Scholars See Antisemitism in Gibson's Film

The complaints that Mel Gibson's upcoming film The Passion has strong antisemitic overtones is receiving scholarly support as group of Roman Catholic and Jewish scriptural scholars have labeled the film an "intolerable historical and theological travesty that is at risk of promoting anti-Semitism."

The Globe and Mail obtained a copy of the scholars' report and provided these quotes:

[The Jewish] Temple -- and by extension Judaism -- is presented as a locus of evil: Jesus's unusually large cross is manufactured there and Jesus is physically abused there at night before a violent mob of Jews. This torment is said to occur adjacent to the Holy of Holies, a locale seemingly targeted by dramatic earth tremors when Jesus dies. Collectively, these elements uniformly project a negative view of Judaism and the Jewish people.

High priests are shown delighting in the physical abuse inflicted upon Jesus, while [the Roman governor] Pilate is shocked by it. [The high priest] Caiaphas's machinations will too easily be seen as epitomizing "Jewish" wickedness.

A Jewish mob is shown in ever-increasing size and ferocity. The mob is plainly identified as representing the Jewish people as a whole, portraying them as such as "bloodthirsty," "frenzied," and "predatory."

The Roman soldiers who flay Jesus are depicted as urged on by demonic forces, while Jews need no such supernatural stimulation for their wickedness. The few Jewish characters sympathetic to Jesus do not offset the disproportionately numerous hostile Jews.

Jewish figures are particularly associated with evil uses of money. The high priest, e.g., is careful to signal an underling to collect up the "blood money" that a distraught Judas [who betrays Jesus to the authorities] has flung at his "opulent robes." While it is true that the priestly elites were rich, the script also shows them using their wealth to corrupt a large number of ordinary Jews, something for which there is scant historical or biblical evidence.

What is interesting is that some of this simply isn't justified by the Gospel stories - for example, the idea that the Romans were driven on by demonic forces while the Jews were not is not something needed for the story to be "faithful" to Gospels. So why was it put in there? What is Gibson's agenda?

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