ON ‘THE PASSION’

One small thing about the Mel Gibson trailer for his upcoming movie about Jesus, ‘The Passion.’ As I understand it, one of the true merits of this movie is its attempt at historical accuracy. But the trailer’s scenes portray a very traditional Catholic passion scene. In particular, they show Jesus being put on a cross with nails into the palms of his hands. I may be wrong about this, but hasn’t it been established that such nails would have penetrated Jesus’ wrists, not his palms? Would anyone surivive long on a cross if held up only by nails into palms? Maybe someone out there knows. But if Gibson is merely making a traditional passion movie, then it strikes me as far less interesting.