The Music of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ
The Easter Story has inspired some of the most successful soundtracks nominated for Academy Awards in the category of Best Original Score. Did you know that Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ has the most successful soundtrack album since Titanic?
The film has 70 to 80 minutes of music by composer John Debney and the album was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. You can listen to music from the soundtrack here.
Debney recalled that Mel Gibson said many times that he didn’t want any ‘God music’ or any reverential music. Ominous music from the electric cello contrasts with music from a full choir and a full orchestra and, according to Debney, the most interesting music was that which contributed to the representation of Satan:
It was a bit of a challenge as Mel said that he didn’t know what the music for Satan should be. He said that he didn’t want it to be cliché or just some sort of “scary” music that you always hear. So he said that it would be great if we could find an instrument. So I said, “Well, Mel, the way you have represented Satan in the movie (which I think is a great representation), is not what you’d normally see. He’s not just some guy with horns, but has this seductive quality.” After trying out a few things, I finally came to the erhu. The erhu is such a beautiful sounding instrument – very voice-like and I found this incredible, world-renown, player, Karen Han. We decided to have her over one night to play. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to get, but what came out was incredibly beautiful, exotic sound that has this human-vocal quality to it. As soon as Mel heard it, he loved it and kept bringing it back up to me. So that became the instrument to represent the devil-person in the film.[1]
The erhu added ethnic and contemporary textures and musicality to the film’s portrayal of the Easter story. Karen Han, the Chinese-born musician, is the world’s foremost expert on the ancient two-stringed instrument. She describes its sound and special relevance to The Passion of the Christ:
The erhu has a special sound. It’s close to a human voice – to a woman’s voice, in fact. The bow is much looser than a violin one, and this means that you can get very strong tones. It’s a heartfelt sound. There’s no other instrument quite like it. It’s my goal to raise the profile of the erhu in the west.[2]
Debney also had inspiration from the perspective of Mary, Jesus’ mother:
Through her eyes we see world-changing events unfold. Finding “Mary’s Lullaby,” her thematic thread, was crucial. I believe that Mary had a hand in giving me her theme. I was rather stuck, yet through prayer, I came upon what is Mary’s theme in the film. The flashback when Mary remembers Jesus falling down as a child is particularly powerful for me.
For both composer and director, the film and the music was very personal and meaningful, as Debney said:
This is just so personal for [Mel Gibson] – so close to his heart and belief system. It’s been something that he has been wanting to do forever. So, I’d say he was more involved than I’ve seen most directors be, but I’d have to say that this was a good thing.
Mel Gibson said the same thing himself: ‘It reflects my beliefs – I’ve never done that before’.