MEL GIBSON’S blood-spattered film of Christ’s final days, The Passion of the Christ, which sharply divided American opinion before anyone had seen a frame, was released yesterday, Ash Wednesday, to conflicting responses from critics and Christians.

Critics found the film excessively violent, and prominent Jews expressed disquiet at the tone and intention. They demanded that Jewish areas in New York should be protected by extra police in case it inspired anti-Semitic violence.

Yet such was the demand from evangelical Christian groups that the number of cinemas showing the film was increased at the last moment from 2,000 to 2,800 so that the film could be seen on 4,000 screens. Cinema chains reported $8 million (£4.2 million) in advance ticket sales.

Last night, a television station in Wichita, Kansas, reported that a local woman in her 50s had died of a heart attack in the middle of the crucifixion scene. The film was stopped and a nurse tried to help, but the patient could not be revived.

The incident is likely to add to the hysteria surrounding the film. While Gibson, a conservative Catholic for whom the Roman Catholic Church is too modern, insists that he has merely portrayed what is written in the Bible, many prominent Jews have protested that, contrary to the Christian message, the film is designed to incite racial hatred.

The film has also set off an ideological battle between those on the Right who believe that Christians are being gradually marginalised and the “liberal media elite”, who the Right blames for diminishing the importance of Christianity in American life.

While the film opened like any other blockbuster in 35 New York cinemas, demand to see it was at its most intense in the South, the home of the evangelical Christian movement, with the AMC cinema chain reporting that four of its eight busiest theatres were in Atlanta, Georgia. It is considered to be so powerful a tool for encouraging conversion to Christianity that some evangelical groups bought out cinemas and invited members to bring along “an unchurched friend”.

Members of the First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Atlanta, bought all the seats at all 53 screenings at their local cinema for $63,000 so that anyone who wished to see the film could do so for nothing. Rodney Sampson, an Atlanta evangelist and businessman, paid $20,000 to take all 12 screens at his local cinema to spread the word. He described the film as “a masterpiece that will have a shelf life until Jesus returns.”

Cardinal Edward Egan, Archbishop of New York, America’s most prominent Catholic, gave warning to Christians not to blame Jews for the death of Jesus.

“Jesus gave His life for us. No one took it from Him,” he said. He has not seen the film and has no intention of seeing it.

Many came out of screenings shocked. Dov Hikind, a New York assemblyman from Brooklyn, said: “It was beyond anything that I imagined. I don’t have any doubt this film will cause anti-Semitism. I don’t have any doubt that this film will result in violence.”

Vanessa Rao, a Catholic from North Arlington, New Jersey, said: “I’m just kind of shell-shocked. I just sat rigid in my seat. It was painful, but I couldn’t turn away.”

Joseph Camerieri, 39, a paralegal student from Los Angeles, could barely hold back tears as he left a cinema in Plano, Texas. “I’m in shock. I’m physically weak. I’m emotional,” he said.

“I think if you are a Christian, it will increase your faith tenfold in what Christ has done for you. If you are not a Christian, you’ll probably treat others with more love.”

NOT THE CRITICS' CHOICE

‘A religious snuff film . . . Is it, as some have charged, anti-Semitic as well? Yes, absolutely. More suited to the S&M crowd’
Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News

‘Though Gibson promised his film was about love and forgiveness, those virtues are overshadowed by the almost unrelenting brutality. Don’t take children to see it’
Bonnie Britton
Indianapolis Star

‘If they were alive, I think Matthew, Mark, Luke and John would be looking for a good entertainment lawyer’
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

‘It’s an exceedingly violent movie, re-enacting the torture and crucifixion of Jesus with a ferocity unknown in traditional film treatments’
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

‘Call Mel a sadist if you wish, but this also happens to be a film of impressive artistry’
Robert Trussell
Kansas City Star

‘He ends up turning Christianity’s central event into an action movie. For the most part the movie consists of James Caviezel, who plays Jesus, getting beaten to a pulp ... it’s a 2hr-long murder’
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle

NAIL PENDANT MEMORABILIA ON SALE

MATCHING the gore of Mel Gibson’s The Passion is a special line of memorabilia, led by a 2½in pewter nail pendant, which sells in two sizes and comes complete with leather necklace for $17 (£9). The nail is inscribed with words from Isaiah liii,5: “He was pierced for our transgressions.” Bob Siemon, a spokesman for the pendant designer, said: “They’re flying off the shelves.”

Passion merchandise also includes a Cross keyring for $6.99; coffee mugs with Aramaic characters; framed stills of the actors; a coffee-table book of scenes from the film; lapel pins; CD soundtracks of the film music; and a bracelet with a replica of the Cross featured in the Crucifixion scene. The marketing men sent a CD-Rom to churches that included trailers from the film and Bible study suggestions. Perhaps most surprising of the film’s marketing ruses, a racing Chevrolet at the 2004 Daytona 500 was painted with a special Passion design.

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