09/09/2005

On Thursday, one of the most anticipated films of the Venice Days selection, the Italian religious drama La passione di Giosuè l’ebreo (The passion of Joshua the Jew) was finally presented to the public and the press. Clearly earmarked for heated post-film debates as was the recent Mel Gibson film Passion of the Christ, The Passion is in many senses on the opposite side of the spectrum both in terms of its message as well as visual treatment.

Director Pasqale Scimeca tells a story set at the end of the 15th century, when Jews and Muslims in Spain were forced to either convert or leave when Isabella of Castile decided that Catholicism would become the only allowed religion of the state. A community of Jews including the young Giosuè (newcomer Leonarde Cesare Abude), who has been marked as the deliverer of his people, embark on a forced exodus that will lead them to Italy. In Sicily, they pose as Catholics to survive but Giosuè finds himself assigned the role of Christ in a deliberately vicious re-enactment of the Passion play when the authorities suspect he might be Jewish. Creating moving paintings by keeping the camera immobile whilst the characters walk in and out of the image, the film has a peculiar ‘old school’ sense, something which is reinforced by its impeccable yet simple production and costume design.

While some have criticised Mr Gibson’s film for being anti-Semitic, Mr Scimeca’s film could be said to deny the dogmas of the church related to the god-like nature of the Christ. Mr Scimeca was clearly aware of the film by Gibson, but says that their fundamental messages are very different. “My film is about the words and the message of Christ, it is not concerned with a dramatisation of the Passion as such,” says the director. “My film wants to stress the fact that Christ was a Jew, someone from the people and not someone constructed by the dogmas of the church. By stressing the Jewish aspects of Christ, the three great monotheistic religions come closer to one another, as the Muslims and the Christian have already accepted Jesus and the Jews could perhaps accept him as a prophet”.

There is certainly a 21st century feel to some of the philosophical ideas behind the film. When asked what the people who are portrayed in La passione would think of the film, Mr Scimeca laughs. “They would have probably burnt me at the stake, though perhaps it would have inspired someone to think about these things in a bit more depth, which could have led to an earlier end of the irrational hate towards the Jews that is typical of that era”.

The film is produced by Arbash, in co-operation with the Italian Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali and the Institut del Cinema Català. International sales are handled by Adriana Chiesa Enterprises, whilst the Italian distributor is Istituto Luce.