The predictions came fast, furious and occasionally farfetched. Critics warned that Mel Gibson's blood-drenched epic "The Passion of the Christ" would lead to firebombed synagogues and other anti-Jewish violence. Gibson supporters raved about the film, forecasting a "spiritual tsunami" of mass conversions to Christianity and divine healings in theaters.
The only thing both sides seemed to agree on was that the movie possessed an astonishing power to alter lives and beliefs. Yet, five months after the film's debut, the prophecies have yet to materialize.
That doesn't mean the movie left no changes in its wake. While the media focused mainly on the most dramatic predictions, the film's real impact went largely unnoticed. According to historians and other observers, "The Passion's" legacy could subtly reshape Christian worship habits for years.
Gibson's success -- $609 million in worldwide box-office receipts -- has also jump-started the prospects for more religious-themed entertainment, which could further influence the culture.
And, in an offbeat note, the film inspired a handful of criminal confessions and a case of anti-Roman violence.
When "The Passion" opened on Ash Wednesday, it became such a phenomenon that even an ex-president had trouble finding seats. Jimmy Carter recently recalled how he and his wife attended a weekday show, expecting light crowds, "but the Secret Service had to use their influence just to get us two seats together."
The media onslaught began with a March 2003 New York Times magazine article that explored the theories of Gibson's father, Hutton Gibson, including his doubts that 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. Jewish and Catholic scholars quickly connected the dots to "The Passion," saying the film could blame Jews for the Crucifixion.
From there, the debate snowballed into a wild crossfire over artistic freedom, biblical inerrancy and pilfered scripts.
"People came out swinging when the film was still in production," says Gibson publicist Alan Nierob, who declined an offer from UCLA to teach a 10-week class about the movie.
The most controversial prognostications involved the film's alleged anti-Semitism.
"By the time the first nail is hammered into the cross, viewers in Germany will be passing around knife sharpeners in the theater," Israeli radio host Rabbi Tovia Singer declared. "Israel may have to absorb a massive flight of European Jewry."
