Screenwriters: Benedict Fitzgerald, Mel Gibson
Cinematography: Kilb de Chanel
Editing: John Wright
Music: John Debiny

Cast: James Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern, Christo Jivkov, Francesco De Vito, Monica Bellucci, Toni Bertorelli
Plot summary. The Passion of The Christ focuses on the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The film begins in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus has gone to pray after sitting the Last Supper. Jesus must resist the temptations of Satan. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus is then arrested and taken within the city walls of Jerusalem where leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death.
Comment: Mel Gibson is the son of a priest and a believing Catholic, so it is natural that his vision of the final hours of Christ’s life should be different from what other directors might have offered. Comparing his film with other pictures made on Jesus, Gibson said, “I don’t think the other films have brought out the real potentialities of this story. My picture shows the sufferings of Christ the way they really occurred, it would seem as if we had traveled back in time for many centuries. I have recounted the story exactly as it is related in the Bible.” And this stark and documentary view of Christ’s passions is what this distinguished this film from similar pictures.
Screening date: Sunday, December 24, 2006. Attended by film critic Hiwa Masih