FACES AND PLACES: Gibson goes global (04/11/04)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Gibson goes global

By the time you read this, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" will have become a worldwide event.

Thus far, thank God, hysterical predictions of a rising tide of anti-Semitism by Abe Foxman and Rabbi Marvin Heir have been totally bogus. The film has been in American theaters for over a month, and no incidents of anti-Semitism have been reported.

With some $300 million in revenue thus far, the smear campaign waged against Mr. Gibson may have actually helped promote his film.

As might be expected, leaders of Islam have welcomed the film, which they believe underscores their grievances against the Jews. According to Hamza Manzoor, secretary-general of the Islamic Action Front, "Jews are most upset with the movie because it reveals their crimes against the prophets, the reformers and whoever contradicts their opinions."

The film won't be shown in Israel. "Given the damage he's done to Christian-Jewish relations, I wouldn't want to be Mel Gibson on Judgment Day," opined Yossi Klein Halevi in the Jerusalem Post.

French Roman Catholic bishops, especially Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, believe the film could "exacerbate anti-Semitism." France has already experienced a sixfold jump in anti-Semitic acts and threats from 2002 to 2003.

Having seen the film, I must say it lives up to its rave reviews. It is a masterpiece of cinematic art that presents Christ's Passion as it has never been portrayed before. People who were with me in the theater wept, gasped and looked away during certain moments. Ukrainians I know who saw the film were left with much to think about. The film is graphic. It is brutal. It does portray some Jews in a terrible light. But is it anti-Semitic?

As Father C. John McCloskey, director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, told Robert Novak: "If you find the Scriptures anti-Semitic, you'll find the film anti-Semitic." According to Mr. Novak, "The ADL carries a heavy burden in stirring religious strife about a piece of entertainment that, apart from its artistic value, is of deep religious significance for believing Christians."

Mr. Foxman, Rabbi Hier and other Ukrai-nophobic Jews also slandered Mr. Gibson for daring to assert that Ukrainians also suffered in the 1930s and 1940s. For this they should be de-nounced.

Mr. Gibson's film brought out the best and worst among America's cultural elite. Conservatives, on the whole, were either supportive of Mr. Gibson's film or neutral. The Holly-wood Left and their champions in the media, on the other hand, had a cow. In the words of Michael Grove in Times Online, "you can depict Jesus as a modern misfit, a sexually confused, masochistically inclined, weak and uncertain figure as Martin Scorsese did in 'The Last Temptation of Christ' and you're considered a genius." (One critic praised Mr. Scorsese's effort as "one of the most provocative, haunting and devout meditations on spiritual sacrifice and commitment ever made.") But "make a film in which the central elements of Christian faith are treated reverently, faithfully and truly, without irony, subversion or mockery," and you are shown the door. Mr. Gibson had to pony up $30 million of his own money to produce the film because no one in Hollywood would touch it.

"The Passion of the Christ" has also exposed the growing divide between Jews and Christians in America regarding their respective religious beliefs. Christian leaders tend to respect Judaism and to support Israel. They condemn anti-Semitism wherever and whenever it appears. According to Rabbi Daniel Lapin, however, Jewish leaders have not reciprocated. They are either indifferent to or defend films, books and articles that denigrate, mock and defame Christians, especially when these outrages are produced by Jews. When was the last time you read about a Jewish leader who defended Christian sensitivities against the pornographic, anti-Christian images that increasingly dominate our culture?

As I noted in my last column, long before Mr. Gibson there was our own artistic genius William Kurelek. His 160 paintings depicting St. Matthew's Gospel are a masterpiece. They are available as color reproductions in a beautiful art book titled "The Passion of Christ." Order your copy from The Niagara Falls Art Gallery and Children's Museum, 8058 Oakwood Drive, Niagara Falls, Ontario L2E 6S5, for $50 plus $15 for shipping/handling.

Myron Kuropas's new e-mail address is: [email protected].

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