ArchivedGibson: tassion Sprung from Suicide ThoughtsGibson: "Passion" Sprung from Suicide Thoughts
Special to NewsMax.com
By Phil Brennan
"I don't want people to make it about the blame game," Mel Gibson says of his film "The Passion of the Christ." Instead he insists that "It's about faith, hope, love and forgiveness. That's what this film is about. It's about Christ's sacrifice."
In a revealing interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer due to be aired at 10:00 p.m. E.T. Monday, on "Primetime," Gibson explained that for him the making of the controversial film was cathartic, that he set out to make it over 10 years ago because he had reached "the height of spiritual bankruptcy."
The Hollywood star admits that things got so bad he once contemplated suicide by hurling himself out a window.
"I just didn't want to go on," he confided to Sawyer. "I was looking down thinking, 'Man, this is just easier this way. You have to be mad, you have to be insane, to despair in that way. But that is the height of spiritual bankruptcy. There's nothing left."
Instead, he said he turned back to the word of God. "I think I just hit my knees. "I just said, 'Help.' You know? And then, I began to meditate on it, and that's in the Gospel. I read all those again. I remember reading bits of them when I was younger."
"Pain is the precursor to change, which is great," Gibson said. "That's the good news."
He recalled that the "spiritual bankruptcy" led him to reexamine Christianity, and ultimately to create "The Passion of the Christ" - "my vision . with God's help" of the final hours in the life of Jesus.
Answering those who charge that the film is anti-Semitic he said he is not an anti-Semite, and that anti-Semitism is "un-Christian" and a sin that "goes against the tenets of my faith."
As to who did kill Jesus, Gibson said "The big answer is, we all did. I'll be the first in the culpability stakes here."
In answer to those who warn that the film's depiction of the Jewish role in the death of Jesus could encourage anti-Semitism Gibson told Sawyer that he simply tried his best to interpret the Gospels. "Critics who have a problem with me don't really have a problem with me in this film," Gibson added. "They have a problem with the four Gospels. That's where their problem is."
Asked whether he considers his film the definitive depiction of the passion, Gibson says: "This is my version of what happened, according to the Gospels and what I wanted to show - the aspects of it I wanted to show."
I started to read this article when my sister walked in, and she made a comment that really got to me. She said something like, "Well, that makes me think less of him." I was angry, not only because she was kind of looking down on Mel, but because I've been in Mel's shoes. I know what it's like to have thoughts of suicide, and I know what it's like to wake up and see the light.
Good for Mel! I'm glad he didn't go through with it.
| View dfilename Return Home |