The Revealer’s latest original feature, “Picturing The Passion,” by Chris Lehmann, is the second installment of his series on the Marketing of God. Lehmann, who last wrote about media-saavy churches in “The Medium is the Messiah,” is the deputy editor of The Washington Post Book World and author of Revolt of the Masscult. Here, he distinguishes himself from other Passion reviewers by his astute sensitivity to the visual content of the movie, as well as his knowledge of cinematic history, which he uses to place The Passion back in context. Which is to say, it’s no Star Wars.
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Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977) | |||
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“The entire Sanhedrin, in fact, moves continually in a pack–you imagine that they have to navigate through doors sideways–and this casual thronging instinct, together with their boxy period headwear and white prayer shawls, gives the impression that they are ancient Hebrew forerunners of the imperial Storm Troopers in ‘Star Wars.'”