 Any attempt to avoid anti-Semitism is noble in and of itself, but it
cannot come by means of historical revisionism. The trials, punishment and
death of Jesus are unintelligible without the active participation of the
Jewish religious leadership together with the Romans. Yet this in and of
itself does not constitute anti-Semitism in the Gospels or in the movie.
These leaders are not the only Jews portrayed in the movie. Gibson has many
Jewish heroic figures and sympathetic figures in his depiction. From the
famed Veronica and her veil, known to Catholics through the Stations of the
Cross, to the enhanced character of Simon of Cyrene (note, some scholars
have chided Gibson for not portraying the Cyrenian as a dark(er)-skinned
African that historical research leads many to posit he actually was) who
emerges as a most honorable character. There are Jewish tormentors of Jesus
along the via dolorosa, but there are also many Jews who lament his plight.
The Jewish leaders are portrayed as being basically unified in their goal,
but they are by no means grotesque as Hornaday describes them. Rather they
resemble any elite oligarchy-similar to any that can be found throughout
history in religious, philosophical, academic, political, judicial or other
circles-corrupted by power and privilege, more concerned about maintaining
the status quo than about serving the truth.
As to the description of Gibson's portrayal of Pilate as being "saintly"
or even "overly sympathetic," the evidence does not support this. True,
Pilate didn't have the same burning desire to kill Jesus that the Sanhedrin
had. His sin was of a different order. In the Gospels and in the movie Jesus
acknowledges these different levels of sin when he answers Pilate "You would
have no power over me were it not given to you from above. That is why he
who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin (Jn. 19:11)."
But Pilate is a coward of the worst order. He condemns a man he knows to
be innocent without the "benefit" of blind zeal. His crime is cold and
calculated and the perennial witness of the inefficacy and illegitimacy of
his self-exoneration is that every Sunday and solemnity at Mass and whenever
we recite the Rosary, Pilate's name is recited in the Creed, "he was
crucified under Pontius Pilate!" The Church has never allowed Pilate to
wash
his hands of the responsibility he bore in unjustly condemning Jesus to
death. As far as Gibson's portrayal of Pilate, even the extra-biblical
dialogue reveals him to be self-serving and unprincipled. His only
allegiance is to himself. Pilate orders his men to chastise this innocent
man severely! Saintly, overly-sympathetic? Again, I don't think so!
Speaking of the Roman Centurions, if there is any nuance in them it spans
from barbaric to bestial! These men are unspeakably cruel in their assault
on Jesus. Even the members of the Sanhedrin, as portrayed by Gibson, can't
take it and begin to leave-some even before the scourging. I was able to
pick up one unsubtitled line spoken by the two who were about to cane Jesus
which illustrates this point. In Latin, one said, "Faciamus musicam!" And
the other added "Jucundam!" Referring to what they were about to do to Jesus
one sarcastically and sadistically says, "Let us make music!" To which the
other replies "Sweet!" (music understood). Need any more be said about
nuance in their portrayal? Yes, one centurion seems to undergo a change
toward the end, but do not the three synoptic Gospels record a confession in
a centurion witnessing Jesus' death (cf. Mt. 27:54; Mk. 15:39; Lk. 23:47)?
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