ROTTEN TOMATOES: Shorter, Less Violent "Passion" Comments

Shorter, Less Violent "Passion"

by RT Staff | February 10, 2005

Summary

A shorter, less violent cut of "The Passion of the Christ" will be released on March 11th in most major markets, according to Variety. Titled "The Passion Recut," the new version will have 5 to 6 mins of its most violent scenes removed. Mel Gibson hopes to capture the audience segment who skipped the original movie due to its depiction of violence with this new cut. Back to Article

(41-58 of 58 posts) | Reply

phuckgender writes:
on Feb 13 2005 11:04 AM

[b]Passion is just another chapter in ...[/b]
The History of Religion: Language shapes thought. "God" is created as a male figure by male writers in numerous religions. While following "God", penis-bearing humans rule the planet for thousands of years. As a result, children, women, and men suffer. The End

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cabezone writes:
on Feb 13 2005 11:36 AM

In reply to this comment (#819699)
You at least know the world is flat right?

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Elessar Oronro writes:
on Feb 13 2005 10:15 PM

In reply to this comment (#819692)
She got frustrated with my questions because I wanted PROOF...you know, that little thing with evidence attached to it? I cannot, and will not, accept anything on faith. I just can't. I demand that my students provide evidence to support their hypothesis, otherwise it's invalid and they fail. If only religion had to measure up to same stringent requirements. Think about this, scottybarkbark, if you think I'm so closed-minded: what if you took a child, raised him as normally as possible, in an average loving household, but denied him any exposure to organized religion. Then, when he turned 18, you gave him the Bible. Do you think he would believe one word of what he was reading? Of course not! It'd be like believing all those Weekly World News reports you see in the checkout line. People BELIEVE religion because they've had it slammed into their head from the moment they were born. Or they are "born again" as adults because they were weak, booze drinking morons. Logical, sensible adults don't believe in these fairy tales. Religion is holding the human race back from evolving. Think how many fewer wars and conflicts we would have if everyone just subscribed to scientific, logical thinking.

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Ophiuchus writes:
on Feb 13 2005 10:35 PM

Calm down, Elessar. I'm not a believer either, but I promise you I've tried the tactics you're using and they don't work. They piss everyone off. So unless you're a glutton for punishment, calm down. Your insults prove nothing. They just confirm the belief a lot of christians have that athiests are rude and aggressive. You wouldn't want to get us a bad reputation, would you?

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Ophiuchus writes:
on Feb 14 2005 01:45 AM

[b]A loving God (posted by Cherax, a housemate of Oph[/b]
It seems the Passion delivers a message of violence and spitting hatred.
Of cruelty, and bowel slashing viciousness. Rip the face of your enemy. Unleash every ounce of malice upon them. Watch them and their kind suffer unspeakable torment.

So what happened to the loving God? Not here, it seems. No, this is the territory of endless war and retribution. If you want an eternity of misery and suffering, the Passion is for you.

- Cherax

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jeanpaul writes:
on Feb 14 2005 05:37 AM

In reply to this comment (#819678)
[b]This sensitive?[/b]
Wow, King! The first lines in your post PROVE exactly how close-minded, wrong-convention ridden, and LOUD are exactly those 'enlightened', quick to join the perfect and just 21'st century, people in TRUTH really ARE! Go on finger pointing, pal... Well, I'm gonna go glue a Jesus fish to my car now... Just so you feel comfy...

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scottybarkbark writes:
on Feb 14 2005 07:50 AM

In reply to this comment (#819703)
TEELL ME ELESSAR WHERE IS THE PROOF EVOLUTION HAPPENED? HMMM? I HAVE ONLY SEEN THEORIES ON HOW EVOLUTION MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED? OH AND ITS FAIRLY SAD WHEN YOU CANNOT TAKE SOMETHING ON FAITH.

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ninjaandy writes:
on Feb 14 2005 09:00 AM

The problem with your analogy, Elessar, is that you already assume that religious instruction is "abnormal", and what you believe is "normal." Take the same scenario and substitute organized religion for evolution, or universal string theory, or nuclear power . . . of course, if you isolate a child from the entire existence of something, they'll have trouble believing in it's tenets (or existence) when, at 18, they're exposed for the first time.

And it's a bogus idea anyway, because there are plenty of things LIKE religion (or any of the sceinces I mentioned) to bring a chlid halfway along the path, as it were.

So let's try your little experiment. You said:

"Logical, sensible adults don't believe in these fairy tales." According to your own academic standards, you now must offer evidence of your hypothesis. Just like your students, you are not allowed to be the judge of the truth for your own suppositions. Instead, you must first provide universal standards for judgement. Start with establishing a definition of "logical" and "sensible." I can tell you already that the technical definitions of those words won't help you at all.

Oh yeah, I'm a teacher too, high school. So unless you can find a college professor to trump me, I outrank you. ;>

So let's leave the "I'm a teacher" stuff behind, huh?

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ninjaandy writes:
on Feb 14 2005 09:17 AM

Ophiucus, thank you for your voice of reason. You are right on all counts.

Cherax, watch the Passion again (or the first time). The film (and Christianity) isn't saying God does that to us, or that we should do it to each other. Rather, it is that a loving God took all that torment FOR us. Where is the logic in the idea that the loving do not suffer?

Jesus loves us. He suffered for that love, and still loves. Any good parents, siblings, friends, or lovers out there understand this. People aren't perfect, and those we love sometimes make us suffer. Total love of an imperfect being like man involves the acceptance of suffering.

That's why what happened to Christ was all about love. From the cross Jesus forgave those who tortured him and by extension, Christians believe, all of us who sin and add to his torment.

If you don't want to believe that, fine. But you are quite mistaken that the Passion is about spreading hatred. It's about love, forgiveness, and the humility with which all Christians must face God.

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Elessar Oronro writes:
on Feb 14 2005 12:50 PM

In reply to this comment (#819708)
Wow, ninjaandy, I didn't realize that high school teachers were ranked higher than middle school teachers? Gosh. I just might go alert my school board to this new found nugget of wisdom.

I find it kind of scary that you would be teaching the youth of this country, sending them down a path where they're afraid of the dark, of supposed retribution from some unseen God, of going to hell because they don't kill the homo living down the street. I truly weep for the kids in your school.

Read "The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan. In fact, assign it to all your kids to read. You just might open some minds, including yours.

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ninjaandy writes:
on Feb 14 2005 04:29 PM

I guess you didn't see that little text face next to the "outranking" crack. And I guess you don't recognize sarcasm when you read it. Besides, your profile says you work at a Sheraton. Who do you teach, bellhops?

You make a hell of a lot of assumptions there, don't ya chief? I don't know any Christians afraid of the dark. I don't fear retribution from God. I certainly would never advocate killing anyone just for who they have sex with. I wouldn't even use the term "homo" to describe such a person. For someone who studies Buddhism, you sure are violent.

I've read Sagan. He's a smart, but sad man. Like you, he makes assumptions of what is true based on what he would like to be true. But where Sagan succeeds at more or less restraining his biases from causing him to spew self-righteous hatred, you clearly fail.

As for the youth of this country, they admit in poll after poll to being majority Christian (even if they wouldn't admit it to their friends for fear of being uncool); that doesn't include all the Jews, Muslims, Hindi, or just kids smart enough to understand there's something higher than them. Apparently all the efforts of you and yours to convince them otherwise are falling on deaf ears.

You've refused to answer my questions, accept my intellectual challenges, propose any of your own, or even follow your own intellectual advice. Instead, you've returned to where you started --shouting insults from a mind freightened of ideas different than its own. Well, you can shout them in the dark; I see no more reason to waste my time with you. I'd recommend a book, but I don't think you'd read it. Wouldn't want to expose our precious little worldviews to other possibilities, now would we?

But hey, I like your favorite movies. Except Titanic. Can't win 'em all.

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jeanpaul writes:
on Feb 15 2005 05:10 AM

In reply to this comment (#819710)
[b]Man, you really have some issues...[/b]
Man (Ellesar), YOU really have some issues concerning homosexuality, don't you? That's the second time you've mentioned harming homosexuals down the street... Man, if you ARE a teacher (and your TONE says it all...), can't you atleast be ORIGNAL with your comments, instead of repetitive?

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Mainevent writes:
on Feb 15 2005 01:51 PM

You (Ellesar) talk about Ninjaandy, and seemingly call him a bad teacher because he at least leaves leeway for personal beliefs, when you seem all too willing to quickly throw out anything you don't avidly support. And which one of you was the one endoctrinating your students again?

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bastard_guy180 writes:
on Feb 16 2005 12:13 PM

[b]Cop out.[/b]
Why pay to see this version in the theatre when it'll be edited the exact same way if it ever comes to television.

Who in their right mind would pay to see an essentially television censored version of a movie?

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Neithan writes:
on Feb 16 2005 02:32 PM

[b]science, reason, and faith[/b]
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God;
and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God" (I John 4:7)

Opiuchus, my atheist friend, you are correct. 'Believers' and 'Freethinkers' alike fling way too much hate at one another. You all know that's not going to convince anyone of anything, don't you?

There are those of us who are satisfied with all that science and philosophy can tell us, and there are those of us who aren't. Faith is simply belief in truths which are not wholly provable by reason or observation; it starts with a belief in God, and accepts revelation (the Bible, Christian tradition etc.) as truth.

Nowhere does science conflict with the catholic Christian faith. Evolution is more than a hypothesis, it is a well-worn Theory, the pope said so himself in 1996. It does not contradict Christianity, however. It is a fundamental conviction of the Church since the middle-ages that faith and reason are never in conflict. As for the Bible, it uses a lot of "phenomenal" language, writing in the sense of appearances, rather than objectives. For instance, one says "the sun went down over the western horizon," no it didn't, but it looks like it does. That doesn't mean they are making a scientific statement. Please don't subscribe to the silly proposition that the Bible is a mythic work rather than historical; that it is reliable historically has been proven to the same extent that evolution has. You have to separate parts of the Bible that are meant to be literal-historical and those that are figurative-symbolic (early Genesis, Revelations etc.)

Those of you who are so convinced that all truth can be revealed through science should read some standard philosophy, like Immanuel Kant, to show that our senses do not necessarily perceive all that exists. For instance, you can not perceive my thoughts and dreams, yet they exist all the same. Immaterial reality is real.

Finally, be slow to label anyone as ignorant. Faith is unprovable through Reason, yes, but it certainly is not contradictory to it, and can certainly be defended by it. The cosmological, teleological, and moral arguments for God's existence have remained intact for centuries, yet arguments for God's non-existence are constantly changed, revamped, overhauled to account for changes in science, go figure. I would say God's existence is an [i]a priori[/i] truth, and there is psychological evidence that we are "hard-wired" to believe in a higher power. That doesn't mean I'm going to condemn atheists, as I empathize with their doubt.

Oh, and Elessar, I also have a Tolkien handle, because they're cool. You really should read some of his and C.S. Lewis' apologetics, might make you think.

Pax

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Ophiuchus writes:
on Feb 16 2005 08:24 PM

Thankyou, Pax. It's nice to be appreciated. I used to enjoy a red-hot invective-flinging debate as much as the next athiest, but it wasn't long before I found it upsetting. I also realised that no-one was achieving anything other than a lot of insults and personal abuse being flung their way. I don't know about anyone else involved, but I didn't find it particularly convincing when a christian called me an imbecile or something similar. I imagine he didn't find it convincing when I called him a closed-minded lunatic too frightened to look at what was in front of his nose.
Those weren't our exact words, but they were pretty similar. But one thing I do know is that you don't find peace and harmony by screaming like a lot of chimpanzees. Although it does provide a rather persuasive argument in favour of our simian heritage.

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Mainevent writes:
on Feb 17 2005 07:17 PM

What I never truly understood was why everyone feels the need to argue over it anyway. If a person wants to be a gentle, compassionate Christian who believes in the theory of creationism, why bother them? And if a person wants to believe in the theory of evolution, why bother them? Since it is obvious that neither of the two people will ever be able to prove or disprove one or the other, short of the second coming of Christ or some startlingly blatant proof that God in fact doesn't exist, why can't people just drop it? Believe what you believe and live your life happy in knowing that you are just as right as the other guy.

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Ophiuchus writes:
on Feb 17 2005 08:39 PM

I guess they feel strongly about it. For someone absolutely convinced of his own rightness, it tends to be really irritating when other people don't see it that way. But you're right- it's an argument that can never be resolved. The best course of action would seem to be agreeing to disagree and thereafter striving to live in harmony. Of course, there will always be some people for whom the idea is just too mature and sensible to cope with.

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