Movie: Caiaphas and other priests ("the Jews" in the Gospels) are in charge, convicting Jesus of blasphemy in a trial the Romans do not appear to know about
Facts: Caiaphas was Pilate's subordinate, only Rome could execute, and the Gospels' trial scenes do not justify the 'blasphemy' charge against Jesus

By Flavius Josephus' and Philo's accounts, he [Pontius Pilate] was supposedly terribly ruthless in general, often condemning people without trials of any nature. In fact, he was apparently recalled to Rome because he killed too many people. That he would get all weepy over this one Jew seems unlikely.

Finally, this just happened to happen in Palestine, among Jews. I am not Christian, but is it not the whole point that Jesus got killed by those he come to save: humans?

A reasonable person, I believe, will reflect that in this story set in a Jewish land, there are many characters with many motives, some good, some not, each one representing himself, none representing his religion. The story involves a Jew who tried no less than to replace the established religion and set himself up as the Messiah. He was understandably greeted with a jaundiced eye by the Jewish establishment while at the same time finding his support, his disciples and the founders of his church entirely among his fellow Jews. The libel that the Jews "killed Christ" involves a willful misreading of testament and teaching: Jesus was made man and came to Earth in order to suffer and die in reparation for our sins. No race, no man, no priest, no governor, no executioner killed Jesus; he died by God's will to fulfill his purpose, and with our sins we all killed him. That some Christian churches have historically been guilty of the sin of anti-Semitism is undeniable, but in committing it they violated their own beliefs.

This scene and others might justifiably be cited by anyone concerned that the movie contains anti-Semitism. My own feeling is that Gibson's film is not anti-Semitic, but reflects a range of behavior on the part of its Jewish characters, on balance favorably. The Jews who seem to desire Jesus' death are in the priesthood, and have political as well as theological reasons for acting; like today's Catholic bishops who were slow to condemn abusive priests, Protestant TV preachers who confuse religion with politics, or Muslim clerics who are silent on terrorism, they have an investment in their positions and authority. The other Jews seen in the film are viewed positively; Simon helps Jesus to carry the cross, Veronica brings a cloth to wipe his face, Jews in the crowd cry out against his torture.

I think another issue is, Mr. Gibson went to all the trouble making a movie as acurate as possible (subtitles and whatnot) yet jesus looks like a white guy perhaps italian???

1) Catholic churches typically have the suffering christ on the cross over the altar, while most Protestant churches simply have the cross without Jesus. Note, I took his word on this, I don't know if this is true or typical.

2) Catholicism tends to stress the blood sacrifice that Christ has made is *the* final and most important one that God required and that it covers all of our future sins. Protestantism tends to stress the "New Covenant" part of the deal with less stress on the basis in pagan blood sacrifice ritual.

the cross has become romanticized as a symbol of the faith. to many Christians, this is a wake up call of how horrible a sacrifice Jesus actually made

do protestant churches typically have the stations of the cross around the interior of the church?

that seems to me to be a stronger indicator that in Catholicism (which does) it is very important that every bit of Christ's pain/insult/torture are supposed to be meditated upon on each or most visits...

Ok, those are two different things: the stations of the cross are usually spaced around the inner walls of the church/hall (not at the altar) depecting scenes from the 12 hours before christ's death.

Nearly all Catholic Churches have the stages of the Cross... however I've been in many Protestant churches that do as well.

She also had a problem with the notion that someone tortured as brutally as shown in the movie would have been able to hold himself up or even stay conscious, much less carry a cross.

My wife REALLY objected to the use of children to portray deamons;

I thought it was spelled "Pilate"?

I thought it was spelled "Pilate"?

Yup, I knew I was missing something . . .