Few parents said they regretted bringing kids along. The ones who did said the vivid violence cast in the context of a religious lesson probably was beyond their children's understanding. Such was the case with 5-year-old Romeo Dominguez's parents.
"He got jumpy a couple times when the children turned into demons," said his mother, Melody Dominguez, 22, a Catholic.
She was referring to the depiction of possessed children who torment Judas Iscariot after he betrays Jesus, eventually driving the disciple to suicide.
Like many scenes in the film, the demonic children are not found in the Bible, but are based on the reported mystic visions of Anne Emmerich, a 19th-century German nun who reportedly inspired Gibson.
"If we had it to do over, we wouldn't take him," said Romeo's father, Joseph Dominguez, 25.
Candy and Luis Cuevas had no regrets about taking their three children with them to a late afternoon showing Wednesday at Colonnade. The Cuevases have two daughters, ages 9 and 8, and a 3-year-old son.
"I want them to see why Jesus died, and it was a great movie," said Candy Cuevas, 29, a Jehovah's Witness. "They have a better perspective from seeing it, I think."
Her children, as well as many others interviewed, described being disturbed by the film but said they were happy to have seen it.
Almost all of the youngsters brought up the same images as having stuck in their minds: the devil, the demons and the unceasing drubbings of Jesus.
"It was just sad," said the Cuevas' 9-year-old daughter, Kathleen, referring to the crucifixion scenes.
Child psychiatrist Michael Brody, a professor at the University of Maryland, said both the violence and one of the themes of the film are inappropriate for such young children.
