Product Description

Join the "South Park" gang in SOUTH PARK: THE PASSION OF THE JEW as Kyle finally sees The Passion and is forced to admit that Cartman has been right all along. Meanwhile, many of the hardcore fans of the film unite together to carry out the film’s message under the leadership of Cartman. In the bonus episode "Christian Rock Hard," Cartman, Butters and Token form a Christian rock band and rise to the top of the Christian rock charts with their own messages of faith. The second bonus episode, "Red Hot Catholic Love," centers around a trip to the Vatican and enduring real-life challenges of a video game from 1982.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25599 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2004-08-31
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Formats: Animated, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 30 minutes

Amazon.com
Where else but on South Park will you find irreverent comedy as scathingly hilarious as "The Passion of the Jew"? Premiering just one month after The Passion of the Christ was released in theaters, this typically outrageous episode tore into Mel Gibson's film with characteristic glee, ruthlessly condemning Gibson's courtship of controversy and depicting Gibson as a raving, greedy, egotistical lunatic (recalling the classic first season episode "Mecha-Streisand") while promoting a fair-minded appreciation of Christ's teachings over the relentless violence of Gibson's film. Perfectly playing off established character conflicts, the episode pits Mel-worshipping Cartman (who embraces Gibson's alleged anti-Semitism to justify his own homespun Nazi revival) against Kyle, who is traumatized by Gibson's film into feeling guilty about his own Jewish heritage. Never ones to flinch from taboo topics or political correctness, series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone outdid themselves with this amazingly rapid response to Gibson's film, and it's destined to rank as an all-time South Park classic. Likewise, the bonus episodes "Christian Rock Hard" (from 2003) and "Red Hot Catholic Love" (from 2002) tackle the commercialism of Christian music (as deviously exploited by Cartman) and the news-making controversy of sexual misconduct among Catholic priests, which somehow manages to incorporate a scatological sub-plot about the marvels of "interorectogestion," answering the age-old question of... well, you'll just have to watch to find out. Suggested for mature viewers only--this is South Park, after all! --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

VERY funny! Presenting opposite views that meet in the middle of the road.
When you watch "South Park" you know what to expect. This DVD is no exception: episodes packed with controversy, foul language and fun from beginning to end. "The Passion of the Jew", besides being a brilliant episode, synchronized with the release of the Mel Gibson classic "The Passion of the Christ", goes beyond making fun of a Gibson portrayed as a lunatic (something at which it's very effective). It showcases the dangers of extremes when it comes down to religious matters. Both sides presented, those who went to extremes to defend or discard the movie, end up being ridiculized.

The episode showcased is accompanied by two other episodes, both of which are hilarious as well: "Christian Rock Hard" and "Red Hot Catholic Love". One touches on the topic of illegal downloads, its enforcement and the somewhat questionable stance some of its early opposing musicians had about it, contrasting it against the fact that high record sales don't necessarily imply that the music in those records may be any good or honest (written for artistic reasons). Last, the "Red Hot Catholic Love" episode tackles the serious issue that took on huge proportions a couple of years ago, as several sex abuses by priests took on the front page of many of our media.

Overall, these three episodes of "South Park" continue to be innapropriate for kids and those who become offended easily. However, all three of them converge in the middle-of-the-road, after presenting opposite views about the three issues at hand. This is done in a brilliant and fun way. While I am not precisely a fan of the show, I must admit I found this DVD extremely funny and highly recommendable.

At Least One Truly Great Episode
Though Trey and Matt get their seasons out on DVD much quicker than certain other long-running animated series (mainly because those other series go for full-length commentaries), these 3 to 4 episode packs are kind of a waste. Red Hot Catholic Love is one of the best all-time episodes in my not-so-humble opinion, and the other episodes are pretty good, but I wouldn't buy a DVD for them. I'll most likely just wait until next June for season 6 to come out (the season featuring Red Hot Catholic Love).

As long as they're releasing random episodes on DVD, Jared Has Aides would make a great candidate. I think the episode has only been shown once since its premiere, and I believe that was during this weekend's 25 most notorious episodes countdown. On top of all this, South Park DVDs are always lacking in special features. (How did the original pilot episode and the two versions of The Spirit of Christmas never end up on a DVD? Not to mention cut scenes.) Sometimes a full-length commentary would be nice because there are all kinds of jokes and references in the episodes that I'm sure a bunch of people just don't get.

So, in summation, I wouldn't buy this DVD because not only do I have these episodes recorded to VHS for my personal viewing pleasure, but I'm willing to wait for the release of the season box sets:
Red Hot Catholic Love - Season 6 - June 2005
Christian Rock Hard - Season 7 - December 2005
The Passion of the Jew - Season 8 - June 2006

"We want our money back!"
In an attempt to exploit from the release of the real "Passion" on DVD, Comedy Central attempts to rake in a few bucks by releasing this lackluster collection of three episodes of the show. While the three episodes are superb, it's really not worth you shelling over your money. You're better off waiting for these episodes to be on the season sets ("Red Hot Catholic Love": Season 6, "Christian Rock Hard!": Season 7, "The Passion Of The Jew": Season 8). And besides, for only a little more than double the price, you can get one of the season sets that are out already, and have five times the number of episodes. Think about THAT.