As Bob Dylan said of religious songs, "The beautiful part of it is that the people singing believe it so much. Any time people sing about what they believe, it elevates it. […] When the people believe what they’re singing, it’s just that much better."
The thing about The Passion is that Gibson really believes in the story and people. Scorsese is just tinkering intellectually in Last Temptation. I don't think I would rewatch either of these, but if I have to pick, the choice has to be The Passion of the Christ.
I was confused by Devin and Amy's take that making the Jewish leaders the villains is an innovation. Perhaps Catholic schools underplay this because...well...they reasonably have a guilty conscience surrounding the subject.
This is didn't come from Gibson (whatever that lush thinks of Jews before or after the fight around the movie). It came from the sources.
Gibson's version is backed up by /all four gospels/ (all confirmed to be written within decades of the events) and all agree that the Roman authorities had no particular interest in Jesus of Nazareth at all, That it was the Jewish authorities who were demanding it. The ones that address Pilate's relation with the Sandhedrin at all portray it as *tense* with Pilate annoyed at them maneuvering him into it, Just as Gibson portrayed, Jesus was *controversial* and while the Jewish authorities wanted him dead, they didn't want to actually do it themselves. Thus the midnight arrest and pre-trial by the Temple leaders.
