Moe Freedman, an Orthodox Jew who hosts the insightful Occam’s Toothbrush blog, has the following interesting perspective on Mel Gibson’s new movie, “The Passion“:

The Bleeding of the Christ
I went to see “The Passion” tonight, and I would like point out a few things to those of you considering seeing it.
First, on an entertainment level, it isn’t much of a movie in the traditional sense, so if you’re looking for entertainment skip it, this movie is downright painful for anyone not looking for an affirmation of their faith.
Second, on all the Anti-Semitism charges, the really shouldn’t be that much controversy – the movie is anti-Semitic only inasmuch as the gospels are. Don’t get me wrong, Jews come off quite badly, and are the primary causes of Jesus’ death in the film, but that’s pretty much the way the gospels went the last time I read them, so you can’t exactly blame Gibson for that. I do think the Movie will cause some Anti-Semitism (especially in parts of the world prone to it) but again, you can’t blame Gibson for that either.
When it comes to depicting the Jews, the movie mixes up the Sanhedrin, the Kohanim, and the Pharisees in general, into an all purpose villainous group. but it wasn’t all that horrible on that front.
Cinematically it was quite good, and the actors were terrific, though some of them seemed to have problems with the cadence of their Aramaic and Hebrew (I’m nitpicking here). James Caviezel was great as the suffering Jesus, but I thought he was a little stiff during the flashback scenes.
The problem for me though, is that I’m not a Christian (I’m an Orthodox Jew BTW), and so I didn’t really have any emotional involvement other than simple curiosity, and that makes the film just about worthless. The violence didn’t “move” me, it just seemed like a ridiculous amount of overkill. They should have called this “The Bleeding of the Christ,” most of the movie is just that, Jesus bleeding. Charge me with deicide if you will, but after about 2/3’s of the movie I was begging for the guy to die already so we could all go home.
To sum up, if you’re a Christian and want your faith bolstered, tweaked or whatever this is supposed to do, go see it. It certainly seems to work (the two girls sitting next to me were sobbing), But if you aren’t, stay home and I’ll sum it up for you?Bleeding, lots of it.

Although I am a Christian, I share the concerns of many Jewish leaders regarding the potential anti-Semitic impact of the film. James Carroll‘s book “Constantine’s Sword” is flawed in several respects, but its thorough analysis of the troubling history of Christian persecution of the Jews is daunting and thought provoking. Viewed in that broad context, Jewish concerns regarding potential anti-Semitic reaction to Mr. Gibson’s movie are entirely reasonable. Christians accept that all of mankind is responsible for Christ’s death, and Jews certainly should bear no greater responsibility for his death than anyone else. What is more important to me is God’s forgiveness of my complicity in that sin, for which I am eternally grateful.