Christians give thumbs-up to Gibson’s ‘Passion’

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Christians of all denominations gave Mel Gibson’s much-anticipated movie “The Passion of the Christ” two thumbs-up at a special Jan. 15 screening of the movie at Grant Memorial Baptist Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada.

More than 1,100 of the province’s Christian clergy pre-registered to attend the private viewing of the film produced by Gibson’s Icon Entertainment International. About 800 showed up, and many were visibly moved by the film.

“You could hear people crying — there were lots of sniffles and stuff,” Cory Alstad, musical director at Meeting Place Christian church, told Canadian Press.

“It’s phenomenal,” said Brian Brglez of Winnipeg’s First Alliance Church. “The realism is astounding. Mel Gibson has obviously taken painstaking efforts to portray the passion of Christ. It’s a very responsible presentation of New Testament accounts.”

The film, written and directed by Gibson, a conservative Roman Catholic, has been dogged by reports that it incites ancient enmities between Christians and Jews. But no talk of anti-Semitism was heard at the Winnipeg screening.

It opens in major North American cities Feb. 25 — Ash Wednesday on the Christian calendar.