There's Just No Pleasing Some People

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2012)

One of the sad things about organised religion, and I am not speaking about Christianity in particular here, is the lack of humor that many of them have. If God created the world and everything in it, then as a part of that creation came laughter, and I suspect that even the bible has good things about laughter, and the joy that such laughter brings. In many cases when I think about religion all I tend to see are sad and glum people, much like the flagellates, who forever whip themselves believing that by inflicting pain upon themselves they can bring themselves closer to God. I think the opposite is true though because in reality it is not pain that will bring you closer to God, but laughter.
I guess the reason that many Christian fundamentalists are so offended with this movie is not that because it mocks Jesus, it doesn't, but because the film exposes to them what they really are, and the one thing people do not like is to have the truth exposed to them. In fact they wonder around like the three monkeys, covering their eyes, ears, and mouths, for fear that if they were to open them they will be opening themselves to the possibility of hell. However, truth be told, it is sad that many of these people live joyless lives with the hope of heaven only to discover that heaven has been denied to them.
However there is one aspect of this film that I do believe that is incorrect, and that is the ex-leper. From my understanding of the gospels is that Jesus only healed people who wanted to be healed. In fact that is a theme that runs through all of these healing miracles, and that is the desire to be healed. It was not the case of Jesus popping up behind somebody and hey presto, they were healed. I am doubtful that anybody that wanted to be a leper would have ever actually been healed by Jesus (though it still made a very amusing scene, along with pretty much the rest of this film).