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Thursday, February 26, 2004 NTL
World
Anger as
Gibson's Christ film shown in
UK THE first UK screening of Mel
Gibson's controversial new film The Passion Of
The Christ has provoked a furious response from
Britain's Jewish community. Representatives of the Jewish faith were invited
to see the film a month before its nationwide
release but many left branding it "disgusting",
"deplorable", and likely to incite racial
hatred.  Depicting
the last 12 hours in the life of Christ, Gibson's
blood-drenched epic has been accused of
anti-Semitism. It shows the Jewish high priests
demanding Christ's crucifixion, then looking on as
he is tortured and put to an agonising death.
Neville Nagler, (left) director
general of the Jewish Board
of Deputies, said: "It would have been better
if this film had never been made. "The glorification of violence and bloodshed and
the reinforcement of medieval stereotyping of the
Jewish people are extremely dangerous. "At a time when we are trying to develop
co-operation and dialogue within our diverse and
multi-cultural
society, this film overturns the recent teachings
of the Church and is completely unhelpful in
fostering closer Jewish-Christian relations."  Lord
Janner, (right), former president of the
Board of Deputies and now vice-president of the
World Jewish Congress, said after the screening: "I
hated it. I think it
extraordinary that anyone would voluntarily go to
see this film.
Leading Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet said:
"The cinematography was fantastic, the acting was
brilliant - but the content was deplorable in the
extreme. Hollywood star Gibson is a conservative
Catholic, a member of a breakaway group which does
not accept the Vatican II reforms of 1962 which
absolved Jews of responsibility for the
crucifixion. A number of Catholic priests were also among the
audience at the Odeon West End in London's
Leicester Square, and their take on the film was
markedly different. Father Mark Hackeson, from Poringland,
near Norwich, said: "I thought it was an excellent
and very moving film. I do not believe it is
anti-Semitic -- Jesus himself was Jewish. "Of course it is violent, but the crucifixion
was a very violent event. The important thing is
that the message behind the violence is one of love
and forgiveness, not of condemnation." In the US, the film opened to storms of protest
last night. Groups ranging from the Black Panthers
to animal rights campaigners waved placards to make
their views known as it was screened in more than
3,000 cinemas. According to reports, a middle-aged woman in
Wichita, Kansas, died of an apparent heart attack
while watching the film's climactic crucifixion
scene. And in California, Christians carried crosses to
the cinema and insisted the film was "about a
relationship, not a religion." The Passion Of The Christ took in more
than £10 million on its first day of
release. 
Under Jewish ADL pressure Mel
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