FAQ

The Passion of the Christ is based on the four canonical gospels in the New Testament-those of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John-as well as the "Suffering Servant" passage from the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 53. Genesis 3:15 and the Psalms are also sourced, beyond what is quoted in the New Testament. The screenplay also heavily relies on The Dolorous Passion of Jesus Christ, an account of the visions attributed to German nun and stigmatic Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824). The screenplay for the movie was written by American screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald.

Mel Gibson changed them to brown because realistically, people from that part of the world had dark hair, dark skin, and brown eyes. Caviezel surely does have dark hair, so making the eyes dark too would make him really look like he is from that part of the world.

Jesus is struck thirty times by the Roman guards wielding switches.

Jesus and his disciples speak Old Aramaic, a Semitic language which was the daily speech of most Jews between 539 BC and AD 70. The Jewish authorities speak Hebrew, which at the time was only used for religious purposes. The Romans speak Latin (however, in the eastern Roman Empire, Koine Greek was also used.) The Gospels were written in Koine Greek, however, many Aramaic words and phrases appear, most notably "Abba", "Mammon" and "Eli Eli lema sabachthani".

1. Jesus is fixing a table and chairs while his mother observes his work and tells him to come inside the house, which is suppose to represent their relationship as a mother and son.

2. Peter denies Jesus as he's getting up and remembers at the last supper when Jesus warned him that before the cock crows, he will deny Jesus. This is to show that Christ can know what will happen.

3. While Jesus is being whipped, he looks at the feet of the roman soldier and remembers when he washed his disciples feet and taught about how no servant is greater than his master. This is to show Christ's love to all, even his executioners.

4. Mary (Jesus' mother) and Mary Magdalene are wiping Christ's blood from the ground after he's been brutally whipped. As Mary Magdalene is doing this, she remembers how when she committed adultery, she was to be stoned until Jesus came, wrote on the ground, and told everyone that he who is without sin, may stone her, to which they all left, dropping their stones, and Mary touches his feet and Jesus helps her get up. This shows how anyone's sins can be forgiven if they just go to Jesus.

5. As Jesus is presented to the crowd, Pontius Pilate washes his hands, at which point Jesus recalls a meal with his disciples.

6. Jesus is carrying the cross as the Romans are hitting him and the crowd is screaming at him. Then a brief scene of Jesus riding on a donkey, entering Jerusalem, as the people are lay branches of Palm trees on the path before him. This draws attention to the contrast between the crowd taunting Jesus and the crowd welcoming Jesus.

7. Jesus falls down with his cross causing Mary to remember when he was a child and fell to which she ran to help him get up. She runs to Jesus and comforts him. Jesus says to her, "You see mother, I make all things new." This shows that Jesus is going to end all captivity of sin and make a new beginning, and also shows the love between a mother and son.

8. Simon and Jesus are carrying the cross together, and Jesus looks at the mountain of where he is to be crucified and remembers when he taught at the sermon on the mount about loving and praying for your enemies.

9. As Jesus is nearly to the mountain, he remembers when he preached about how no one can take his life, but only Jesus can take it down and take it up again.

10. Jesus stands up to be crucified and looks at the sun and remembers the last supper. A disciple is bringing bread covered by a cloth to the table. Jesus opens it to which the roman soldiers rip his clothes apart. This shows Christ is offering his body to us.

11. Jesus is crawling to the cross and remembers when he told his disciples there is no greater love than to give your life for a friend. This is coming to the point where Christ is about to sacrifice himself for us.

12. The soldier pushes the nail on Jesus hand and he remembers when he told his disciples to love one another as he has loved them. This shows how much Christ loves his children.

13. The soldier begins hammering the nail through Christ's hand as he withers in pain. He then remembers telling his disciples that he is the way, the truth, and the life. This shows that only Jesus can give you life and redemption and no one else.

14. Jesus takes the bread and raises it, saying, "This is my body, given up for you." The cross begins to rise up as well. This is connected to show that Christ is alive in bread and gave his body for us to be saved from sin.

15. After the cross has been raised and is standing, there is a flashback of Jesus pouring the wine offering it to his disciples and saying, "This is my blood, given for many sins. Do this in memory of me."

For this recut, Gibson replaced a big part of the gory scenes with less drastic footage, removing almost five minutes of violence. Supposedly this version was intended to receive a PG-13 rating, which did not work out as there are still many scenes left that make this impossible. The movie was eventually released as "unrated" but failed to be the success it was expected to be. It is still found, and can be viewed, in the special edition DVD and Blu-Ray releases.