The Passion of the Christ

AroView: A visceral depiction of Jesus Christ’s final day before being crucified, this controversial work from devout Christian Mel Gibson is bluntly literal, gruesome, yet garishly powerful.

Perhaps the most blood-drenched version of a bible story brought to screen, this begins with Jesus’ (Jim Caviezel) arrest by Jewish police and steadily lays on the increasing torture and suffering of the Messiah up to the Cross and beyond. Not an easy watch, or even necessarily a great film, but certainly one bound to provoke thought and discussion on the nature and source of religious feeling (and fervour) - in itself, probably not such a bad outcome.