[WhiteRob]

Mel Gibson's passion-stirring Biblical epic "The Passion
of Christ" will open in the United States on Feb. 25 - Ash Wednesday on the
Christian calendar.

The Oscar-winning "Braveheart" director and Newmarket Films announced a deal
Thursday to distribute Gibson's embattled film about the last hours of Jesus
Christ's life.

The film has drawn complaints from some Jewish leaders, who say it suggests
Jews were responsible for Christ's death. Conservative Catholics who have
seen the film have called it a powerful rendering Christ's crucifixion.

Gibson spent a reported $30 million to produce the movie, which he has
defended as faithful to the Gospels. In response to worries by Jewish
groups, he has said the film is intended "to inspire, not offend."

In 1965, the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church formally
rejected Jewish culpability in Christ's death. But Gibson belongs to an
ultraconservative Catholic movement that rejects the reforms of the Second
Vatican Council and the legitimacy of the current Vatican leadership.

(NOTE: The Vatican recently endorsed Gibson's film, instructing priests
world-wide to "contemplate" the movie.--Jay)

"The Passion of Christ" stars Jim Caviezel as Christ and Monica Bellucci as
Mary Magdalene. The dialogue is in Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic with English
subtitles.

While seeking a distributor, Gibson's Icon Productions company screened the
film for many faith-based groups, like church leaders, scholars and
religious charities among others, in a grass-roots efforts to promote the
film.

That effort will now join with Newmarket, an independent distribution
company that specializes in publicizing and securing theaters for such
art-house films as "Memento,""Real Women Have Curves" and "Whale Rider."

Gibson will distribute the film himself through Icon in the United Kingdom
and Australia.

The film's Ash Wednesday debut places it in Lent, the 40-day religious
period preceding Easter observed by Christians as a season of fasting and
penitence.

[Art]

This isn't exactly music news....

[plankeye7532]

Maybe there's music in the film. Christian music. That you can transcribe and summit to this site.

[Art]

That would be a copyright violation. Illegal. Try again.

[ICTHUS]

Originally Posted by WhiteRob

Mel Gibson's passion-stirring Biblical epic "The Passion
of Christ" will open in the United States on Feb. 25 - Ash Wednesday on the
Christian calendar.

The film has drawn complaints from some Jewish leaders, who say it suggests Jews were responsible for Christ's death.

Well, they were responsible for His death. But then again, so was I. What are they complaining about?

Conservative Catholics who have
seen the film have called it a powerful rendering Christ's crucifixion.

Amen. Although Mel Gibson isin't a conservative Catholic. He's a schismatic Catholic. (Society of St. Pius X) There's a BIG difference.