Sunday, February 29, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

'Passion' makes impression on young, old

Parents say spiritual message offsets violence

Ray and Carla Hoffman, along with their 11-year-old son, Nick, share their thoughts after seeing Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" at the Colonnade theaters on South Eastern Avenue. "It kind of made me have some sad feelings," the fifth-grader said. Photo by Craig L. Moran. Actor Jim Caviezel, portraying Jesus Christ, is nailed to the cross in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Photo by Associated Press

The demon children frightened 5-year-old Romeo Dominguez.

The bloody flagellation bothered 11-year-old Nick Hoffman.

For 10-year-old Minna Jones, it was the depictions of Satan that left her shaken.

"It was a little scary watching people whooping Jesus," Minna said Wednesday afternoon a few minutes after seeing Mel Gibson's controversial new film. "But it was the devil that was really weird."

An unusual scene played out in Las Vegas movie theaters last week as hundreds of parents took their children to see an R-rated film featuring some of the most unrelenting and graphic violence ever depicted on-screen.

Many of the churchgoing adults who saw "The Passion of the Christ" when it opened Wednesday said they typically would not let their sons and daughters see a film depicting brutal pummelings, a minutes-long scourging that ribbons off skin and steady bloodshed for most of its two hours.

Dozens of parents interviewed after seeing the movie said they had no qualms about their decision. They said the film clearly brought to life for their children a central tenet of their faith in a way that reading from Scripture could not.

"Seeing it was a lot different than reading the Bible," Minna's mother, nondenominational Christian Mina Jones, said after she and her daughter took in one of the first local showings of the film at The Orleans.

Jones said she prepared her daughter for the graphic nature of the film before they went. Afterward, Jones said she did not regret taking Minna because the violence ultimately has an uplifting spiritual message.

"It was very detailed in the torture he went through for us," Jones said.

Portraying the last 12 hours of Jesus' life, much of "Passion" portrays Christ's torture at the hands of Romans.

Perhaps most graphic is a scourging scene that lasts several minutes and leaves the Jesus character with much of his torso skin missing. The camera focuses up close on dozens of wounds, as well as the faces of the two Romans flaying Christ. They smile and laugh as blood sprays onto the ground and their faces.

Satan, depicted in the film as a menacing, androgynous human in a hooded robe, cuddles an infant demon-child and smiles at Jesus' mother during the sequence.

During the 4:15 p.m. showing Wednesday at the Colonnade theater on South Eastern Avenue, many viewers cringed in their seats while the Romans repeatedly whipped Christ.

Good message or not, some of the moviegoers said they were dismayed to see young children at the showings.

Presbyterian Marie Mastro, a 67-year-old retiree, said she believed the material was inappropriate for the 7- or 8-year-old boy sitting behind her when she saw the movie at The Orleans.

"It's an R-rated film, and that should make parents think before taking their kids in," Mastro said as she left the theater.

"You could take a kid whose 11 or 12, but only if they're ready for it," said her husband, Frank Mastro, 75, a Catholic.

Rick Truino opted to attend the film by himself before deciding whether it was appropriate for his two children.

Clad in a Super Bowl sweatshirt and jeans, the construction worker shook his head back in forth as he described being moved to tears during a Wednesday morning screening at The Orleans.

"It was very intense," said Truino, 50, a Catholic who had a smeared gray cross on his forehead in recognition of Ash Wednesday. "I was surprised to have tears in my eyes."

He planned to take his sons, ages 7 and 12, to see the film the first chance he got.

"They're not really exposed to violence," Truino said, adding that he and his wife limit the boys' television viewing to about an hour a day. "But they will see this. They need to see this. Everyone needs to see this. The way the world is right now, it's just, I don't know, sometimes it seems like the fabric of society is unraveling more every day and people are forgetting about the important things. This just seems like the right time for a movie like this."

Few parents said they regretted bringing kids along. The ones who did said the vivid violence cast in the context of a religious lesson probably was beyond their children's understanding.

Such was the case with 5-year-old Romeo Dominguez's parents.

"He got jumpy a couple times when the children turned into demons," said his mother, Melody Dominguez, 22, a Catholic.

She was referring to the depiction of possessed children who torment Judas Iscariot after he betrays Jesus, eventually driving the disciple to suicide.

Like many scenes in the film, the demonic children are not found in the Bible, but are based on the reported mystic visions of Anne Emmerich, a 19th-century German nun who reportedly inspired Gibson.

"If we had it to do over, we wouldn't take him," said Romeo's father, Joseph Dominguez, 25.

Candy and Luis Cuevas had no regrets about taking their three children with them to a late afternoon showing Wednesday at Colonnade. The Cuevases have two daughters, ages 9 and 8, and a 3-year-old son.

"I want them to see why Jesus died, and it was a great movie," said Candy Cuevas, 29, a Jehovah's Witness. "They have a better perspective from seeing it, I think."

Her children, as well as many others interviewed, described being disturbed by the film but said they were happy to have seen it.

Almost all of the youngsters brought up the same images as having stuck in their minds: the devil, the demons and the unceasing drubbings of Jesus.

"It was just sad," said the Cuevas' 9-year-old daughter, Kathleen, referring to the crucifixion scenes.

Child psychiatrist Michael Brody, a professor at the University of Maryland, said both the violence and one of the themes of the film are inappropriate for such young children.

"One of the most upsetting things for kids is watching the movies where a parent is killed," Brody said, mentioning "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" and "Finding Nemo" as recent examples. "Kids freak out about that, and here you have Jesus, who is the ultimate father figure, getting killed."

Brody, chairman of the Television and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, said the nonfatal attacks on Jesus also will bother children, especially the detailed images of Romans scourging him.

"This 10-minute sequence of flaying, taking kids to see that is unbelievable. It is ridiculous. A kid 13 or 14 could deal with this, but to bring an 8-year-old or a 7-year-old, this is very inappropriate."

Child developmental psychologist Linda Dunlap, author of the textbook "What All Children Need: Theory and Application," agreed.

Dunlap said the message that the crucifixion happened because of God's love for humanity may be lost on children as they watch Gibson's film.

"Children need to be reassured that the purpose of this film is to show them the sacrifice because they may not automatically understand that. Kids see it as violence and just shocking rather than the message of sacrifice," said Dunlap, chairwoman of the psychology department at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. "That God gave a son's life to the world in a sacrifice, well, that's often difficult for adults to wrap their heads around; so it's not a very good way to introduce children to religion."

Dunlap said 13 might be an appropriate minimum age to see the movie. And only then when parents properly prepare their teenagers beforehand and discuss the film with them at length afterward.

"It's got to be couched in a way that we're going to see this for a reason, sit down and talk about it. Tell them it's OK to turn your eyes away at gruesome parts. 'This was done for the purpose for you to understand, but if you don't understand it, let's talk about. What did you learn about it?' Go to the next set of messages and explain the love of God and that's why He did this."

Brody, the psychiatrist, said a child's comprehension is further complicated by the fact that the actors do not speak English.

"Children are going to be more afflicted by the images because the whole movie is in Aramaic and Latin, and I doubt little kids are going to be reading all those subtitles."

Catholics Carla and Ray Hoffman, both 43, were at first hesitant about whether to bring their son along.

"We had some reservations about bringing our 11-year-old, but we talked about what he already sees with Nintendo and X-box games," Carla Hoffman said as she threw her arms over 11-year-old Nick Hoffman's shoulders and hugged him to her. "I guess this type of violence is more acceptable to us. And this was just overwhelmingly well done. I think (Gibson) did an excellent job."

Nick said he enjoyed the film but appeared rather morose while recounting the vivid parts that stuck with him.

"It kind of made me have some sad feelings," the fifth-grader said. "When he was getting beaten was the worst."

"The scourging?" his father asked.

"Yeah, it was really bloody and bad," Nick said. "That was just terrible."