Joe Queenan Reviews The Passion

Mel's movie hit crossed the pond recently, and Joe Queenan offered this withering review for the Guardian.

Unlike the movie's defenders, he finds a lot of anti-Semitism on display:

Though a few Jews in the film seem to object to Christ's martyrdom, the high priests and most of the spectators lining the road to Calvary seem to thoroughly enjoy the spectacle, and a good time is had by all. And while the Roman executioners are presented as sadistic cretins, the film's unmistakable message is that Pontius Pilate and the boys were merely tools of the Jews, that without the manipulation of the high priests and the enthusiastic mob, they would have merely dished out a good thrashing and sent the Messiah on his way. But the Jews were out for blood. . . .

It is well-known that Gibson's father Hutton is a Holocaust denier who recently wisecracked that most of the Jews allegedly murdered by the Germans had merely relocated to the Bronx. Gibson fils has said that nothing will ever drive a wedge between him and Pops; judging from The Passion Of The Christ, he needn't worry on that score. As Dad might put it: This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Any Jew-hater would be.

Really seems that many of those saying the flick isn't anti-Semitic may just be a little too close to the subject matter. Not that these staunch defendants are necessarily anti-Semitic themselves; they're just so caught up emotionally in the gory glory, they can't see the malignant details of the big picture.