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Friday, April 16, 2004

How do I rate Passion?

I braved the rain to board the bus to Asia Jaya LRT station. I still feeling feverish. Should be home resting as instructed by my doctor who gave me an MC that morning. But it was something too good to be missed – a FREE screening of the no.1 Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ on BIG screen! I was surprised when Kevin told me that he got some free tickets for POTC. Christian movie like this would be banned from Malaysian cinemas, fearing will shaken the belief and faith of non-Christians. The screening was held in a former old cinema turn assembly hall for a church in PJ. So, I guess the church people would have gotten the permit to screen it. Initially we were seated on the ground floor but we decided to “upgrade” our seats to the balcony seats upstairs. It was an old cinema, pre-cineplex era style where the ground floor were for the common people and the upstairs seats were for people who can afford to dish out more dough so that they can be on top of everyone else and throw pop-corns from the balcony. It sure brought back some memory. The show supposed to started after some brief words from the man who I think was the pastor of the church. I was told by friends who have watched POTC on pirated VCD/DVD that it contains graphic violent scenes. Having watched Kill Bill earlier in the morning, I thought I could handle possibly all the blood and gory scenes. Boy, I was wrong. I was cringing in my seat watching Jesus being beaten, flogged and finally crucified. I cried. It was painful for me to see the amount of pain and suffering that we human can inflict on another. Why they want to watch him suffer? At the end of the movie, the pastor got up again to the church and preached. We were ready to leave but the pastor asked everyone to close his or her eyes and reflect. Those who accepted Christ were asked to go on the stage. We quietly sneaked out from the back of the cinema. Hey….I was there for the free movie, nothing else but why do I felt like a thief sneaking out. A very effective “recruitment” drive for the church, according to Adrian. Whatever it is, I was moved by the movie. I can’t say that I enjoyed it. I cannot bring myself to enjoy other people’s pains and sufferings. I can’t rate it. How can I rate the pain and sufferings that people inflict on people?