Not many people bought popcorn.Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" isn't a popcorn kind of movie, noted the Rev. Phil Roughton before he and about 200 other members of First United Methodist Church of Ormond Beach watched an advance screening Monday night at Regal Cinema.But it does feed a "huge spiritual hunger in the culture," he said.
And by the end of the two-hour, 25-minute drama, graphically depicting the extreme torture and crucifixion of Jesus, almost everyone in the packed auditorium was visibly shaken.
"I don't know if I can even talk about it," said Joyce Kane, 75, as she wept quietly, long after the closing credits. "I didn't think this would bring out that much emotion in me."
"He did this for me . . . I can't be the same after this," said Jane Byrne, 47, sobbing in the arms of the church's youth minister, Robbie O'Brien, 34, whose eyes were also red.
"The Passion of the Christ," which officially opens Wednesday across the country may, technically, be just a movie.
But it's arguably one of the most talked-about, written-about and debated movies ever made. Heavily marketed to churches, it could become the only blockbuster in history in which the actors all speak Aramaic and Latin.
"Everybody's coming to see it," said Josh Wilson, a member of First United who works at the Regal. The church has booked an additional showing for its youth group. And Wilson noted the movie, which will be screened in the theater's two biggest stadiums, already has sold out during certain times on Wednesday and Saturday.
It also will be shown at six other theaters in Volusia and Flagler counties.
"Nationwide we've never seen anything like this," said Rick King, a spokesman for the AMC theater chain, in a telephone interview from Kansas City. "It far exceeds anything ever done before" in terms of advance box office sales, he said, including "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter."
Some Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, have raised concerns that the film could spark anti-Semitic feelings in some moviegoers, and "that's always a threat," said the Rev. Tim McNeil who is also a licensed mental health counselor at First United Method Church.
The Jewish priests in the film are depicted as much more reprehensible than Pontius Pilate, who ordered the crucifixion.
But "if anyone uses the movie as a way of galvanizing hate, then they miss the message," McNeil said.
"People who are anti-Semitic don't need a movie to confirm it," and a movie "is not going to make anyone anti-Semitic," said Rabbi Barry Altman of Temple Beth-El in Ormond Beach. He said he's planning to see "The Passion" after Spring Break with the students in his Judaism and Holocaust classes at Stetson University in DeLand.
Altman said "The Passion" has been a hot topic of discussion in the Jewish community, but no boycotts are planned. "That's absolutely not the Jewish way."
"I tell people don't be afraid of reasoned, rational discourse," said the rabbi, whose congregation is working to create adult study groups with members of area churches.
"I really think more good will come out of this than bad," he said.
"We've never objected to the telling of the story of Christ's trials, crucifixion and resurrection," said Gloria Max, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler counties. "We recognize the religiously important duty of telling the story." But bigotry and anti-Semitism are always a worry.
"I respect everyone's faith, but I want them to respect my faith, too," she said. And, like Altman, she hoped the movie would prompt more "interfaith dialogue."
Given the history of anti-Semitism, "it's understandable," said O'Brien, for Jewish people to be afraid. And the "guilt thing turns people away." But the movie makes it clear, he stressed, that "Jesus offers himself . . . He laid down his life."
"He was never angry," said Sharon Bruce, 27, as the tears streamed down her face after the movie. "That's what struck me . . . This is the closest I've ever seen to a kind and loving picture of God."
donna.callea@news-jrnl.com