`THE PASSION' AND THE FURY.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

Danny O'Neil is going to the movies, and he's taking a few friends with him.

O'Neil, pastor at Calvary Fellowship in south Eugene, won't have to wait in line to see "The Passion of the Christ" because his church has bought out every ticket for two showings.

That's 525 reserved tickets "and we've still got maybe 60 more people who want to go," O'Neil said. "We may have to rent a third theater."

The much-anticipated movie may well be Mel Gibson's biggest ever - and the star actor isn't even in it. But Gibson's directorial hand is all over the film, which opens on 2,800 screens nationwide on Ash Wednesday, the traditional start of Easter season.

Almost any movie daring to take on a topic as weighty as this one - the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus - is going to get some buzz. Gibson's star power and strong religious faith all but guarantee that people are going to sit up and take notice.

Many predict that the $25 million film is destined to become an unprecedented tool for Christian outreach. Others see plenty of controversy - about the secrecy surrounding the film's release, its use of nonbiblical sources and especially the fear that it could spark anti-Semitism by blaming Jews for Jesus' death.

In Lane County, church groups from Roman Catholic to evangelical Protestant to nondenominational are planning group viewings. But what remains to be seen is whether the movie will bring in a general audience.

At Cinemark 17 in Springfield this past week, several moviegoers said they'll probably check it out - if not for the subject matter then for all the controversy swirling around it.

"I want to get my own take on it," said Katie Fulster, a 22-year-old Americorps volunteer from Eugene. "It's been very hyped, and I'm a sucker for that media blitz stuff."

Locally, the movie will play at Regal Cinemas in Eugene as well as at Cinemark, which plans to devote two of its theaters for the film's opening, compared to the four it has given to such blockbusters as "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Terrell Falk, Cinemark's national vice president for marketing, said advance ticket sales for "Passion" are a fraction of what's sold for mega-hits like "Lord of the Rings" or "Harry Potter." Part of the reason, she said, may be its R rating for violence.

On the other hand, "I can't remember any R-rated movie getting the number of group sales that this movie has gotten," Falk said. Cinemark sent special mailings to churches across the country pitching the movie, she said.

Evangelism tool

Bruce Martin, head pastor at River Oaks Community Church in Eugene, is concerned about the film's violence - but still plans to see it, and is encouraging his congregation to do the same.

"I'm kind of queasy - `Braveheart' was hard for me," he said, referring to an earlier film that Gibson both starred in and directed. "But I'd be a weenie if I didn't go. This is the most important event in human history, from my perspective. Something like this doesn't come across very often."

The R rating won't scare away Denise Hand of Veneta, who bought 21 advance tickets. Hand, like Gibson, is a "traditional Catholic" who rejects many of the church's modern teachings. For her, experiencing the movie is an act of faith: "Our Lord suffered greatly for us and it's our duty to offer as much penance as possible. This is a way to feel a bit of his pain."

The youth group at Junction City Baptist Church, meanwhile, plans to attend the movie together - with each teen urged to invite at least one non-churchgoing friend to join them, said youth pastor Troy Young. "We want to make it real easy for them to talk about Christ and their faith," Young said.

Sneak preview 

Carolyn McCready of Eugene has a clearer idea than most about what's in the film. That's because she saw a near-final cut of the movie at a Christian booksellers' convention in Indianapolis.

McCready, who works at the Harvest House publishing company in Eugene, calls the film "more powerful than you can imagine" and "artfully done." The fact that the movie is in Aramaic and Latin, with English subtitles, gives it a you-are-there feel, she said. The film's level of violence - depicting beatings and crucifixion - is intense, she said.

The Christian audience that she was a part of sat in stunned but reverent silence when the movie ended, said McCready, who wonders how general theater audiences will react. "This is not the usual `Master and Commander,' ' she said.

McCready had to sign a confidentiality statement at the convention that prohibited viewers from sharing negative opinions with the press but noted that they were "free to speak out in support of the movie."

That restriction is just one of the reasons that the Rev. Dan Bryant of First Christian Church in Eugene says he's awaiting the movie with "more trepidation than excitement."

"Everything in our faith should be open and to produce something like this, saying that you can talk about this if you're positive but not if otherwise, I just find that very troubling," Bryant said. "It's geared toward gaining a financial success rather than discovering the truth."

Jewish response

Like other critics, Bryant also worries about Gibson's decision to base his movie not only on the Bible but also on the mystical visions of two nuns, Mary of Agreda of Spain and Anne Catherine Emmerich of France. Emmerich is said to have experienced stigmata - bleeding from her head, hands and feet in an imitation of Jesus' wounds. Both women alluded to the violence of Jesus' death and early-day Jews' responsibility for it.

Bryant said Gibson has the artistic right to interpret the story however he wants. What Bryant said he fears is that millions will see the movie "and then it becomes part of the common folklore of `this is how it happened' when there's no historical basis for it."

Interfaith leaders in Eugene plan to sponsor a community forum to address their concerns about the film, Bryant said. The movie may also come up in a four-week series on anti-Semitism that begins Tuesday.

At Temple Beth Israel, Assistant Rabbi Maurice Harris said some members are concerned while others have cautioned against overreacting.

Some parents are worried that their children could face "Christ killer" or similar taunts at school.

Harris said the movie shouldn't be used as a wedge against the positive relationships built between Jews and Christians over several decades, both locally and nationally. On the contrary, the movie may be an opportunity for more dialogue and an even stronger bond, he said.

Harris said he plans to see the movie, in part to "stay in touch with the mainstream culture." He's also intrigued by a movie whose actors speak in Aramaic, a language he studied in rabbinical school.

"All controversy aside, it should be fascinating to see such a dramatic portrayal," he said.

"Just a movie"?

The "Passion" in the movie's title refers to Jesus' suffering. Gibson's conservative faith - handed down by a father who said in a recent interview that the Holocaust is mostly a fiction - has contributed to fears about his interpretation of the passion story. Traditional Catholics generally reject the Second Vatican Council, which in the 1960s made several changes in Roman Catholic teachings - and declared that Jews aren't collectively responsible for Jesus' death.

More recently, the U.S. Catholic Bishops have listed criteria for evaluating passion plays - suggesting, for example, that Jews shouldn't be portrayed as avaricious and that crowd scenes should reflect that some Jews and Jewish leaders supported Jesus.

Critics charge that Gibson's movie lays most of the blame on Jesus' death on the Jewish high priest Caiaphas, rather than the Roman overseer Pilate.

But that contradicts the consensus of most Jesus historians, who contend that Roman authorities were largely responsible, said Marcus Borg, an expert on Jesus' life and a professor at Oregon State University.

Gibson has said he doesn't believe in Jewish culpability but rather that all humans share responsibility for Jesus' death. But he has apparently heeded his critics on at least one score, having deleted a line of Scripture from the film in which a Jewish mob says it will bear responsibility for Jesus' death.

Such complaints confound McCready, who said she looked for anti-Semitism during her advance screening and didn't find any.

"Although the movie certainly portrays the Jewish religious leaders as set against Christ, there were definitely some in the crowd who were sympathetic to Jesus," she said.

Among more casual moviegoers, the movie may rise or fall on its entertainment value.

Cecilia Barbera of Junction City, for example, said she'll probably go see the film, though she may wait until it reaches a cheaper, second-run theater.

"I'm kind of open-minded and I like Mel Gibson," she said. "But you have to keep things in perspective. It's just a movie."

SHOW TIMES

"The Passion of the Christ" opens Wednesday at local theaters

Regal Cinema World 8, Eugene: Noon, 3:30 p.m., 7 p.m., 10:10 p.m.

Cinemark 17, Springfield (two theaters): 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 4 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 10 p.m., 10:30 p.m.

Advance tickets: Visit www.fandango.com or www.cinemark.com online

MEL AT THE MOVIES

Highlights of Mel Gibson's film credits:

"Mad Max" (1979, first in series)

"Gallipoli" (1981)

"The Year of Living Dangerously" (1982)

"The River" (1984)

"Lethal Weapon" (1987, first in series)

"Hamlet" (1990)

"Braveheart" (1995, Oscar, best director)

"The Patriot" (2000)

"What Women Want" (2000)

"Signs" (2002)

"The Passion of the Christ" (2004)

"UNDERSTANDING ANTI-SEMITISM"

Lane Institute of Faith & Education offers four-week series:

When: Begins Tuesday, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., First Christian Church, 1166 Oak St.

Presenters: Nadia Telsey, Irwin Norparstak, Marion Malcolm, Cameron Hubbe

Course theme: History of anti-Semitism, including role of Christianity; how anti-Semitism operates and emerges in politics; testimony by presenters on personal impact of anti-Semitism

Cost: No charge; donations accepted

Information: 868-1574

"PASSION" PANEL

"Putting the Passion in Perspective," a panel with four religious leaders from different faiths, will discuss the movie at 7 p.m. March 8 in the Morse Event Center at Northwest Christian College, 11th Avenue and Alder Street. For more information, call 344-1425.

MOVIE REVIEW

Lloyd Paseman, former Register-Guard film critic, comments / Thursday in Daybreak

CAPTION(S):

Mel Gibson directs Jim Caviezel on film set.