feel they have found a fair balance.

My husband shed tears throughout the film. I cried in two places, the rest of the time just sort of curled up with awe. Its impact stayed with me. I kept reflecting upon what the mass must have been like for St Pio since we have been told by others he experienced the Passion at every mass.

Someone on another board said that no one could have lived through the tortures so it had to be fiction. I mentioned St Pio and how he had the five wounds for 50 years and that is not medically possible either. Also that since Christians believe Jesus was the Son of God, for him anything was possible. Yes it is true that with only natural means, no person could have withstood all this.

The most pervasive thought and feeling for me that I am left with after seeing this film, is God loves us. Wow, does he love us. To endure all this, and more actually (as the film did not show in full ALL the tortures, according to the Bible verse, or also if one believes in the Emmerich texts) (and as no one can film the spiritual agony of Someone so pure drawing that close to so much sin and then bearing it for all of us; no one can film either, the emotional torture of betrayal of one's close friends, etc.) - I literally cannot comprehend it. I can only feel gratitude and deeply moved. It also made the St Brigid prayer devotion understandable to me (at least I mean more so) as those prayers are meant to be in honor of each of the, according to the devotion, over 5000 wounds of Christ. Wow.

There are just so many things I feel this film has elucidated for me. My husband and friends felt the same. Its impact is great. I feel this film is a type of miracle and already souls are being led to God or closer to Him due to seeing it.

By the way. As a film I think it is well made. The acting and everything about it is well done. It is a top quality film in that sense as well. Also, it is not relentless. Between each scene of the Passion there is a scene of a flashback to a peaceful time in which Jesus taught things about Love or Forgiveness, etc. The central message of the movie is Love - for Him, from Him and the commandment to love one another the same way as He loved us.

There was nothing against any person or group that I noticed and I was watching for such as I could. The movie speaks of Love and Forgiveness so many times I truly wonder how this was lost on some critics. Perhaps one must come to this film with an open heart and an open mind and free of all prejudice against it. For the overwhelming majority of viewers, though, this film seems to have had a stirring message of faith. Every Christian I have heard from who's seen The Passion feels they understand more about God's love for us. For a movie to do this is amazing.

The movie does not explain basic things such as who is the man standing with Mary and Magdalene (St John) or why does satan scream at the end (Not giving anything away there I promise). If you go with non-Christians they may ask a few things like that.

As long as one can approach this film with an open heart I feel it is a great film, even miraculous. There is something holy at work here in my opinion. If one approaches it with reverence for God (not for film but for God) one will get even more out of the experience.

St. Pio wrote a meditation on Christ's Passion. I recommend that as well, if one can find it - it is an excellent meditation.

Kim

PS God bless Mel Gibson & co. for all the flack they have taken and their courage and vision to bring this film to the world. Thanks be to God!!