Mel Gibson

I have to say that I agree with Elinor on the strange glee that is pervading the Catholic world (cyber and otherwise) over Mel Gibson's The Passion. I will preface these remarks by saying that I have not seen the film and am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. And certainly the historical facts of the Passion itself are not really contested by sedevacantists, so I am probably less skeptical than if Gibson had made a film that had more of a potential of error.

However, I will (if I decide to go see it, which is a matter of more factors than simply wanting to see it or not) be on guard for errors of interpretation. I am skeptical of the film, as I have yet to see a Gibson film that was really that great. Overblown productions just do not do it for me. I prefer Italian neo-realism to the sort of films Gibson normally is associated with.

What gets me, though, is the gush that is coming out about the film (another thing that tends to put me on guard, as gushed about films tend to fade in the memory mighty quickly - does anyone remember much about that awful Dances with Wolves?). Elinor is right. If some whack-job fringite who was not a handsome and famous Hollywood type made the film, would Catholics be as ecstatic over it? I doubt it.

Certainly Catholics are not immune to bad taste, nor to the charms of overblown productions. There are plenty of good Catholics who think that Spielbarf makes good films. As the visiting bishop told Don Quixote in Greene's Monsignor Quixote, "holiness is not a guarantee of good taste in literature." Or film, for that matter (The Lord of the Rings films come to mind, although I have yet to see the Return of the King - number two was dull enough, albeit visually stunning, as I am sure number three is).

I am not suggesting that one must be a good Catholic or even a good person to make good art. Mozart, David, Mahler, and countless others stand as evidence of that. But it seems that Catholics are gushing over the film because Gibson has Catholic sentiments, including Catholics who find my own Triumphalism to be hopelessly passe in this age of ecumenicism. Perhaps Gibson has created great art, in spite of himself (as it often is the case), but I am just as guarded about it as I would be if the film were made by a Protestant.

If we are going to exercise tribal loyalties, let us at least have the integrity to keep it actually within the tribe.