i went to the movies yesterday and saw the movie. THE movie. it was a very powerful event. The movie was not what i expected. i was prepared for gore, but it was actually more graphic than i expected.

the story line had a lot to offer as well. i don’t know how accurate the story line is compared to actual history, but there was a lot there that i had no idea occurred.

if you plan to see the movie, quit reading now. i don’t want to ruin it for you.

the movie started out the night before, with Jesus in the garden, being tempted by satan, and betrayed by judas.

he was arrested in the night by a little hit squad and taken to the rabbi’s (pharisees?). they tried him for blasphemy, and kicked his butt. badly. but you see, the romans were in charge of judea, back in the day. so, come first light, they had to drag him before the governor. the rabbi’s had stacked the crowd. alerting everyone they could count on to come and cheer as they were told.

the governor of judea was pontius pilate. now, pontius was more than a bit afraid of the whole situation. seems caesar had warned him about further bloodshed in judea. caesar had warned him that further bloodshed would be his own. and he knew that either way he ruled, there would be an uprising, so he tried to dodge the issue by pawning the matter of Jesus’ blasphemy off on king herod.

king herod was portrayed somewhat as a fool. he had the court full of comics and women. he tried to get Jesus to do a few miracles on demand for him. in the end, he sent Jesus back to pilate. pilate ruled that Jesus was to be ‘chastised’ but not executed.

chastisement means chained to a block and whipped. badly. first with sticks, then with cat 0 nine tails. then when Jesus was again brought before pilate; bloody, he offered the gathered crowd the choice of freeing jesus, of nazareth, who had already suffered much, and barrabas, a known and horrific murderer.

of course the crowd choose barrabas, as they were led by the rabbis.

barrabas did a little dance, and fled. the crowd then demanded crucifiction for Jesus. pilate was not happy, but lamented, since people were already starting to revolt.

the road to the hill was brutal. i remember hearing about a guy who helped him carry the cross way back when i was in sunday school. he was in the movie. he was grabbed out of the crowd by the romans, becuase they had beaten Christ so badly, that he could barely walk, let alone carry the cross.

the nailing was brutal, they had to pretty much disloacte his shoulder to stretch his arms enough.

there was a little earthquake at his death, a little taste of how momentous a thing had been done. the father was not happy.

the very end was really cool. you were inside the tomb, and watched them roll the boulder back from the outside. and his burial shrowd just kind of collapsed as there was no longer a body in it. then a full healthy christ got up and walked out. holes in his hands and all.

i just want to leave y’all with a few observations.

nobody got up to go to the bathroom during the movie. NOBODY.

i felt sorry for pontius pilate. his wife claudia showed a lot of decency to Mary in the movie. hope it was true.

it was nice to see all of the older people in the theatre. get them out, back out there with us.

LOTS of crying in the theatre.

satan was portrayed very well. he was in the movie, but he didn’t really have any interaction with anybody, just moving around in the crowd, stirring up the rabble a little bit. gloating. he gave me the creeps.

the movie was powerful. it hurt.