The Passion of the Christ 2004

The film begins in the quiet hours of the night in Gethsemane, right after the last supper. Here, Jesus prays, facing temptations from Satan, while his apostles, Peter, James, and John, succumb to sleep. Meanwhile, Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus’ apostles, betrays his teacher after receiving thirty pieces of silver from the fearsome Jewish priests in Jerusalem. He reveals Jesus’ location, prompting the priests to dispatch guards to arrest him on charges of heresy.

As Judas approaches with the guards in the woods just outside Gethsemane, he betrays Jesus with a kiss. In a moment of chaos, Peter intervenes, attacking the guards and cutting off the ear of Malchus, one of them. Jesus, however, admonishes Peter to avoid violence and miraculously heals Malchus’ ear. The guards proceed to arrest Jesus, leading the other apostles to flee in terror.

John quickly dashes to inform Jesus’ mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene about the arrest, while Peter follows Jesus from a distance, witnessing him getting brutally beaten by the guards. At the Jewish Temple, the chief priest, Caiaphas, conducts an illegal trial that faces dissent from other priests, who are expelled from the assembly. When Caiaphas questions Jesus about his identity as the Son of God, Jesus answers with a profound “I am,” horrifying Caiaphas, who tears his robes. Consequently, Jesus is condemned to death for blasphemy. As Peter enters the Temple, he is accosted by a crowd that recognizes him as a follower of Jesus. Fearful, Peter denies Jesus three times before he flees, overwhelmed with remorse.

Meanwhile, the guilt-ridden Judas attempts to return the blood money to the priests in a desperate effort to save Jesus but is rebuffed. Tormented by his guilt, he escapes to the city outskirts where he hangs himself from a dead donkey at dawn.

In a twist of fate, Caiaphas brings Jesus before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, to be sentenced to death. Pilate, questioning Jesus, finds no merit in the accusations, especially after being warned by his wife, Claudia, who shares a troubling dream she had involving the condemnation of a holy man. Thus, Pilate sends Jesus to King Herod Antipas, whose jurisdiction includes Nazareth, but upon Jesus’ return, Pilate offers to chastise him and release him to appease the crowd. He presents them with a choice: free Jesus or the violent criminal, Barabbas. To Pilate’s horror, the bloodthirsty mob chooses Barabbas, demanding the crucifixion of Jesus instead. Struck by the crowd’s fervor, Pilate reluctantly orders Jesus to be scourged and mocked, yet the calls for crucifixion grow louder.

As Jesus carries the heavy cross along the Via Dolorosa, he is briefly comforted when Veronica wipes his bloodied face with her veil, only to be shoved away by Roman guards. Unable to bear the weight any longer, Simon of Cyrene is pressed into service to carry the cross for Jesus.

On the hill known as Golgotha, the place of skulls, Jesus is crucified, his wrists and feet nailed to the wooden beam. One of the criminals beside him mocks his helplessness, but Jesus, in an extraordinary act of forgiveness, asks God to pardon those who sentenced him. In his final moments, he redeems one of the criminals that hang next to him. As Jesus breathes his last, a solitary drop of rain falls, leading to an earthquake that tears the Temple’s veil and horrifies Caiaphas and the priests. In this moment of despair, Satan is depicted in agony.

As Roman soldiers hasten to end the criminals’ lives by breaking their legs, one soldier thrusts a spear into Jesus’ side to confirm his death. His lifeless body is tenderly taken down from the cross, as Mary and Mary Magdalene mourn.

In the concluding scene, Jesus makes his miraculous resurrection from the tomb, the wounds in his hands, feet, and side still visible, signifying the profound sacrifice he made.