The gospel according to Gibson

Ken Jacobsen of the Anti-Defamation League in New York - the Jewish group that most actively sought changes in the film - says, "What struck me was that the Romans were basically seen as stupid and the Jews as evil, and there is a big difference because, as you saw in the end, the Romans began to wake up to Jesus. The only good Jews were those that were about to become Christians."

Imam Yassir Fazaga, a Muslim leader in Mission Viejo, Calif., went to the movie to "learn more about the values that Jesus taught and the principles he lived by," he told the Orange County Register. While Mr. Fazaga appreciated Jesus' suffering, "I do not think it has added any more knowledge to me about the character of Jesus, except his commitment to his beliefs," he said. "I really do not get the point of why the violence was the focal point."

Some see the movie very much as the director's vision. "This is not by any stretch of the imagination an historical film - it's a very personal and passionate artistic statement," says Chet Manchester of Boston.

"In my view, it's Jesus' transcendent love and self-sacrifice that equipped him to overcome the cross that is the main point of his life," he adds, "but because blood and suffering scream so loudly, I fear the transcendence is lost in sensationalism."

Indeed, when asked which scenes affected them the most, people tended to opt for the quiet moments. "The scene where Jesus was carrying the cross, and his mother, Mary, gets to him - that was a great picture of motherhood and reminded me of my own mother praying for me, " says Eddie Park, a seminary student from Edgewater, N.J., who saw the movie in Danvers, Mass.

It is clear that the movie has gotten people thinking and talking. Carol Lee Hayon, who grew up as a Christian but has converted to Judaism, worries about "how we don't accept people in terms of their views." She believes that people of all religious backgrounds should see it.

While disturbed by the portrayals of Jews, Mr. Jacobsen says he's reassured by "a lot of leadership within different denominations in the Christian community that can counteract that with education." The US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Council of Churches have released discussion guides. Across the country, various Christian and Jewish groups are planning to get together to discuss the film.

Evangelicals have seen the movie principally as a great vehicle for reaching the unchurched. In addition to buying out theaters and inviting people to attend, they've developed other outreach projects.

Spencer Burke, an evangelical pastor in California with an Internet ministry, questions that effort. While he enjoyed the film, "if I was interested in striking up a conversation with someone in my community tonight by purchasing a ticket to a movie, inviting them to dinner and a spiritual conversation, my money would be on 'In America', " he says.

Both films deal with the same themes, he says, but he thinks "In America" speaks more "to the soul of the average person who wonders about the struggles of everyday life and whether God is good or bad.

"The passion is only one part of the story, he adds. "My thought is that the passion wasn't about the cross. Jesus didn't really look at the cross; he looked at me."

• Elizabeth Armstrong contributed to this article.

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