The Passion: Review
Friday 7 March 2008
This Easter a BBC version of the last days of Jesus on earth hits our screens. It's well worth seeing, writes Mark Woods of The Baptist Times.
Depictions of Jesus on film tend to divide people. Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, Pasolini's Gospel of St Matthew, Dennis Potter's Son of Man: they've all been praised or blamed for what they said, or what they didn't say. In general, if the critics love them, the Churches hate them, and vice versa. Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ was the notable exception. But film-makers have to tread so carefully if they're to do justice both to the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith that it's no wonder that they overbalance one way or the other - into aggressive demythologisation (Potter), or reverential blandness (the Jesus film).
So for the BBC to undertake a project like this one is a bold undertaking, from both an artistic and a commercial point of view. Written by Frank Deasy, directed by Michael Offer and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark, The Passion is another attempt to retell the story of Jesus's final days on earth. In what's claimed to be a first, it tells the story from the perspective of all the main figures involved - Jesus and his disciples, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate and the High Priest, Caiaphas.
It's filmed in Morocco and stars Joseph Mawle as Jesus, James Nesbitt as Pilate and Ben Daniels as Caiaphas. David Oyelowo plays Joseph of Arimathea. The names are important; this isn't a cast of unknowns (though Mawle's profile has been lower than the others, at least so far). This is meant to be a prestige production. It's marked, too, by an attention to historical and theological detail.
Its historical consultant is Mark Goodacre, associate professor of New Testament at Duke University in North Carolina. 'One of my hobbies is watching Bible films,' he admits. 'I love watching them even though most films about Jesus are terrible.'
He takes a rigorous but balanced approach toward making sure that this isn't one of them.
'If you try to stick too strictly to the Gospels you sacrifice drama,'
he says. 'So I tried not to be a scholarly nerd. Otherwise you end up with a wooden, literalistic interpretation, not drama.' Goodacre drew on a wide range of sources in his role of advisor, including the Jewish historian Josephus, and the production is concerned to set the story in an accurate historical context. The tensions between Jews and Romans, especially at Passover, are at its heart.
'In some Jesus films, Caiaphas has bad teeth and looks villainous,' Goodacre says. 'You never understand why he is doing what he is doing. He is just an evil man doing evil things. Not only is that historically ridiculous but it's dramatically poor.'
Instead, in this production he's doing what all politicians do - keeping the show on the road. The portrayal also reflects a sensivity about the anti-semitic uses to which the Passion story has historically been put.
Judas, even in the gospels, is a far more complex character than he's sometimes allowed to appear, and this too is developed in the drama. 'We need to know human motivation,' says Goodacre. 'You have to invent a back story for him that makes sense to a contemporary audience but does not go too far from the gospels.' According to producer, Nigel Stafford-Clark, Jesus 'has undergone centuries of elaboration and interpretation, and we wanted to try and strip that away, to get back to the startling clarity and simplicity with which he addressed both his followers and his opponents.
'Whatever your beliefs, it is impossible not to be moved by his suffering and awed by the depth of his humanity, and we needed to find a way to convey that, so that he seemed to be talking as directly and powerfully to us as he did to those around him.' Working on the drama has affected at least some of the participants profoundly. Writer Frank Deasy, from an Irish Catholic background, travelled to Jerusalm and the Galilee as part of his preparation. He says that the story of Jesus was the first he ever heard. 'As I grew older, it became more complex. So this was an opportunity to look at the question of why the crucifixion was at the centre of this world religion.
'Part of my journey was understanding it as an image of transcendence, overcoming suffering and transforming it into love.' Joseph Mawle, who plays Jesus, prepared for the role by reading Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew. Himself a humanist, he says 'I became in awe of the man. For me, the most important thing was to do this man justice.'
How will this version rank among all the others? It's too soon to say. But there's no doubt that it's been approached seriously and responsibly, with an appropriate fear and trembling.
The Passion will be broadcast on BBC during Holy Week, with the final episode on Easter Sunday.
A dedicated website with interviews, biographies, theological and historical articles and an episode guide is at: www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thepassion.
