The
star of the "Lethal Weapon" series and "Brave
heart" acknowledged that the depiction of Christ's punishment and
eventual crucifixion was "very violent" but insisted that
the movie's R-rating was enough to warn cinemagoers in advance.
"I
wanted it to be shocking, … And I also wanted it to be
extreme," he said.
"I
wanted it to push the viewer over the edge so that they see the
enormity -- the enormity of that sacrifice -- to see that someone
could endure that and still come back with love and forgiveness, even
through extreme pain and suffering and ridicule," the Oscar
winner said.
Gibson
traced the genesis of "The Passion" back to his own
spiritual crisis 13 years ago when he became suicidal and came close
to throwing himself out of a window.
Those
feelings led him to reexamine Christianity, and ultimately to create
"The Passion" -- "my vision, with God's help" of
the final hours in the life of Jesus.
"This
is my version of what happened, according to the Gospels and what I
wanted to show," he said.
'True
Naďve'
In
comments to be broadcast alongside the interview, Abraham Foxman,
national director of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, argued that
while Gibson may not be anti-Semitic, he was being slightly naive
about the film's potential impact.
"This
is his vision, his faith; he's a true believer, and I respect
that," Foxman said.
"But
there are times that there are unintended consequences. I believe that
this movie has the potential to fuel anti-Semitism, to reinforce
it".
Asked
his view on the Holocaust, Gibson, who had been criticized for
comparing it to other wartime atrocities in a previous interview,
said, "You know, do I believe that there were concentration camps
where defenseless and innocent Jews died cruelly under the Nazi
regime? Of course I do. Absolutely. It was an atrocity of monumental
proportion".
Sawyer
then asked, "Are you looking into the face of a particular kind
of evil with the Holocaust?"
To
which Gibson replied: "You're looking -- yes. ... What's the
particular evil? I mean, why do you need me to tell you? It's like,
it's obvious. They're killed because of who and what they are. Is that
not evil enough?"
