so i too saw The Passion of the Christ and i agree whole-heartedly with your comments Mac. I cried twice and almost cried once it was so powerful. An hour into the movie I just felt like stopping it all because it was so painful to watch and I didn't want Jesus to suffer anymore, despite the fact that I knew it was going to get much worse.

as far as the "controversy" goes, i can see why the jewish community would have some worries about the film possibly sending the wrong message. especially at the beginning of the movie, some might have thought, "why are the Jews so pissed at Jesus? why can't they just leave him alone?". To impressionable, narrow/close-minded, dense people this alone might have made them miss the whole point of the movie. So in that sense I can understand the concern. the movie is set out of context and if you don't know the history, then you might have felt lost or have taken the wrong message away from it.

i'm curious to see/hear what non-Christians who don't know the story of the Passion think about it; if they felt lost or confused or mad. i think a couple of my friends who aren't Christian are seeing it next week so we'll see. At any rate, I think it was an excellent movie and it was told very well.

And that's my 2 cents....