Jesus Christ: James Caviezel
Mary: Maia Morgenstern
Mary Magdalene: Monica Bellucci
Pontius Pilate: Hristo Shopov
Caiaphas: Mattia Sbragia
Judas: Luca Lionello
Claudia: Claudia Gerini
Gesmas: Francesco Cabras
Satan Rosalinda Celentano

Directed by Mel Gibson
Written by Mel Gibson and Benedict Fitzgerald.
Running time: 126 minutes.

Judging Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ solely upon its artistic merits is a simple, straightforward task.

Frame for frame this is a masterful film. It is abundantly clear Gibson has a powerful vision and the talent to bring it to the screen, with his focus being the final 12 hours of Christ's life, from his agony and betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane to his death on the cross.

According to the Bible, Christ suffered a most ignominious death, which began with a relentless whipping and beating and ended with his being tied and nailed to a cross and left to die a slow, agonising death.

No film detailing such events could be anything but emotionally wrenching. It is a story that has been told before on film but never so graphically. It is Gibson's intent to detail just how much Christ suffered and he does this by showing how barbaric the whipping, scourging and crucifixion must have been. No one who sees Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will ever be able to hear or read these passages from the Bible in the same way again. The director/co-writer has made the words visual in the most devastating way and his true genius is that he has infused these horrific images with incredible, searing humanity.

Through carefully placed flashbacks, he gives us a glimpse of what Christ was like as a child, young man, teacher and prophet and these images make his death and suffering all the more tragic. There is a moment that practically defines the film because it is something every viewer can understand. As Christ falls for the third time under the weight of the cross and the malicious beatings of the Roman soldiers, he sees his mother, Mary, looking at him. The film flashes to a scene in which Mary watches Christ as a child trip and fall and rushes to comfort him as any parent would. At the moment he needs her comfort most, she is denied access to him.

You can see the simultaneous hurt and love in mother and son's eyes. It is one of the finest and most powerful moments you could wish for in a film and it is the genius of Jim Caviezel as Christ and Maia Morgenstern as Mary that they have immersed themselves so completely in their characters that their eyes speak what words could never possibly convey. This is acting of the highest calibre to match Gibson's brilliant writing and directing. Gibson has inspired similarly astonishing performances from Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene and Hristo Shopov as Pilate. This continues through the minor roles of the Roman guards, villagers and Jewish high priests.

It was an inspired move on Gibson's part to have all the dialogue in Aramaic and Latin so that the viewer is forced to concentrate on the facial and body language of the actors which say infinitely more than the subtitles. That Gibson never intended The Passion of the Christ to be seen as a documentary is made abundantly clear in his mesmeric use of a Satanic presence (Rosalinda Celentano) that follows Christ through his journey of pain and humiliation.

The Passion of the Christ is a monumental achievement on so many levels, not least for the controversy it has inspired. To even suggest the film is meant to be anti-Semitic is as foolish as it is cruel. It was a handful of Jewish high priests and not the Jewish people as a whole who wanted Christ dead because he was a threat to the organised religion of the day.

Gibson has produced a literalist masterpiece that not only forces one to bear witness but forces a catharsis that produces some true religious and spiritual insight.

The Passion of The Christ has the raw look of first witness. In its attention to historical authenticity and the minute details of Jesus' suffering, Gibson has created a cinematic testament that radically confronts the piety of his predecessors. By sticking to the details of Jesus' last hours and omitting the back story, Gibson forces one to confront the issue of Jesus' death on whatever level he/she is capable of.

This story has never been a condemnation of a particular race of people but of power-hungry religious bigots and political morons - something which is more crucially relevant at this time than ever. The Passion of the Christ will rightfully be considered a landmark achievement not only for the passionate responses it is causing but because Gibson has given the oldest and best-known story such contemporary resonance and power.