'I recently noticed that my credit card was being used to top up a mobile which
happened not to be mine. Yes, you guessed it right, I had become yet another
victim of credit card fraud. Someone had access to my credit card details and
had been using it to top up his pay-as-you-go mobile; and not once or twice,
but more than 20 times! Well, I had to call my credit card company and to fill
numerous forms to claim my money back. And the company re-issued my card
and send me a new card. Well, a bit of hassle but happy ending in the end. Isn't
it?
We just like happy endings. Hollywood movies are famous for using happy
ending formula and while the movies take the audience through emotions and
tribulation of the heroes and heroines of the story, they manage to come up with
a happy ending so that the audience leave the cinema with a fuzzy feeling of
relief and satisfaction.
Yet, there is another art form which does not finish with a happy ending:
tragedy. Tragedy does conclude with a sad and tragic ending and we could end
up in tears because of that. While tragedy does not give us the same good
feeling as the happy ending movies do, they have a deeper and longer effect on
us. We can remember such stories long after we have read or watched them and
Shakespeare's most excellent works - from Romeo and Juliet to King Lear - are
written as tragedies.
Passion of the Christ – the story of his betrayal, arrest, trial, torture and finally
crucifixion – has been told various times through the history of art. In music,
Bach composed St John's and St Matthew's Passion which are two of the most
important sacred works throughout the history of music. In cinema, Mel Gibson
directed the controversial 'The Passion of the Christ' in 2004 which graphically
depicts the story of Jesus's final days. BBC 1 is about to start a new series of
Passion with a handful of best TV actors of Britain. So what do you think about
the Passion of the Christ? Is it a tragedy?
Now going back to credit cards, what would you feel if your long awaited credit
card arrives but not the PIN to use it? Is it of any use to you? Probably not a
perfect allegory, but this is how I feel during the Easter time watching various
versions of the Passion of the Christ with sometimes graphical display of Jesus
suffrage and not seeing any reference to his resurrection. Jesus's resurrection is
the key to understanding of his death. It is only with the resurrection that his
death becomes – to my belief - the most important moment of man's history.
I don't know where you stand in your belief with respect to Jesus and what he
did, but the story of Jesus does not end in his crucifixion and death. This is not
a death to feel sorry for, it is rather a death that brings joy and hope for us, not
because of what went on Jesus during those terrible few days, but because of
what happened after his resurrection that extends up to the eternity. It is ironic,
isn't it: God out of what seems so sad, brought joy and happiness for all
mankind. Why? Because Jesus by dying bore our sins and freed us from its
power and by his resurrection became seven more powerful and more
important.'
That is why, if I had a chance to, I would change the ending of 'Passion of the
Christ'. Not just to add a happy ending but to add what is missing from the story
and all the suffering would have no meaning without it:
[Camera's angle from inside the grave] Jesus body is taken to the cave-like
grave. The big stone is placed on the door and the screen becomes just sheer
black darkness. There is absolute silence for 10 seconds, nothing to see,
nothing to hear. But then there comes a sound, sound of gasp of the air. It
becomes the sound of breathing and grows stronger and stronger and then
suddenly there is explosion of light... the screen is all bright white... and the
music starts. The titles will run in bright red on the white background...
