PASSIONATE DIRECTION 'CHRIST' FILM STIRS CONCERN AS WELL AS DEVOTION.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

Evangelists call it the most effective tool for spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ in 2,000 years.

But Jewish leaders say it's anti-Semitic propaganda that poses the greatest threat to Judeo-Christian harmony in a half-century.

For others who have watched early screenings of Mel Gibsons's ``The Passion of the Christ,'' it is simply the most graphic and poignant cinematic portrayal ever of Christ's final 12 hours on earth.

Ahead of the film's official debut on Feb. 25 - Ash Wednesday - some religious leaders in the San Fernando Valley are scheduling special meetings, sermons and lectures to address questions raised by a film that is bound to stir passions among followers of all faiths.

``Stunned is the best way I can say it,'' said the Rev. Glenn Kirby of West Valley Community Church of West Hills, who saw the film last month with 3,100 ministers from around the country.

``When the movie was over, there was total silence. These ministers had ... devoted their lives to this and were shocked. They were weeping throughout the entire movie.''

The film premieres in 2,000 theaters nationwide - an impressive distribution for a religious film with English subtitles.

Despite its wide release, Christian churches are reserving whole theaters to invite ``unsaved'' friends to share in its Gospels-inspired message. And ministers who have seen the film are gearing sermons to what they say is the movie's main theme: the torture and crucifixion of Christ, who they believe died for man's sins.

But Jewish leaders have given the movie a different review.

``Many people want to know why we're outraged. They say the film is not accusatory toward Jews, and Jesus died for their sins,'' said Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center of Los Angeles. ``There's only one problem with that theory - it's not the theme of the film.

``The theme of the film is that it was the Jews that did in Jesus.''

Of particular controversy is a Bible-based scene in which the Jewish high priest Caiaphas, following Christ's death, utters the curse, ``His blood be on us and on our people.''

While one news report this month said Gibson had agreed to cut the scene, he has not confirmed its deletion.

The film's graphic violence and grueling scenes of Christ's suffering in his final hours has drawn as much attention as the controversy over who was responsible for his death.

``I was sick to my stomach, in a good way. I was shocked - in awe,'' said Donna Johnson of Westlake Village, who has seen three screenings of the film. ``In all the movies of Jesus I've ever seen, nothing was as powerful - it did something to my heart.''

Screeners report audiences from coast to coast bursting into tears. Tissues are passed. And after the final credits: stunned silence.

What's especially difficult, moviegoers say, is the violent realism of Gibson's R-rated film, whose actors speak in Latin and Aramaic, a Semitic language spoken from about the 7th century B.C. to the 7th century A.D.

Devoutly religious, Gibson spent $25 million of his own money to produce the film, which he directed and co-wrote.

The actor/director belongs to an ultra-conservative sect of the Catholic Church that does not recognize the modernizing reforms issued by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Among those reforms was the official declaration that Jews were not collectively responsible for Christ's death.

Still, Gibson has denied in interviews that the movie seeks to put the blame for Jesus' death on Jews. Rather, he says it is a historical film based on the literal interpretation of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The film depicts Jesus, a Jewish carpenter preaching in Roman-held Palestine, challenging Jewish high priests, who have him arrested.

Before being crucified for high treason against Rome, the man many consider to be the Messiah, or savior, is tortured. A wreath of thorns is clubbed into his head. He is beaten with a stick and flogged for 10 minutes with cat-o'-nine-tails tipped with metal and bone. His sandals soak up the blood that flows from his body.

Finally, he is nailed to a cross.

Kirby, the West Hills minister, and some other devotees of the film said it was so powerful that they're convinced Gibson could not have pulled it off without divine intervention.

``I don't think Mel Gibson could produce this reaction,'' Kirby said. ``It was a God thing.''

Kirby is promoting the film on his church's Web site and will devote five sermons on it in the weeks leading up to Easter.

The Rev. Dale Johnsen of Heart of the Valley Community Church in Reseda will host two Sunday panels on Feb. 29 on the personal impact of the film and how to invite non-Christian friends to see the movie.

``We just want to be one of the churches to help answer questions after the film, such as why Christ had to die, as well as how could one man endure such suffering and remain at peace throughout it,'' said Johnsen, an evangelical preacher.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, representing nearly 5 million Catholics, said its parishes have organized no screenings, homilies or discussions about Gibson's film and will not promote it.

While many of the 10,000 Christians who have seen the film are moved by Jesus's fortitude, Jews worry their portrayal in the film will set back years of improving Jewish-Christian relations.

Hier said Jews in the film come across as pushy and unkempt, with Rasputin-like features. While Roman leaders are shown as moderates, Jews are depicted as villains, he said.

``We do not begrudge the right of anyone to make a film. What we object to is a horrible depiction of the Jewish community. The Jews featured in the two-hour film are unintelligent, they look evil - deliberately so - with sinister eyes,'' said Hier, who will host a panel about the film following its debut.

Michael Berenbaum, director of the Sigi Ziering Institute, which studies issues surrounding the Holocaust at the University of Judaism, agrees.

In the past half-century, great strides have been made between Christians and Jews, with Jews no longer blamed for Christ's death, he said. Gibson's film could reverse those gains.

``I do have some concerns if it impacts the way I am viewed, and how my children are viewed,'' Berenbaum said. ``We have a long historical memory of anti-Semitism at the core of the Christian narrative.''

Some Christian academics who have seen the film see no bias, however.

``I think it'll be positively perceived,'' said the Rev. Tom Rausch, chairman of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University, who saw a rough cut of the film with 300 Jesuits last summer. ``Many will see it as a work of art.''

Tom Dillon, president of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, said he's seen the film twice and finds it to be the most powerful religious movie ever made.

``I cried in both showings, but at different places. It's an experience. It's not just like watching a movie.''

Dana Bartholomew, [phone]

dana.bartholomew(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Wiesenthal Center, fears the Mel Gibson film could set back Christian-Jewish relations.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) no caption (Mel Gibson)

(3 -- color) no caption (``The Passion of the Christ'')