With all of the hype surrounding Mel Gibson’s new film, “The Passion of the Christ,” we thought we would get an expert opinion on the details of the movie. We accompanied the Rev. Michael Black of the Newman Catholic Student Center to a screening of the film Wednesday afternoon.

Black has been a priest at the Newman Center since June 2003. He also runs “Catholicism on Tap,” a group that meets every third Thursday of the month at Eduardo’s Mexican Restaurant, 214 E. Lincoln Highway.

After the highly emotional film, we had a discussion with Black about the movie’s successes, flaws, controversial subjects and more. Warning: spoilers ahead.

-MK: What was your overall impression of the movie?

MB: It’s very powerful. I think it’s something that helps people’s faith. Artistically, it was very well done; cinematography, very well done. It’s very faithful to the scriptures and a very powerful package.

ML: How do you think it helps people’s faith?

MB: It’s powerful in a sense because it makes the central Christian story, which is the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, real in a way that a book is not real.

ML: Other movies, like “Jesus of Nazareth,” have been made about Jesus. Do you think it was necessary to make another one?

MB: “Jesus of Nazareth” covers his whole life. This is the only one, I think, that focuses just on the Passion. This is on the last 12 hours of his life. In that sense, it is very focused, and I think Mel Gibson brought a lot of himself into the film.

MK: Do you think the film blames the Jews or the Romans more? Do you think there is a blame at all?

MB: There is a blame to be made, but they are instruments God used to accomplish what he wanted, which was the death of Christ. Christ chooses to die; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a redemptive offering of himself. He could have at any moment stopped it if he had wanted to, if you believe he is God. I think the Jews in the movie are shown as prosecutors, Pilot is the judge, and the Romans are the executioners. Caiphus and the other high priests were the political power. They were more sensitive to what Christ was saying and were more wary of his message. It was a direct challenge to their power. Caiphus and the other high priests are more to blame, not the Jewish people in general. I didn’t see it as anti-Semitic at all.

ML: When I was growing up, I always saw Jesus as a lecturer. But there’s a moment in this film where Jesus is building a table and Mary walks in and he starts goofing around with her, splashing water in her face. I’ve never seen that in a film before, Jesus goofing around.

MB: The Gospels don’t talk about Jesus laughing. There is one part where they talk about Jesus singing. But Christ had mirth. Christ had to be a fun guy to be around. He was a leader; he had followers.

MK: He had to have some charisma, right?

MB: Yeah.

ML: It makes the rest of the movie more powerful because that guy is up there getting whipped like that.

MB: I liked the fact that each time they did a flashback, you saw how he normally looked. I don’t know about you, but wasn’t that kind of like, “Wow, that’s what he really looks like?” It was hard to remember what he looked like because he became a pool of scabs.

MK: It was great how Mel Gibson would show all of the grief and the agony and then flash back to the good times. It made you more involved in the film when he would take you back to show you, “That’s not how it is now.”

MB: If there were no flashbacks, it would have been really depressing.

MK: Do you think Jesus’ humanity and divinity were well balanced in the film?

MB: I think the movie focuses on his humanity. The divinity comes at the very end with the Resurrection, but it definitely was focused on the Passion.

ML: Can you tell me why it’s called the “Passion?”

MB: Passion comes from a Latin word meaning suffering.

MK: Do you think the violence was too excessive in the movie? Do you think it is accurate?

MB: The lashings were accurate. You got 40 lashes; that was the rule. They were counting in Latin and they got to 33 and they stopped because he couldn’t take anymore. They would always give you 39 anyway.

MK: Because 40 would kill you?

MB: No, in case they miscounted. They didn’t want to give you 41. They erred on the side of giving you fewer instead of more.

ML: That was nice.

MB: Yeah, right. But that was accurate as far as the lashings. I don’t know about the whips with the welts on them. That might come from the Shroud of Turin. The Shroud of Turin has welt marks in it. Not just slashes, but in the image. You can take an old Roman whip with the balls on the end, and you can actually place it down on the sheet and it’s a match.

ML: Do you think children should see a movie like this?

MB: I think the movie is too brutal; grade schoolers shouldn’t see the film. It would scare them.

MK: Why do you think Gibson kept going back to the Last Supper during the final scenes of the film?

MB: Uniting the last supper with the crucifixion is the theology behind the eucharist. When Christ says, “Take this, all of you, and eat, this is my body which is given up for you,” the giving up actually takes place the next day at the crucifixion. What he does spiritually at the Last Supper, he does physically at Calvary.

ML: What do you think about the “Passion” merchandise being sold in stores?

MB: It’s almost inevitable that someone is going to make money off movies these days. It’s not the best thing but it’s not the worst thing either.

ML: It doesn’t make you angry?

MB: I’d rather have people wearing crosses and “Passion of Christ” t-shirts than “Janet Jackson’s right breast” t-shirts or something.

MK: Would you recommend this movie to churchgoers?

MB: I think it’s the only R-rated movie I’d ever recommend.

ML: What do you think it is going to do for the church?

MB: Any time God can get in the news, it’s good. The fact that people are discussing the Passion of Christ is good.

ML: Do you expect more people to come to the church?

MB: I don’t know about that because Americans tend to divide spirituality and religion. It may deepen our faith, but it doesn’t immediately translate into getting up early on Sunday mornings.