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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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As the only photographer on the set on Mel Gibson’s recently released Passion, iconic Australian landscape photographer Ken Duncan has a scoop in his most recent publication of similar name (The Passion: Lessons From the Life of Christ, Ken Duncan Panographs).
But Ken’s Passion is not so much an inside look at the production the film as a retelling of the story. It’s the same story he told viewers on Channel 9’s Breakfast program prior to its release in February:
It wasn’t the Jews or Romans who put Jesus on the cross, he said, it’s all of us—the sins of the whole world.
A complete pictorial on just the crucifixion is rare. Not that it isn’t a worthy topic; in fact, it’s the greatest story ever told. It’s just hard to get great pictures.
But on the set of The Passion of The Christ, that wasn’t a problem. Duncan was invited onto the set by his friend from childhood, Mel Gibson, its producer, along with official photographer Philippe Antonello.
The result is an inspirational 176-page volume containing scores of colour and monochrome plates, mostly of scenes from the movie, although the angles are obviously different and there are depictions that obviously ended upon the cutting-room floor.
Many people, perhaps turned off by the blood and violence of the movie and who didn’t see it, would nevertheless appreciate this digest of its production.
It’s not a “making of . . .” book. That would trivialise its inspiring content and gripping visuals. In addition to its insightful interviews with the cast, it is really an anthology of the person of Christ—revealed in the Passion.
Ken Duncan uses his camera to tease out the many threads of the Passion tapestry, using Scripture to highlight its many colours and textures, including forgiveness, fear, worry, faith, prayer, mercy, freedom, joy, peace, truth, honour, hope, humility and salvation.
Produced by the hand of an expert such as Duncan, a picture tells more than a thousand words. And like the movie itself, other than in the interviews, there are few actual words in the book that aren’t from the biblical record. The pictures speak eloquently of Christ’s suffering and humiliation—His degradation at the hands of humanity.
The interviews are significant, and tell some of the background to the production, void of the hype and controversy that has swirled around the theatre release of the motion picture itself. Among them are Jim Caviezel (Jesus Christ); Maia Morgenstern (Mary, Jesus’ mother); Caleb Descheanel (cinematographer), Monica Bellucci (Mary Magdalene) and, of course, Mel.
They each offer insights—spiritual as well as cinematic. For example when asked about the impact of the character he portrayed on others, Caviezel says of his costumed entrances onto the set, “People would come out and cry, and want to hold my hand. Others would look away and they would be amused and point. I thought, time hasn’t changed much, has it.”
If not your regular Ken Duncan coffee- table book, The Passion: Lessons From the Life of Christ, left on one, will certainly be a conversation starter.
The Passion: Lessons from the Life of Christ, by Ken Duncan and Philippe Antonello, Ken Duncan Panographs, 2004.
Extract from Signs of the Times, April 2004 .
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