THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST a vivid depiction of the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life opened in the US to a huge Box Office success that surpasses all controversies and pre opening rumors.
Mel Gibson's film has opened in the US to a huge Box Office success.
It took $76.3 million on its opening week end and took another $51 mil in second weekend. Current cume nears $200 million mark. One the highest off season openings ever. Guess who is coming up for next Oscars?


Sometime around the year A.D. 30, in the Roman province of Palestine, an obscure Jewish carpenter named Jesus of Nazareth began to teach publicly and to proclaim the coming of a 'Kingdom of God.' For centuries, the Jewish people had expected the appearance of a promised deliverer known as the Messiah --a figure who would restore their ancient dignity, and free their sacred homeland from all evil and despair. In the minds of many, Jesus appeared to be this Messiah. Surrounded by a core group of twelve disciples, Jesus began to attract a massive following from among the common people of Galilee and Judea, who eventually praised him as their Messiah and King. However, Jesus also had many enemies in Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin, a governing senate composed of the leading Jewish priests and Pharisees, conspired to put Jesus to death.

With the aid of Judas Iscariot, a member of Jesus' own inner circle, the Sanhedrin succeeded in arresting Jesus, handing him over to the Roman secular authorities on unsubstantiated charges of treason against Rome. Although Jesus consistently maintained that his Kingdom was a heavenly and spiritual one, the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, faced with the possibility of a riot, ordered that Jesus be taken outside the city and crucified as a common criminal.

The cast:
Jesus Christ: James Caviezel
Mary: Maia Morgenstern
Mary Magdalene: Monica Bellucci
Satan: Rosalinda Celentano
Gesmas: Francesco Cabras
Pilatus: Hristo Naumov Shopov
Pilatus Wife: Claudia Gerini
Dismas: Sergio Rubini
John: Hristo Jiukov

Directed by Mel Gibson
written by Benedict Fitzgerald and Mel Gibson
Produced: Bruce Davey, Mel Gibson, Stephen McEveety and Enzo Sisti, line producer
Cinematography by Caleb Deschanel

Roger Ebert said about the film: If ever there was a film with the correct title, that film is Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Although the word passion has become mixed up with romance, its Latin origins refer to suffering and pain; later Christian theology broadened that to include Christ's love for mankind, which made him willing to suffer and die for us.

The movie is 126 minutes long, and I would guess that at least 100 of those minutes, maybe more, are concerned specifically and graphically with the details of the torture and death of Jesus. This is the most violent film I have ever seen.

Roger Ebert

Visit the official movie site...
www.ThePassionOfTheChrist.com
And the fan site...
http://www.Passion-Movie.com