medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Here is what Alan Segal has to say RE: language in Gibson's film:
The most important bid for authenticity in Gibson’s film is the use of
Aramaic
and Latin, with subtitles. As we all know, however, this is not actually
historical
since we have no Aramaic versions of the Gospels; they are only extant in
Greek.
Strangely, nobody speaks Greek in the film, though it is likely that Pilate
would
have addressed his forces in that language, even though it is possible that
they
knew Aramaic, as they were likely raised in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is
unlikely
that Pilate could speak Aramaic with any facility. The legionnaires of
Gibson’s film sometimes speak Aramaic and sometimes speak ‘street’ Latin,
giving voice to words that I have only heard in medical terminology before.
Even the slang Latin is unlikely if the troops were raised in Syria. At one
point,
Jesus and Pilate converse with each other in good church Latin, which is a
miracle,
actually, as it anticipates the holy language of a later time.
I spent a good deal of time listening to the Aramaic and thinking of verb
paradigms to avoid watching the violence. I admit I have some pedantic
Aramaic
grammar and syntax corrections for the script. But the main point must be
that no Aramaic can be authentic, no matter how carefully translated, since
it is
always a theoretical back-translation from the Greek of the New Testament or
the screenplay’s English. So why not just translate the whole into English,
using
one of the available translations, which have long histories of scholarly
scrutiny
and correction? Or, ironically, it might even be authentic to the Catholic
tradition
portrayed in the film for everyone to speak Latin, as if to say that this
Passion is
based on a tradition that begins with the Vulgate and moves forward through
the
Latin Church tradition. That might have yielded a very different and more
authentic
film. If the authentic Greek is wanted, it could be played quite
convincingly
with a modern katharevusa pronunciation, which is close to the New
Testament’s
koine Greek. Using Aramaic makes the film seem historically accurate when
historical
accuracy to the Gospels and the historical Jesus is hardly even attempted
in the film. Putting the whole film into Latin would have at least told the
moviegoing
public that this was a traditional portrait of the Latin Church. And that
would have been fine. The difficulty is that Gibson consistently argues on
the airwaves
that his is an accurate view of the Gospels.
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