Originally published at crisis magazine
After two decades of speculation following Mel Gibson’s groundbreaking The Passion of the Christ, it’s finally official: a sequel will begin shooting this summer in Italy. Like the first film, The Resurrection of the Christ will seek to challenge audiences as a wild work of cinema in a world (and a Church) growing devoid of anything like bold originality in art.
Rome’s Cinecittà Studios confirmed the upcoming shoot of Gibson’s second biblical epic to stoke the fervor achieved by his 2004 runaway hit. With Jim Caviezel as Jesus Christ, The Passion made $612 million worldwide against its $30 million budget (which Gibson largely self-financed).
While The Passion presented the final twelve hours of Jesus’ life in potent and painful detail, The Resurrection will reportedly explore what happened in the three days before Easter Sunday, including the harrowing of Hell, the war of the angels, and other apocalyptic sequences.
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Doubting-Thomas moviegoers will have to see it to believe it, as it all sounds pretty controversial. But controversy is the legacy of The Passion, acclaimed as it is by Christians and Catholics and even serving as a Holy Week staple for many. The difficulty of the film
