“The Passion is not a fairy tale”. This sentence from presenter Hannes Jaenicke strikes an unexpectedly serious tone in a show that is otherwise bursting with colorful images and (often out of place) attempts at modernization. After watching, you are initially confused and ask yourself: “What did I actually just see?” It is a format of opposites that are sometimes better and sometimes worse interwoven.
After “The Passion” was canceled last year, many people were very happy when it was announced that it would be continued this year. The concept stayed the same, but new actors were needed. The cast was generally well chosen: Ben Blümel, a clean man as Jesus, who had a Christian hit many years ago with his song “Engel”, did his job calmly well, although not as emotionally as Alexander Klaws in the first RTL -Passion. Nadja Benaissa gave a fantastic performance as Maria, although the actress is the same age as her son Jesus. Many of the disciples have already seen the jungle camp from the inside (probably didn’t go so well for them after Jesus’ death), which, given the advantages of the cast, could attract an audience that has previously dealt less with the story of Jesus. Some have identified themselves as believers. For example, long-time Viva presenter Mola Adebisi, whose unborn child should definitely be baptized. It’s just not clear yet whether it will be Protestant or Catholic, he said in an interview with his friend Adelina Zilai after the Passion. Timur Ülker, another disciple, brings diversity to the cast as a Muslim. A quick background check shows that some of the actors stood out because of their less Christian behavior. René Caselli is criticized for keeping elephants in the circus. Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht recently emphasized that he only sees himself as the “involuntary father” of his child and not as its father.
A dark version of the television garden
The songs again adapted popular songs from the charts of the past decades: from Marius Müller Westerhagen to Helene Fischer, Udo Jürgens, Rosenstolz to Die Toten Hosen and Tina Turner. There were hardly any highlights. Every now and then you asked yourself whether one or the other didn’t appear twice. We played it safe here. That’s a shame, because the previous show had shown that controversial songs can be used to convey emotions cleverly, for example when Marc Keller (Judas) sang “Through the Monsun” by Tokio Hotel. What stood out in this year’s broadcast was the homoerotically charged song “Out of the Dark” during Judas Kiss. More such unconventional moments would certainly have made the show even more well-rounded. The actors’ “pop singer moves”, with sweeping gestures and dramatic facial expressions, gave the impression at times that we were watching a dark version of TV Garden and not “The Passion”. That’s a shame, because some songs would have served their purpose better with less overacting, as they could have concentrated more on the lyrics.
Between the songs there were acted scenes that were arranged by the presenter. Anyone who criticizes the fact that the interpretation of Jesus’ suffering is served on a silver platter may be right, but they are forgetting that this is precisely the way to appeal to people who actually just want to be entertained after work. In addition, the classification was surprisingly Christian and close to the Bible. Not only was it emphasized that the Passion of Christ was not a fairy tale, but that it really happened, the message that we are all loved by God was also conveyed surprisingly clearly and uncluttered.
The pizza – an intertextual Easter egg
The scenes themselves often failed because of the attempt to bring modernity into the life of Jesus. For example, a quick selfie is taken before the Last Supper or the disciples ride to Jerusalem on electric scooters. For the Last Supper, the disciples buy five ciabatta breads and two pizza frutti di mare – an intertextual Easter egg that connects Passover with the food miracle. The dialogues, on the other hand, were mostly taken directly from the Bible. (Unfortunately) you can’t get the scene out of your head where Jesus and Judas meet like two drug lords… It seems unintentionally funny and you would have understood differently that the story takes place in today’s time. The backdrops used anyway, such as those of a former techno club, would have been absolutely sufficient. The locations scattered across Kassel were chosen effectively: their industrial simplicity contributed a lot to the atmosphere.
Every now and then there was a live broadcast of a group of people carrying a cross through Kassel on stage parallel to the broadcast. Ordinary believers telling their story. Unfortunately, most of them had the feeling that they did not represent the average Christian: Evangelical confessions predominated among the quite touching statements. A little more mixing – which there was in the cast – would have been good here.
The highlight came at the end
Unfortunately, the show didn’t really settle in until the end. At the crucifixion, Pontius Pilate told in great detail how a crucifixion takes place and what it does to the body. You can find that disgusting, and you should. But it was a good move to make clear to the viewer the drastic nature of Jesus’ decision to die for us. Maria’s song afterwards (“Miracles Happen” by Nena) was very touching and indirectly predicted the moment of resurrection in death. You could see tears on the faces of the live audience.
Unfortunately, instead of letting this moment last, they destroyed it straight away. In a subsequent “Exclusive Special,” the actors were asked about their personal faith stories. That’s actually a very nice idea, but when, shortly after the crucifixion, presenter Frauke Ludowik stumbles clumsily onto the stage, gets her hair tangled and doesn’t use the microphone correctly, you can’t help but wonder whether it wouldn’t have been better to have recorded it in advance.
Which was actually important
Despite all the criticism and all the praise, the most important point about Passion is not necessarily whether the actors were good, the music was appropriate or the presenter was particularly skilled. The really remarkable thing about the show is that it has once again managed to bring the history of Christianity into society. On X, the hashtag “DiePassion” trended in first place for hours. Regardless of whether you think the format is good or bad, many people who have long only heard about the churches’ failings are now discussing the content of their faith again through the show. It should be worth it to endure almost 2 ½ hours of fever dream – hopefully again next year.