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film

Movies are one of the bad habits that corrupted our century. They have slapped into the American mind more misinformation in one evening than the Dark Ages could muster in a decade. -- Ben Hecht, _A Child of the Century_, 1954

The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) "Webster's Electronic Quotebase," ed. Keith Mohler, 1994.

I am neither a prophet nor a movie critic. I am merely an Orthodox rabbi using ancient Jewish wisdom to make three predictions about The Passion. First: Mel Gibson and Icon Productions will make a great deal of money. Those distributors who surrendered to pressure from Jewish organizations and passed on The Passion will be kicking themselves, while Newmarket Films will laugh all the way to the bank. Theater owners are going to love this film. Second: The Passion will become famous as the most serious and substantive Biblical movie ever made. It will be one of the most talked-about entertainment events in history. My third prediction is that the faith of millions of Christians will become more fervent as The Passion uplifts and inspires them. The Passion will propel vast numbers of unreligious Americans to embrace Christianity. The movie will one day be seen as a harbinger of America's third great religious reawakening. Those Jewish organizations that have squandered both time and money futilely protesting The Passion, ostensibly in order to prevent pogroms in Pittsburgh, can hardly be proud of their performance. They failed at everything they attempted. They were hoping to ruin Gibson rather than enrich him. They were hoping to suppress The Passion rather than promote it. Finally, they were hoping to help Jews rather than harm them. --The Dividers The Passion's critics fail. By Rabbi Daniel Lapin http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/lapin200402250902.asp

With perhaps one in five Americans already having seen it, "The Passion" continues to rack up attendance records. Would you like to hear an amazing statistic? In spite of dire warnings by some Jewish groups, no Jews wending their way homewards from the synagogue have been set upon by crucifix-wielding Christians intent on wreaking revenge for the death of Jesus. I am not being sarcastic. This truly is an amazing statistic. According to Boston police reports, the Oliver Stone-Quentin Tarantino 1994 "Natural Born Killers" inspired several imitation murders, including a firefighter killed by a man who claimed to be fascinated by the film. Nathaniel White claimed that "Robocop" showed him how to kill five women and one girl in a year-long murder spree. Four young gunmen embarked on a killing spree, murdering four after watching the TV movie "Helter Skelter," a film about the Manson murders. The annals of American crime are filled with instances of the unbalanced and the demented acting out silver screen slashing extravaganzas.
Back in February, when "The Passion" was released, would anyone have been willing to guarantee that out of millions of theatergoers, not one lunatic would emerge with mayhem on his mind? I would have offered no such guarantee. Yet, nothing of the sort happened. What did happen is that several criminals were inspired to confess their crimes and submit to trial and incarceration after experiencing "The Passion."
Even the most hostile critic must concede that just as depraved films stimulate degenerate imitation, so do uplifting films stimulate noble behavior. That is certainly what has been happening with "The Passion." Wouldn't it be uplifting and even noble were the Jewish groups who earlier had insulted "The Passion," its maker, the Gospels that inspired it and indeed all Christians, now to issue an apology? -- Rabbi Daniel Lapin, "Jewish activists: Apologize to Mel" http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38197

That is really where the rub is. The critics; sometimes Jews and always liberals; just don't like the New Testament. They resent this movie with the same intensity that Canaanites would have resented a movie about Joshua. I am tempted to write a satirical movie review along these lines. "Mr. Gibson's handling of traditional Canaanite religious beliefs is grossly insensitive. And, when he creates scene after scene based on Deuteronomy 7:16, he violates artistic propriety." - Gary North , Did Jesus Get Lost in Translation?, http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north251.html