Commentary
Passion' review misses mark 1
How did I know that a film review
er from the Emerald was not going to
give "The Passion of the Christ" a pos
itive review ("Gibson's directing robs
'Christ' of passion," ODE, March 4)?
Ryan Nyburg does his best to obliter
ate Gibson's Gospel accounts of the
last 12 hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life
through nonexistent problems and at
tacks on his credibility as a director.
Jumping on Hollywood's bandwag
on, Nyburg contradicts his follow-the
leader approach to reviewing the film
more than once.
completely forgets to make him a rent
able character. However, in describing
a scene that shows the carpenter's hu
man emotion and interaction with his
mother, Nyburg dismisses this simply
as failing, and fitting "poorly into the
film." Nyburg forgets the range of
emotions Gibson gives to Jesus that in
clude elation and hope while preach
ing the Sermon on the Mount and be
trayal at Judas' kiss and subsequent
Nyburg
GUEST
COMMENTARY
claims that
in Gibson's
attempt to
divinize Je
sus, he
arrival of Jewish authorities. Instead of
taking aim at the real problems with
the movie, such as the Hollywood-es
que additions that are neither Biblical
nor historical, like Satan appearing
holding a dead baby and a rotting,
dead cow smiling up at Judas as he
hangs himself, Nyburg dismisses Gib
son's work as "a wasted effort."
It is nothing less than comical that
in today's day and age, works like
"The Last Temptation of Christ" and
"The Da Vinci Code" are praised and
celebrated, while a historical depic
tion of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life
as shown through the Gospels is seen
as controversial and condemned for
violence. Comedy aside, if anyone
fails to see Christianity as being under
fire in today's increasingly secular so
ciety, it is time to come out from un
der your rock. On March 1, the Cali
fornia State Supreme Court ruled that
Roman Catholic charities must offer
birth control coverage to employees,
essentially going out of its way to at
tack the church because of its rejec
tion of birth control. Of course, the
decision was hailed as a victory from
the American Civil Liberties Union, as
one spokeswoman called it "a great
Willamette River needs
solution to toxicity
I remember the days when I care
lessly swam in the Willamette and
threw tennis balls to my roommates'
dog. That was a great way to spend a
hot summer afternoon. When Au
gust transforms Eugene into a stuffy
oven, our only refuge are the crowd
ed public pools full of baby pee and
the Willamette River.
__ I've al
IHSIMPc^tp waYs Pre'
COMMENTARY natural ite
- ting; be
sides, it of
fers a little bit of something for
everyone. You can kayak, tube, swim
or fish in the Willamette; at least that's
what I thought. Then I started to no
tice the pollution foam congregating
at the edges of the river. I knew it got
bad when I had to wash after swim
ming. The question I have to ask is,
What is that smell? It's toxic waste,
farm runoff and oil from our streets.
Fish that swim there aren't even fit to
eat. Companies dump their garbage
there without fear of penalty and the
people who are suffering are the aver
age citizens. The people who can
change this are you and I.
Last year, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulon
goski promised to do something
about this shameful river that runs
through the Northwest. He promised
to take action to reduce toxic emis
sions, eventually giving the average
citizens back their river. So far Kulon
goski hasn't done a thing, and it's
time to take action. Don't you want
to have a clean river for children to
play in, healthy fish for catching, and
a feeling of pride when you walk the
bike path? Write to your congress
man, write your senators, just tell
them that you use the river too! To
gether we can take the Willamette
back from the polluters, but until
then 1 think I prefer to swim in the
pool full of baby pee as opposed to
the toxic Willamette.
Rachel Lazar is a senior majoring
in environmental science.
ACADEMICS
continued from page 2
basketball program.
Maybe. But it is more than offset by
the boost it gives credibility of a univer
sity no longer tolerating excessive
spending for sports while academic
f
programs go hungry. It also provides a
great opportunity for the University
Development Department.
It's about time it convinced big
donors for a gym their money could
have far greater value if given to aca
demic projects.
George Beres lives in Eugene.
victory for California women and re
productive freedom."
So, Ryan Nyburg, how many re
views of the movie did you read be
fore you wrote your own? 1 agree with
you that in the movie some in the
crowd are portrayed as mindless fol
lowers. Didn't I see you in that crowd?
Michael Tarascio is a junior majoring
in Italian and religious studies.
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