It is one of the most heart-wrenching moments of the film.

We flash forward to see Mary running, tears streaming, to help her beloved Son Jesus pick up His Cross. She recalls in flashback her son tumbling to the ground as a young boy and how she ran to him then. One of the most powerful of these flashbacks is when Mother Mary sees her precious son, Jesus, stumble under the weight of His Cross. And again, as Pilate washes his hands in front of the clamoring crowds during the trial of Jesus, there is a flashback to the scene where Jesus is washing the disciples' feet. For instance, as Christ is led out of the city with the Cross on His back, the film flashes back to Christ's entry on the donkey as the crowds spread out their palm leaves. Juxtaposing real-time events with flashback scenes of happier times, Gibson is able to tie together several different passages of Scripture, better portraying the humanity and divinity of Christ, and wrenching the viewer emotionally. He masterfully etches into our memories scenes from Christ's life - both those literal, and those imagined - through the use of imagery. Though not a word-for-word account, which might concern some, Gibson's artistic license is never blasphemous or out of place. I felt like I was there, among the crowd of onlookers in Jesus' day.Īn incredible storyteller, Mel Gibson gets at the emotive essence of Christ's death, rather than the literal essence of the biblical story. Within the first five minutes, I quickly forgot about the subtitles and became enthralled in hearing the words in the authentic languages of biblical times. Though done in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin, I never missed hearing the English language. I was profoundly affected by the powerful depiction of Christ's Crucifixion done with such cinematically beautiful excellence, brilliant brush strokes of storytelling finesse, hauntingly emotive facial expressions, and the simple purity of the languages of Christ's day.

So much of what I saw during the screening was beyond words. As one of only a select few journalists allowed to attend a National Religious Broadcasters press conference with Jim Caviezel on Tuesday, February 17, I was thrilled to finally get the chance to hear directly from this talented actor who I had just seen give an incredible performance as the Christ the night before in a pre-screening of The Passion of the Christ in front of some 3,500 NRB conference attendees in Charlotte, N.C.

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