Behavior on the cross

[PhilX]

On Passion Play Via Crucis Balmaseda - Viernes Santo 2016 actors playing thiefs are seen strugling after they (fake)nailed to crosses.

A rather good job with that Passion Play, they certainly went to a lot of effort. Good to see some posh women in Roman costumes taking part, & plenty of costumed females in the crowd. Looked like the chap playing Jesus was actually whipped, not quite enough though. And he had bare feet as he carried the (artificial looking) cross, that is rare even in movies. It was also rare to see the actors on the crosses bending & straightening their legs & almost looking as if it was painful up there, the Jesus actor doing the agony bit the best though. Why do Roman costumes, the soldiers particularly, look so flimsy & unconvincing in these Passion Plays?

 

[Naraku]

A rather good job with that Passion Play, they certainly went to a lot of effort. Good to see some posh women in Roman costumes taking part, & plenty of costumed females in the crowd. Looked like the chap playing Jesus was actually whipped, not quite enough though. And he had bare feet as he carried the (artificial looking) cross, that is rare even in movies. It was also rare to see the actors on the crosses bending & straightening their legs & almost looking as if it was painful up there, the Jesus actor doing the agony bit the best though. Why do Roman costumes, the soldiers particularly, look so flimsy & unconvincing in these Passion Plays?

The assembly at the beginning was as good as any movie in any movie (the performance, not the camera work). Being a long time aficionado of low-budget, European sword-and-sandal films of the 50s and 60s; I am very impressed with the production values. The armor does look pretty obviously fake, but then so was the armor in many of those movies. On the other hand, the helmets and spears do look real. They even make the common movie mistake of giving every soldier a red cloak. In reality, these would have been worn only by members of the Praetorian Guard. Red dye was very expensive. Regular soldiers had brown cloaks.

 

[Sonner]

A rather good job with that Passion Play, they certainly went to a lot of effort. Good to see some posh women in Roman costumes taking part, & plenty of costumed females in the crowd. Looked like the chap playing Jesus was actually whipped, not quite enough though. And he had bare feet as he carried the (artificial looking) cross, that is rare even in movies. It was also rare to see the actors on the crosses bending & straightening their legs & almost looking as if it was painful up there, the Jesus actor doing the agony bit the best though. Why do Roman costumes, the soldiers particularly, look so flimsy & unconvincing in these Passion Plays?

One reason for crappy looking roman soldiers is often budget: they require more stuff than civilian impressions (armor, helmets, shields. weapons...) and there's more of them than other characters, so you go with the cheap stuff, and thusly most of the time they get outfitted with whatever surplus was sitting in the costume shop's warehouse gathering dust since the 80s.

The alternative would be hiring reenactors with their good kit but most roman-era reenactment groups I know wouldn't touch passion plays with a 10 mile pole for a variety of reasons.

 

[Naraku]

One reason for crappy looking roman soldiers is often budget: they require more stuff than civilian impressions (armor, helmets, shields. weapons...) and there's more of them than other characters, so you go with the cheap stuff, and thusly most of the time they get outfitted with whatever surplus was sitting in the costume shop's warehouse gathering dust since the 80s.

The alternative would be hiring reenactors with their good kit but most roman-era reenactment groups I know wouldn't touch passion plays with a 10 mile pole for a variety of reasons.

True. This shit aint cheap.

 

[Naraku]

Even the professionally made movies cut corners by using armor that was formed leather with "metal" bits.

Of course, they could really save money by having the hero just wear a loincloth.

Putting Sylva Koscina in a miniskirt doesn't hurt either.

 

[Sonner]

True. This shit aint cheap.
View attachment 1399725View attachment 1399726

I know, I'm a reenactor myself

 

[Stormy89]

Maybe I'd have to check out other Passion Plays from Italy on YouTube to see if it's similar.

 

[iuiu38]

I've often contemplated how people actually behaved as they hung on a cross for hour after hour, even day after day. I think maybe many people have a foundational misconception from graceful crucifix art that people would strike a graceful pose and suffer in silence, but I doubt that's true. It seems to be popular, partly from historical speculation, partly from its erotic appeal to many, to think of people "dancing" on the cross. But even if this is true (dancing out of necessity to get oxygen), surely there was much more going on. Surely the PAIN was the primary thing, right? I'm fairly certain that at least for the first while, a crucified person would be screaming, sobbing, frantic, out of control trying to come to terms with the agony.

Of course it couldn't last that way forever. They wouldn't have the energy to scream for 2-3 days straight. But the pain would never lessen, would it? Does anybody have a medical perspective on whether endorphins would eventually bring them to some sort of equilibrium? Or would their mind just have to check out at some point? Would they be literally insane after an hour or so, as their body's way of trying to cope? Or would they remain lucid and fully experiencing the ever-deepening agony, gradually just losing the ability to express it? It's hard to imagine. Would love to hear thoughts from others.

Naked on the cross, nailed, suffering terribly like never before, the condemned wants to die quickly and wants to let go to drown, but the survival instinct makes him push his body up every time he needs to breathe, thus ensuring a long and cruel agony. Sweat soaks the naked flesh offered in sacrifice and the dance on the cross, going up and down, is inevitable even if he wants to let himself die. Perhaps unconsciously knowing that he has many hours left before he dies, hanged and offered, nailed to the wood, he thinks that there is a possibility of escaping this atrocious death, but the Priestess and the nails bring him back to reality and to plea In desperation he begs for mercy and begs for mercy. There won't be any