A former pastor of mine made a speech a long, long time ago in my highschool. He said he entered the student art show. He glanced at the many, many rows of paintings. And then he saw one, standing alone in the corner. A blue, dark painting. The figure seemed really disfigured. He could barely make it out. He stared at it. Squinting his eyes. Still trying to make out the picture. He saw that it was a cross. Three crosses. The two are thieves. But where's Jesus? The cross is missing... Oh but wait! That is Jesus. His eyes filled with tears. Jesus was so disfigured--he was marred beyond recognition. He suffered THAT MUCH for our transgressions. He died so that we could live. This painting touched him so much. It impacted him as he took in the impact of what Jesus went through on the cross. That, is powerful. Now the point being said, for a Christian that film may possibly mean something. But to the world, it's just watching a man being brutalized for three hours. Now that being said, my critique is that the film was beautiful. It was touching. I wouldn't recommend everyone to watch it though. I would have done things differently as far as script/dialogue changes to come closer to the true meaning of the cross. First in the scene in the garden when he prays "let this cup pass me." I don't think the real meaning behind that was conveyed. Oh that meaning is so powerful. "Let this cup pass me," was not the crucifixion, or the torture, or the humiliation. It was one thing that Jesus valued so greatly. The one thing he has never been without. And that one thing was his relationship with the Father. He knew that on the cross he would die for all the sins of the world--he would literally become sin--at that one moment in history, God would turn his back on him. The relationship of the son and the father would be cut, because Jesus took in all the sins of the world, he became sin on the cross and died. That is the reason he cried "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Because in that one moment of time the relationship with the father was cut. I would have emphasized what "the cup" was. That's just one thing I would have done. I really liked the symbolism when Jesus crushed the snakes head. Beautiful.