I saw the Passion of the Christ last Saturday. I am not ready to blog on it yet, but I do want to say something a little offhand.
Right now we are listening to EWTN's special on TPOTC (I say listen, because it is on my dh's computer and I am not looking at the pix). As part of the special, they are broadcasting excepts with the vocals in aramaic or whatever language it was in at the theatre. I was momentarily surprised not to understand what was being said!
I just realized that as I was watching the movie, my mind was hearing the words both in the language as spoken and in English, as well. It was a strange kind of feeling now that I think about it - but at the time it was very natural. I am not quite sure I am describing it accurately. I guess the closest would be to the kind of simultaneous translation that is done at places like the UN.
The latin I mostly understood because of my knowledge of Spanish and my experience listening to Portugese. But the Aramaic? And since the translation was in subtitles, why did I hear the words as if spoken?
I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I work with translators and interpretors on a daily basis at my job. I started 3 1/2 years ago knowing not one word of Portugese, and now I can understand most of what is being said to me. It drives my interpretors crazy, too. They are just starting to translate and I am already answering the questions....
I wonder - how did the foreign language issue affect the rest of you as you watched the movie?
I thought that the subtitles would bug me, but they didn't. Frankly, I've never made it all the way through a subtitled film before this one, but in this case, I not only knew the context of the events which were happening on the screen, but was also familiar with the text from the gospels, so I merely had to glimpse quickly at the subtitles to know their content. Being a very fast reader helped too.
I think I had the same reaction you did, Alicia.
My foreign language skills are about nil, but I soon forgot about it and was immersed in the movie very quickly. I thought how they used subtitles was very good. Not intrusive and there at important moments.
loved 'em.
I loved the languages, but think there could have been less subtitles. Some of the language did not need translation, you could figure out approximiately what they were saying. I like hearing foreign languages in film, such as The Godfather, so this was an added treat.