Too much fuss over Gibson's `Passion'?

By WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, Jan. 30, 2004, Houston Chronicle

"The argument over Mel Gibson's dramatization of the death of Jesus needs analysis, and this is not difficult to undertake, even for those who have not seen the movie, scheduled for release in February, on Ash Wednesday.

The plot line is remarkably brief. The biblical writers had no interest whatever in the kind of thing that interests Mel Gibson. He has taken on, after all, the greatest drama in human history, the crucifixion of the Jew who claimed divinity and persuaded much of the civilized world to accept his word. Matthew handles the whole thing -- from the order given down by Pilate, to the expiration of Jesus -- in less space than is taken by this newspaper column.

In that account, one line is spoken that most grievously offends several Jewish critics who have seen the two-hour film... "