Some staying away from 'Passion'

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer

Gaynor Kaupu was hoping to catch "The Passion of the Christ" on video so she could fast-forward through the gruesome scenes, but her husband wants to watch it on the big screen. So the Kalihi & Moanalua Church member and new mother said she will get a baby sitter for her children, all under age 10, and head to the theater.

Carole Steele won't be in the audience, but not because she's protesting. Steele, who attends the Church of the Nazarene in Kane'ohe, said she knows she would get too emotional watching it.

"I'll know it'll be an awesome movie; I just know I'd totally fall apart," said Steele, whose friends and family aren't pressuring her to see the film, because "they know how I am."

And Jan Fuller, who attends Paipala Church on Maui, cries at birthday cards, so she knows she won't be standing in line at the multiplex waiting to purchase her tickets, either.

"I'll see it when it comes out on DVD," said the principal at Doris Todd Memorial Christian school. "You know what you can take and what you can't."

While these three women expressed misgivings about seeing Mel Gibson's vision of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life, which has been both criticized for its copious bloodletting and praised for its powerful portrayal of the scourging and crucifixion, they were in the minority at yesterday's Hawaiian Island Ministries Honolulu 2004 conference. Most people said they were enthusiastically looking forward to seeing the R-rated film, if they hadn't been to the theater in its first three days of release.

The most common refrain was that they were going with their church group, to share the story central to their core belief: that Jesus died on the cross for all Christians, to save them from sin and was resurrected at Easter. Afterward, many plan prayer sessions in theaters or nearby.

Seventeen-year-old John Kalilikane, a senior at Nanakuli High, saw it once with a group, but is taking a friend tomorrow, a non-Christian, in the hope that he can share his faith.

On Wednesday the film office for America's Roman Catholic bishops rated "The Passion of the Christ" for adults only — "due to gory scenes of torture and crucifixion, a suicide and some frightening images." However, Mark Kaneshiro, who is not Catholic, plans to take his two children, Anna, 16, and John, 15.

The teens don't get to see R-rated movies, but Dad's making an exception. The member of Bethany Assembly of God in 'Aiea said it's because of the subject matter.

"It's so easy to say, 'This person was executed,' died, pau," said Kaneshiro, an art teacher at Hawai'i Baptist Academy. "Jesus was crucified. To see that somebody did that for me, so I didn't have to face the punishment of sin ... well, I know I'm going to cry. I know it's going to impact me."

Thanks to a huge marketing effort through many evangelical Christian churches, the movie is being offered as a religious experience as well as a cinematic one. Paul Lodato of Tulsa, Okla., is in Honolulu for the conference to promote the wares of FaithHighway, a company that creates church Web sites and TV outreach tools. He is offering churches the opportunity to purchase a $795 "The Passion of the Christ" TV commercial, which shows footage from the movie and an extra 10-second plug for a particular church.

Christians of various denominations are responding to the movie's promotion and plan to attend.

But Peter Champion of Emmanuel Episcopal Church said plenty of faithful may choose to stay home.

"Nobody has to see it as an expression of their faith," he said.

He is taking a group to see the movie tomorrow, but the tickets came with a warning: The movie is graphic, violent, R-rated and not appropriate for young children.

Reach Mary Kaye Ritz at 525-8035 or mritz@honoluluadvertiser.com.