February 25, 2004: “The Passion of the Christ” Premieres

Mel Gibson (left) and Jim Caviezel (right).

I cannot identify the man in the middle.

February 25, 2004: The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson, premieres. The film stars not Gibson but Jim Caviezel as Jesus. Even Gibson didn't have the ego to cast himself.

Gibson intended to show the last day in the earthly life of Jesus, whose suffering became known as "the Passion" long before the term "passion" came to mean anything romantic or sexual. "Passion Plays," depicting the last days of Jesus, were common in Europe as early as the Middle Ages.

Gibson concluded with the empty tomb, rather than the reappearing after the Resurrection. In other words, in his effort to show the sufferings of the Crucifixion, he totally missed the point: Not that Jesus lost, but that he won. And that is an offense even worse than Gibson injecting blatant anti-Semitism into the film. It's like ending the Star Wars saga with Luke and Vader both getting blown up on the Death Star, or 300 without mentioning that, enabled and inspired by the Spartan sacrifice, the Greeks went on to kick the Persians out.

Also, what would Jesus say about Caviezel wearing that cap,

advertising the movie? Does that count as making a graven image?

Gibson's director of photography was Caleb Deschanel, one of the best in the business. He is also the husband of actress Mary Jo Deschanel, and they are the parents of actresses Emily Deschanel and Zooey Deschanel, neither of whom was in the movie.

Most of the actors in the movie, shot in Italy, were Italian. As a result, few were known to American audiences, although Gibson cast the fabulous Monica Bellucci, definitely known to U.S. moviegoers, as Mary Magdalene. Jesus' mother Mary was played by Romanian actress Maia Morgenstern, the Apostle Peter by Francesco De Vito, the disloyal Judas Iscariot by Luca Lionello, and Governor Pontius Pilate by Bulgarian actor Hristo Shopov.

Another thing holding the movie back was Gibson's insistence on the actors speaking the languages that their characters would have spoken at the time: Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin. To make matters worse, he didn't want subtitles, but Newmarket Films, not willing to go bankrupt, insisted on them.

On a budget of $30 million, the film made over $600 million, especially appealing to American evangelicals. As Billy Crystal, Jewish, joked while hosting the Oscars a few weeks later, "It opened on Ash Wednesday. It had a Good Friday."

Other notable films about Jesus include King of Kings, made with H.B. Warner in 1927 and again with Jeffrey Hunter in 1961; The Greatest Story Ever Told, with Max von Sydow, 1965; Jesus of Nazareth, with Robert Powell, a TV miniseries first broadcast on Italy's RAI, Britain's ITV, and America's NBC in 1977; The Last Temptation of Christ, with Willem Dafoe, 1988; Jesus, with Jeremy Sisto, 1999; and Mary, Mother of Jesus, with future Batman Christian Bale, also in 1999. As with Gibson's film, the Powell and Sisto versions were produced and filmed in Italy.

In 1973, country singer Johnny Cash produced and narrated Gospel Road, filming it on location in Israel and Jordan were the events are said to have happened. He had the guts to cast his wife, country singer June Carter Cash, as the not-really-a-prostitute Mary Magdalene. Robert Elfstrom played Jesus, and his son Robert Jr. played him as a boy.

Dafoe later made a Mercedes-Benz commercial where he played the Devil. This made him, as far as I know, the only actor ever to play both Jesus and the Devil. George Burns played God in the 3 Oh, God! films, and also played the Devil in the last of them, Oh, God! You Devil in 1984.

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February 25, 2004 was, as stated a Wednesday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 10 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Phoenis Suns, 113-95 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Minnoesta Timberwolves, 81-68 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics, 106-104 at the FleetCenter (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors, 76-74 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Golden state Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 99-92 at the Memphis Pyramid.

* The New Orleans Hornets beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 99-93 at the New Orleans Arena (now the Smoothie King Center).

* The Detroit Pistons beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bulls, 107-88 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 90-84 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets, 112-111 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver. Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony each scored 35 points.

* And the Utah Jazz beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 93-92 in overtime at the Key Arena in Seattle. Ray Allen led all scorers on the night with 40 points.

And there were 8 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Buffalo Sabres, 8-2 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands. Patrik Eliáš had 2 goals and 3 assists.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals, 2-1 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 4-2 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in Atlanta.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at the Office Depot Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 1-1 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-3 at the Glendale Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona. Ric Jackman scored the winning goal with 3:12 left in overtime.

* And the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center).