The Oct 20th 2003 issue of Newsweek International mentions two movies.
A small column on page 8 discusses “The Passion”, Mel Gibson’s “traditional Roman Catholic portrayal of the death of Jesus?” In his article, Sean Smith notes that the movie has attracted “more hostile attention than any movie in recent history,” making it a financial risk for any publicly held studio to put out. The short article ends by mentioning a New Yorker profile on Gibson that pointed out his “rigid religious beliefs”. A studio head is quoted as comparing Gibson to the character he plays in “Lethal Weapon.” Movie buffs may recall that the character he plays there, Martin Riggs, was a policeman on the edge of insanity because of a horrendous personal tragedy.
Page 48 of the same issue features a full page picture of director Quentin Tarantino, and gives a page and a column to an interview with him that focuses on his new movie “Kill Bill”. The interview by David Ansen, begins with a brief synopsis of the movie.
“On her wedding day, the Bride (Umma Thurman), her unborn child and her entire wedding party are attacked by assassins. She alone survives, and after emerging from four years in a coma in a hospital (where her comatose body has been sold to redneck rapists), vows revenge on the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, of which the Bride was once a member. Its leader is Bill (David Carradine), the father of her dead child. One by one, she tracks down her enemies?”
The interview contains this exchange:
Ansen: Let’s talk about the violence. Now, I had no problem with the violence—it’s all so stylized. But there is a lot of blood in the movie. There’s a whole motif of spraying, spurting blood.
Tarantino: Well, that’s the Japanese tradition. You know, people have garden hoses for veins. [Laughs]
Now let me get this straight.
Mel Gibson produces a movie that focuses on the suffering and death of Jesus, a key focus of the New Testament, part of the Holy Scripture of the faith with the largest following world-wide, and he is considered a loony.
Tarantino directs a movie that is basically an orgy of violence (Ansen and Tarantino agree that there is little emotional sub-text in “Kill Bill”) and he is rewarded with a full-page photo??
(I have always been perplexed about accusations that “The Passion” is anti-Semitic. If indeed the movie is a “traditional Roman Catholic” production, it would be based on a belief that Jesus died for the sins of all mankind. And hello, Jesus and the first Christian disciples were all Jews. )
I have always had a healthy skepticism of conspiracy theories but if this issue of Newsweek is anything to go by, I can believe there is an anti-Christian bias in Hollywood and in mainstream American media.
Now I am not squeamish about violence in the movies. It is meaningless violence that is symptomatic of a humanity gone wrong. I winced at the violent scenes in “Matrix” but there was enough metaphysical and ethical discussion in the movie to make it clear that the movie wasn’t about violence per se. For the same reason I felt “Matrix Reloaded” disappointed because it was basically a collage of violent action scenes.
I strongly suspect that people who are drawn to violence have seen little real violence in their lives. It is hard to imagine someone who lives in Palestine, Baghdad or Kashmir, laughing about blood spurting.
One of my dad’s favourite stories was about how he survived a bombing raid during the Second World War. This was Malaya during the Japanese Occupation. Allied bombing levelled the building where he was working. He was buried alive. Rescuers mistook him for a Japanese and pulled him out of the wreckage. He had a permanent scar on his chest. He never laughed about the war.
Christians know where violence came from. They remember Cain bashing in the head of his brother Abel. Right there in Genesis chapter 4 verse 8. Just after chapter 3’s account of how humankind rebelled against their loving Creator and God.
They also know of God’s rescue plan, a plan that needed redemptive violence.
“He personally carried away our sins in his own body on the cross so we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. You have been healed by his wounds!” 1Peter 2:24 NLT
Christians also know that this same Jesus who died so horribly for all of us, rose again from the dead and returned to heaven. We know that one day He will return to separate the sheep from the goats, the real loonies, from those who know the Truth.
In the meantime, I am hoping “The Passion” beats the stuffing out of “Kill Bill” (1 and 2) at the box office. You never know.
Your brother, SooInn Tan