The Tao of the Passion. Review on The Passion of Christ Movie

There is much written about the film and the details, technical excellence, revolutionary concept, unabated brutality and this has generated a plethora of reactions. I will concentrate on the fact that this is a movie that evokes those emotions that lie dormant in us and are a result of our own backgrounds and varied experience.

As a christian I suppose I was looking for this imagery all my life and it resonated with a theme that was existent in my being and therefore watching this movie was intensely moving. The flashbacks, the conflict with the devil and the subjection of the body to the earthly justice of the times was very familiar ground -every nuance of the film was appreciable the close correlation to the real thing-costumes,whips, the carrying of the cross, the mother and son, Peter,s anguish were really quenching my own thirst for reinforcing my strong feelings forJesus.

I think this is better expressed as a story that I heard from the local priest.

Father Matthew is a Catholic and was posted to an outlying village in either Arunachal or Assam. He had a superior in a more centralised town and this superior used to get Father Matthew to do a lot of fetching and carrying,outside the remit of his duties as a priest. One day he sent Father Matthew a message and said that a nephew of his was visiting a nearby village -could Father Matthew kindly arrange to meet him and escort him to suitable accomodation? As good catholic priests do not curse Fr M, did the next best thing , bemoaning his fate as he had had a particularly trying and exhausting day.

However a request was as good as an order and he set off on foot to the station arriving there well in time to meet the train. To his dismay there was a large notice put up by the officials stating that the train could be late by as much as six hours. Well, it was late and the effort of getting back to his lodgings seemed impracticable so Fr M made himself as comfortable as he could on a bench on the platform.

In the next two hours four trains went by, but not the one that he was waiting for. Fr M found he was getting more and more irritable. He was dirty, hot and sweaty and top it off he had this interminable wait. he had loosened his collar already and his cassock was somewhat soiled. He could not but help noticing however a young woman who had occupied the bench opposite him. She appeared to be in a similiar situation and would jump up and scan the carriages of each passing train.

There the similiarity ended, for as the priest got more hot and bothered she appeared to occupy the intervening time with a small mirror and make up kit. when she was not freshening her face she was adjusting the pleats of her saree or doing other small things to enhance her appearance. In fact as the Station clock chimed out the hours just as the priest continued to wilt she appeared to get more beautiful. Finally Fr M walked across and asked her who she was waiting for. It turned out that she was waiting for her husband, a soldier, who was on a short vacation from a stint at the frontier.

Eventually the train arrived over five hours late. Fr M arranged accomodation for the young guest and reflected on the young woman on his way home. He too was awaiting the same outcome however the difference was in their respective perspectives. She waited with anticipation and longing and hardly noticed the time go by, he on the other hand waited with a great deal of negative thought and was acutely conscious of the painfully slow passage of time.

This is the Tao of the Passion. Experience it.