"The Passion of the Christ" a hit in Beirut, Damascus

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2004

BEIRUT, (AFP) — Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of the Christ," accused by some Jewish organizations of encouraging anti-Semitism, is drawing a sizeable if unexceptional audience here while apparently touching an emotional nerve in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

"Coming out of the theater ... I saw a lot of people in tears," reported Fayez Wehbe, who saw the film -- with Arabic sub-titles -- in Damascus.

Certain sequences are in Aramaic, the language that was dominant in the Holy Land at the time of Christ and which can still be heard in certain towns in Syria, notably Maalula and Saadnaya near Damascus.

"Some members of the audience could not conceal their astonishment on hearing some expressions -- such as Ya Illah (My God) -- that are close to...