Mel Gibson strays from the path of Freeper righteousness

How dare Mel Gibson put aside rigid ideology to praise another filmmaker! The very idea!

Mel Gibson and Michael Moore have been used as shorthand for cultural and political divisions among Americans, but how do the filmmakers feel about each other? Cue the Hollywood ending - it's hugs all around.



"I saw the film. I liked it," Gibson told AP Radio Sunday at the 31st Annual People's Choice Awards, countering the contention that "Fahrenheit 9/11" fans and "The Passion of the Christ" enthusiasts are mutually exclusive groups.



Moore's critique of President Bush's policies since the Sept. 11 attacks and Gibson's film about Jesus Christ's final hours were huge hits at the box office in 2004, and both won People's Choice awards Sunday. "Fahrenheit 9/11" was named favorite movie and "The Passion of the Christ" was the favorite drama.



"I feel a kind of strange kinship with Michael," Gibson said. I mean, they're trying to pit us against each other in the press, but this is all just a hologram, you know. They've really got nothing to do with one another. They were used as some kind of divisive left-right thing."



Moore said he saw Gibson's film twice, and even took his father to see it.



"I thought it was a powerful piece of filmmaking," Moore told AP Radio Sunday. "I'm a practicing Catholic, and you know I think Mel and I may be from different wings of the Catholic Church. My film might have been called 'The Compassion of the Christ.'"

Now, I saw The Passion of the Christ, and I found it to be anti-Semitic splatter porn. Frankly, the idea that anyone could watch a Jewish guy getting the shit beaten out of him for two hours and come out of the theatre thinking "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen" (actual quote from a northern NJ moviegoer) just makes me scratch my head in utter bafflement.



The difference between Moore's and Gibson's views of Joshua of Nazareth seem to reflect the same dichotomy this guy talks about. But it's heartening that two filmmakers can see merit in each other's work, even as the right's vicious attacks on Michael Moore continue unabated (and indeed, the outcry from the right about every word out of Moore's mouth far outweighs any legitimate concerns that Jews on the left might have had about the possible repercussions from Gibson's film. Notice how there's been ZERO outcry from the left about the DVD release, while the right continues to spew about Moore.).



However, the fact that Gibson seems at least to have retained some ability to tolerate multiple points of view is not going over well with The Passion's more rabid fans, i.e. Freepers:

He's a flaming liberal. I refuse to watch his movie too.



I never really bought that he was this great conservative like many here seemed to believe. This kinship comment does it for me. He's on my boycott list. He suckered a lot of people with Passion though.



See, folks, he liked Fahrenheit 9/11. Says it all. And he is not religious like he claims. I could understand a rational reason in being against the war but to praise Michael Moore and the film and attack the President's reason shows what kind of person Mel Gibson is. HE IS NO CONSERVATIVE AND HAS NEVER BEEN.



He praised Fahrenheit 9/11. He praises Michael Moore and his hate rhetoric propaganda film. There's something wrong there. He's a poser, folks.



Well, that really is a disappointment. For starters, if he can't see the blatant propaganda in F9/11 he's as blind as a bat. How can you "like" propaganda? It's retarded. This is like a slap in the face for those who campaigned to get people to vote for Passion of the Christ.

[Note from me: I had no idea that Gibson's film was running for president.]



Here's more spew:

Seems Mel is a conservative, but not crazy about the Iraq war. That I can respect though. What I can't resepet is "liking" a piece of blatant propagandistic BS such as F9/11. There is nothing that makes sense about that.



It's apparently been all over the radio. Hopefully he'll make Google so we can expand on this. He's in a league with Michael Moore. He embraces someone who is a radical, hate-infested, anti-American nutcase. He praises his film and in the process clearly is indicting the President for going to war for oil and unsavory reasons



I posted this because on another thread I read of someone who was listening to a radio show this morning and was disappointed in Mel's comments in regards to Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore and his trashing the war in Iraq. I have known that he has basically been against the war, but his praise of that propaganda and Moore has gone to far and Gibson is on my boycott list now. He is no friend when he is that far out of it.

I've never been much of a fan of Mel Gibson, even before The Passion of the Christ. But I'll at least give him credit for being able to use the ability to think that God gave him, and be able to see things in terms other "You're with us or you deserve to die a horrible death at our hands".