AKMA does a pre-screening take on The Passion, and makes some good observations to consider amongst all the “flack” that is flying around the release of this film. The one I feel most in tune with is how much “embellishment” of otherwise “sketchy” details were done. AKMA’s take on that is: “Of Course he does”. To do otherwise would make for a pretty stale and unreal telling that would merely repeat the atrocities of traditonal, clean, dainty, non-offensive passion portrayals.

Further, all of the gospels, and the Bible for that matter, were NOT, contrary to however strongly the fundamentalists woud insist otherwise, written to cover all possible angles, all possible audiences, and all possible theological truths. They were written to adress a specific and therefore limited audience. The impact of the Biblical narrative and theology becomes more universal as scholars make the contextual connections for us, and we take all that into consideration along with our own personal responses to the story, and along with our own community’s discourse about it.

Dramatic artistry demands a “screenplay”, and this is no less true for more “holy” matters and subjects. Anything less would be “unrealistic”.