Mel Gibson, human lightning rod

Mel Gibson has a new TV mini series coming out and the NY Times wants to tell us about it. Here's how they lead off their coverage:

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 6 - Mel Gibson, whose "The Passion of the Christ" was assailed by critics as an anti-Semitic passion play - and whose father has been on record as a Holocaust denier - has a new project under way: a nonfiction miniseries about the Holocaust.

Observe how the Times writer threw Gibson's reputation in the mud before telling us anymore about the new project.

The series is based on a non-Jewish man who helps a Jewish girl avoid the Nazis during World War II. That's good, so what's the hubbub? Well, apparently since Gibson made the Passion of the Christ and his father reportedly doesn't like Jews he's been labeled a lifetime anti-semetic, meaning any future mention of Jews or the Holocaust triggers public relations incendiary devices. From what I've seen of his work thus far, it's unfounded. If Gibson was accused of making movies that altered historical fact, the criticism might make sense, but he's not. Therefore we're left to believe it's because of his professed faith.

Conversely, this seems to make some sense:

Mr. Sladek, 40, whose own father survived the Holocaust as a child hiding in Slovakia and is a friend of the Van Beeks, said Mr. Gibson's involvement could help attract a larger Christian audience for the project. The Van Beeks were sheltered by three different families of Dutch Christians.

"It is a tremendous nod to the non-Jewish partisans, the citizens of Holland, who helped this couple along the way again and again and again, without any reason other than being human, doing the right thing," he said. "It's a great bow to the compassionate Christians, the non-Jewish community. And there's a definite link to that community, through Con Artists, because of 'Passion.' "

The source of this bickering lies under the Hollywood surface. It's no secret that Jews have long been in positons of power there, so such pre-emptive kerfuffles (before the film has even been shown) seem to represent an undercurrent of political correctness regards such sensitive subjects. Gibson is simply powerful enough to avoid the establishment and still get his projects published, which appears to thoroughly irritate more than a few folks in Tinseltown.

In the final analysis any bickering should be inversely proportional to the amount of harm or bias caused by his projects. Maybe we should wait and view the series before making a decision.