grist for the mill

DAVID CRUMM: Graphic film stirs tears for Jesus, fears for Jews: "Beyond such inaccuracies, Nevins said he walked away from the theater deeply shaken, fearing he had just witnessed a major blow to 'the great progress we have made with our Christian neighbors in coming to appreciate each other's faiths and the common values of love and justice that we share. . . . As a Jew seeing this, it feels like we've gone back to a medieval us-versus-them model.'
But many Christian audiences at previews walked away just as the crowd did in Sterling Heights -- praising the movie and rejecting any claim that it contains anti-Jewish themes.
One explanation for such starkly differing reactions was pinpointed by Carole Collins, a Bethesda member from Windsor, who estimated that she used half a box of tissues during the film. Through all of that trauma, she said, she focused on Jesus' face.
'For me, that was the personal connection. I kept watching Christ's eyes, his face, his expressions,' she said. "