The Passion of the Christ

For Christian families looking for an alternative viewing choice with a lesser amount of violence, check our review of The Gospel of John, a theatrical movie that is also available on video. You can also look for The Greatest Story Ever Told on video.

DVD Notes: The Passion of the Christ: Definitive Edition

DVD Release Date: 30 January 2007

Making up for any disappointment there may have been over the first, bare-bones DVD release of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, the 2-Disc Definitive Edition fleshes out the production in every conceivable way.

Disc One offers the theatrical cut of the movie as well as a re-cut version, and provides (for the original cut only) a filmmakers commentary (with Mel Gibson, Caleb Deschanel, and John Wright), a production commentary (with Stephen McEveety, Ted Rae and Keith Vanderlaan) and a theologian commentary (with MelGibson, Father William J. Fulco, Gerry Matatics, and Father John Bartunek), as well as a music commentary (with John Debney) on selected scenes.

Dics Two looks at all the behind the scenes aspects of the movie, with the following featurettes:

Menus - Drissi, By His Wounds we are Healed (the making of The Passion of the Christ), Intro & Script Evolution, Language Barriers, Finding Jerusalem, Artistic Inspiration, The Right Role, Evil Personified, Tailoring a perfect fit, The Director, Grace in Photography, Make up and Visual Effects, The Earthquake, The Crucifixion, Jim Surrerning, Breaking the Tension, Wrapping Production, The Cutting Room, The Score, Designing the Sound Effects, Guerilla Marketing, Spiritual Journey, Below the Line (a panel discussion), The Legacy, Paths of the Journey, On Language, Anno Domini, Crucifixion: Punishment in the Ancient World, and Through the Ages. There are also deleted scenes, art galleries and the theatrical trailer.

Audio tracks are available in Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English and Spanish.

BLU-RAY Notes: The Passion of the Christ

Release Date: 17 February 2009

The Passion of the Christ is now available on Blu-ray. Presented in widescreen, the two-disc set is authored on a dual-layer disc with 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio (Hebrew/Latin/Aramaic) and multi-language subtitles (including English). Along with the original theatrical version, there is also a re-cut version of the film, which features less violence. As well, there are an audio commentary with Mel Gibson (and various filmmakers and theologians), a music commentary with John Debney (selected scenes only) and an Enhanced Viewing Mode offering Biblical footnotes. Other extras include the Making Of The Passion of The Christ (a documentary),The Legacy (a historical and cultural look at the Crucifixion), a historical photo gallery and deleted scenes.