Mel's Passion leaves audiences in tears

Even before sunrise, believers and nonbelievers alike poured into cinemas across the US on Ash Wednesday for the opening of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.

An estimated 6,000 people filled all 20 auditoriums at a multiplex in Dallas to watch the controversial film. All the tickets had been bought and donated by a local churchgoer.

“I hope everybody sees it with an open mind,” said Rick Pierce, a 53-year-old Baptist who said he was in tears during the film.

“It’s the kind of crying knowing that somebody would do something for me, even though I didn’t deserve it. It’s the greatest love story there is,” he said.

Elsewhere across the nation, some could not wait for morning screenings. More than 100 people watched a midnight matinee of The Passion in Los Angeles.

“I’m in shock. I’m physically weak. I’m emotional,” said Joseph Camerieri, a 39-year-old legal student from Los Angeles who was trying to hold back tears after seeing the film.

“I think if you’re a Christian it will increase your faith tenfold in what Christ has done for you. If you’re not a Christian, you’ll probably treat others with more love.”

In the central Pennsylvania community of Bellefonte, about 50 people attended a showing after midnight.

Viewers groaned as Jesus was nailed to the cross, and muffled cries could be heard during more than an hour of Jesus’ torture, crucifixion and death. In the end, as Jesus rises from the grave, some in the audience quietly celebrated.

In Plano, Texas, Arch Bonnema, a financial planner, reserved an entire cinema. It cost him £22,000.

“When you see the sacrifice that Jesus made, it makes you feel like, I have to do something better with my life,” said Bonnema, 50, a lifelong Christian inspired to act after seeing a special screening of the film.

Cory Galbreath and his wife, Kim, both 29 and members of Hope Fellowship Assembly of God in Frisco, were among those who attended. Kim Galbreath sobbed and was comforted by her husband as they left the cinema.

“It’s a little bit more brutal than you would think. I mean, there were times when you felt like it was too much. But I dare anybody not to believe after watching it,” she said.

A cadre of ministers were on hand to reach out to cinemagoers.

Funded and directed by Gibson, the film has received decidedly mixed reviews from critics. Some have praised Gibson’s total commitment to his subject: The Oscar-winning filmmaker says the movie is both an attempt to faithfully render the Gospels and a personal vision. Others see it as excessively bloody, obsessed with cruelty and unfair in its portrayal of Jews.

But following months of hype, curiosity about the film is almost insatiable.