Reply #1: Rabbi Marvin Hier was on CNN today worried about this film

[IndianaGreen]

CNN had an Evangelical Christian who had seen the film and said he was faithful to the Bible and a great film. Heir was clearly worried about the fact that Gibson is not allowing scholars see the film. Heir said that he had been inundated with anti-Semitic mail from people that oppose his criticism of Bibson's The Passion (they haven't seen the film either).

BTW, the Evangelical Christian (who is from some school in Colorado) told Heir that Mel Gibson had no obligation to show the film to anyone.

The film is being released on Ash Wednesday 2004, which I have no clue when that is. Is it around Pesach, which means that it won't be released until next year, or the High Holidays, which means late September?

Here is an article that Heir co-authored back in June:

June 22, 2003

MEL'S PASSION

Gibson's making a film on Jesus worries some Jews
By Marvin Hier and Harold Brackman

Cecil B. DeMille's 1927 biblical epic, "The King of Kings" offended American Jews by portraying the Jewish people — rather than the Romans — as responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. DeMille dismissed criticism, insisting that "if Jesus were alive today, these Jews I speak of might crucify him again."

But whether DeMille admitted it or not, the film did fuel anti-Semitism. Consider the following note, passed between two fourth-grade girls, that found its way into the files of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise: "Martha, I found out who killed our God. The Jews did it. I went to see King of Kings. It showed how the Jews killed him."

Now comes Mel Gibson, who insists Jews and Catholics will have nothing to worry about in his new, self-financed, $25-million film, "The Passion." It's true that the final script hasn't been made available, and there is currently no release date, or even distributor, for the film. Still, there are reasons for concern.

The passion of Christ — the crucifixion and hours leading up to it — has been used by bigots, including popes and kings, to inflame anti-Semitism through the ages. A belief that Jews were responsible for crucifying the son of God led Pope Innocent III to conclude in the early 13th century that Jews should be consigned to a state of "perpetual subservience" as wanderers and fugitives, and made to wear a mark on their clothing identifying them as Jews. His pronouncement reinforced widespread anti-Semitism that led over the centuries to millions of Jews being burned at the stake and murdered in pogroms throughout Christian Europe.

http://www.wiesenthal.com/social/press/pr_item.cfm?ItemID=7820