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February 25, 2004FILM: Legions eager for 'Passion' openingMany think gory Crucifixion will temper faithByRecord-Eagle staff writer LELAND - Anna Pentiuk expects the brutal depiction of the crucifixion in Mel Gibson's new film, "The Passion of the Christ," to reaffirm her faith. "I'm really excited to see how real the Crucifixion of Jesus can be," she said. "The previews are gory, bloody, but it's realistic to what happened and seeing it will make it seem more real in our lives." Pentiuk, 17, will view the film Sunday at The Bay in Suttons Bay with about 60 other members of the Leland Community United Methodist Church. The owner and manager of The Bay, Bob Bahle, said area religious groups have reserved more than 200 tickets to viewings of the film, which tells the story of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life. It opens today at Horizon Cinemas in Traverse City but won't appear at The Bay until Friday. "I've not had this interest prior to the opening of a film," Bahle said. "And it's from a community of people that don't normally go to movies, particularly R-rated movies." St. Francis High School reserved two theaters for a Thursday viewing at Horizon. Every student at the school, as well as students from Traverse City Christian High School and Leelanau St. Mary's High School, will see the film together. Deanna Siler, a religion teacher at St. Francis, anticipates a powerful experience. "We hope it raises their consciousness of what Jesus did for us and puts it into perspective," she said. "We hope it takes the sugar coating we sometimes get in texts and brings it home quite frankly." Horizon manager Tony Hiner said a number of churches and schools have made similar reservations. He hasn't seen this much pre-opening interest in a movie since Spider-Man hit the big screen in 2002. "During the whole week, five or six places rented theaters," he said. "And two or three are rented for opening night." Pentiuk says an understanding of what Christians believe Jesus had to go through for all mankind can be a life-changing experience. "The whippings, stabbing in his side, the cat o' nine tails ripping skin off his back," she said. "He was a human like us, felt all the same things we felt but still went through this death for us."
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