The film has been controversial and received largely polarized reviews, with some critics calling the film a religious and holy experience, while others found the extreme violence to be devastating and excessive. Although Gibson was initially against it, the film is subtitled.

The dialogue is entirely in Hebrew, Latin, and reconstructed Aramaic. However, the film also has flashbacks to particular moments in Jesus' life, some of which are biblically based, such as The Last Supper and The Sermon on the Mount, and others that are artistic license, as when Mary comforts Jesus and when Jesus crafts a table. It begins with the Agony in the Garden in the Garden of Olives (or Gethsemane), continues with the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, the brutal Scourging at the Pillar, the suffering of Mary as prophesied by Simeon, and the crucifixion and death of Jesus, and ends with a brief depiction of his resurrection. The film primarily covers the final 12 hours before Jesus Christ's death, known as the Passion, hence the title of the film. It also draws on pious accounts such as the Friday of Sorrows, along with other devotional writings, such as the reputed visions attributed to Anne Catherine Emmerich.

It depicts the Passion of Jesus largely according to the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as the Virgin Mary, and Monica Bellucci as Mary Magdalene.

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