The Passion of the Blog

Having just walked back through a snow crested campus to my dorm room and through the kind of atmopshere conjured by AJ's inspirational journal, the blog that got me into this game in the first place (see entry Stockard Channing and other funny things), I feel somewhat commited to write this before I slip into my jim-jams, knock back a glass of milk and drift into my usual dreams of jeannie with the light brown hair.

I was out with Beth, Mike and his girlfriend Caroline for a bargain dinner that is becoming a Thursday night fixture, it being 'curry night' and priced at a very reasonable £3.99 (including pint). It was the pleasant sort of evening filled with meandaring conversation, lots of laughter and at one point tears from yours truly. (You have to understand I have very watery eyes. I just have to tilt my head and a tear will roll, which sometimes works in my favour, say in an essay review meeting or when I don't get exactly what I want.)

When I could compose myself and stop blubbering long enough to articulate an opinion we discussed the talk of Tinsel Town, Mel Gibson's third and probably last Hollywood film, The Passion of the Christ. If you've heard of Jesus you've probably heard of this film, it's extreme violence and the charges of anti-semitism against it and Mad Max star Gibson, who, it is fair to say, has undertaken an enormously risky project that could be his last in the close-knit world of Hollywood and with the prominent and mostly Jewish figures that make the deals.

It's a film that I've been oddly obsessed with for months now. I can't quite figure it out...I'm a Hindu, albeit a fervent Christmas celebrator, not a particularly big Mel Gibson or Jesus fan for that matter, but somehow the hype surrounding The Christ has gripped me, more so even than the pre-release Spiderman and Hulk buzz. Jesus, I suppose, is a far greater superhero and, outside of the critical press, personal reviews of Gibson's Passion tell of a sort of a spiritual awakening - a desire to be a better person - from the very act of seeing a Jim Caviezel Jesus crucified "for all our sins."

Although I squirm even at the operation scenes of E.R., I feel compelled to watch the final brutal hours of Jesus's life, perhaps by watching to be a part of the hype, to participate in an event shared by so many, to experience that enlightenment. The Passion of the Christ has a lot of people talking. From accounts I have read it has a lot of people thinking too, affirming their convictions. This film might be the last two hours of Mel Gibson's career but it might be Christianity's most powerful recruitment tool since that other controversial text, the Bible.

Now would be a good time to purge my sins and formally apologise for my comments concerning Mary Magdalene. Monica Belluci may be hot in The Passion but the things I said, I realise, were a bit rude. And any gossip, of the secular sort, surrounding Mary's friendship with the Christ is just hearsay. So...sorry Beth.