Despite an acting, directing and producing career spanning more than 20 years and 50 films, no Mel Gibson project to date has come close to evoking the amount of controversy and speculation as his retelling of the death of Jesus Christ.

Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” has religious leaders worldwide curious to see what impact the movie will have. The film, which opened yesterday — Ash Wednesday — is a re-enactment of what might have happened during the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life, based upon the Gospels of the New Testament.

Robert Baum, associate professor of religious studies, says he hasn’t see the film yet, but he has heard about the controversy. Baum says movies about the life of Jesus often cause an uproar.

“As long as there have been movies, there’s been films about Jesus,” Baum says.

“The Passion” has also caused controversy for religious leaders, especially between Christian and Jewish groups. Some Jewish leaders are concerned the film’s violent depiction of Jews as the cause of Jesus’ crucifixion might cause anti-Semitic feelings around the world, while many Christians are arguing “The Passion” is true to the Gospel and is well-directed.

Although he hasn’t seen the film yet, Baum says he’s heard the film is based on Gibson’s interpretation of the Bible, which places little blame on the Romans for the Crucifixion. Baum says crucifixion was a Roman practice for crimes against the Roman politics.

“There is no evidence to suggest the Jews wanted Jesus crucified,” Baum says. “There is strong evidence the Jews were horrified about Jesus’ crucifixion.”

Mike Despard, administrative pastor and arts producer for Cornerstone Church, 56829 U.S. Highway 30, had the opportunity to view a rough cut of the movie with his wife in January when it was premiered to about 5,000 religious leaders in Chicago. Despard says the movie is very accurate, according to the Gospels, and says he didn’t notice anything non-biblical.

“After viewing the movie, my wife and I opened up our Bibles and found it exactly as it happened,” Despard says.

In addition to its religious implications, many critics are concerned with the heavy use of graphic violence in the film. In the unfinished version he saw, however, Despard says the violence served a purpose.

“The movie was not graphic for graphic’s sake,” Despard says. “[The film] is only two hours long, and it’s suppose to be the last 12 hours of his life, so we know the pain lasted six times as long.”

However, Hector Avalos, associate professor of religious studies and adviser for the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society, says he is very skeptical the film is an accurate portrayal of what happened to Jesus.

“From a non-religious perspective, people should be troubled that there is a religion where a god sends his son to be killed for mankind,” Avalos says.

Despard says he doesn’t think the movie was anti-Semitic, and the press is making too much out of it.

“After watching ‘Schindler’s List,’ I didn’t hate Germans,” Despard says. “There is no way [Gibson] set this up to be anti-Semitic.”

Still, many Jews are concerned a new wave of anti-Semitism might result from this movie. Catherine Harbur, president of the Jewish student organization Hillel, says she never experienced anti-Semitism growing up in upstate New York. Later, after her family moved to Grinnell, Harbur says kids at her middle school would often tell her she was going to hell and that she killed Jesus, which left her feeling stereotyped because of her faith.

“Moving to Iowa and experiencing anti-Semitism only made me stronger in my faith,” Harbur says. “It takes more strength and will to adhere to problems in life and Judaism became more important to me.”

Harbur says she plans to see “The Passion” at some point, but doesn’t want to contribute to the movie if it’s anti-Semitic. She says she will take Gibson on his word when he says he didn’t intend to place blame on the Jews, but she stresses the film is his interpretation of the Crucifixion.

“So many people are concerned this will fan the flame of hatred, and there already seems to be a growing wave of anti-Semitism around the world,” Harbur says.

Mark Finkelstein, who works for the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, also plans to see the movie. He says some people have identified issues and scenes in the film that may be problematic for the Jewish community, but he won’t judge the movie before seeing it.

“I believe this might be a good opportunity to better relations [among religious communities],” Finkelstein says. “This has the potential to bring people together from different faiths to talk about diversity and tolerance.”

Although Finkelstein says it is important for audiences to look carefully at the symbolism in the film, he sees no reason for passing judgment or blame.

“I would hope people see the gifts of this film as an interpretation of the Gospels,” Finkelstein says.