I recently sat in a state of perplexity while a well-meaning colleague recounted a research trip. "Not one single person I spoke to called themselves Catholic, at least where I was in Mexico --- there are no Catholics left!" she announced with great conviction.

Everyone in the room (Protestants and Catholics) looked at her in disbelief. She elaborated further: "When I asked people, "Es usted Catolico? [Are you Catholic?]" they responded, "Soy creyente [I am a believer]."

\The room full of professors, students and lay ministers sat in stunned silence for a moment, not knowing how to break it to our non-Latina colleague that she had completely misunderstood the conversations. Someone finally did, explaining with conciliatory kindness that to say "Soy creyente" means, "I don't just call myself Catholic, but I truly believe and live my Christian faith every day."

I recount this story because it illustrates several important points. First, this colleague wanted to prove that people were repudiating their Catholic faith in droves; because of this, she was predisposed to interpret those she interviewed as confirming her agenda.

Second, she assumed she could understand a community because she could technically speak their language, yet she was lacking the tools to decipher the nuances in Latino culture attached to particular expressions.

And last, she missed a wonderful opportunity to discover something about our common Christianity --- that ours is a living faith, not a title or designation. To be a creyente brings together all Christians everywhere at the foot of the Cross. Rather than separating Catholic from non-Catholic as she wrongly assumed, the term was a unifying affirmation to a faith-filled life.

I find in this example an analogy to what has happened with Mel Gibson's film, "The Passion of the Christ." Much time has been spent looking for what would confirm people's prejudices both for and against the film. Mainstream media and pollsters have often assumed they have understood the responses of the audiences without having the tools to enter into the nuances of their faith traditions.

And as a result, the opportunity could slip away from us to see in this phenomenon a unifying event for Christians.

I thought perhaps we could look at "The Passion" with an eye toward uncovering a few of the insights that have been missed. To do this, we need to approach the series of events surrounding the film, not just the film itself, and that we need to do it from vantage points which are interlaced in this event, film and theology.

First, a nation which has tended to reward movies for being banal and pandering to "the lowest common denominator" turned out by the millions to see this film ($353 million receipts to date). The first unifying potential, then, is that good filmmaking and box office success can co-exist. This film's economic and critical success offers a newly supportive environment for filmmakers who have both talent and principles.

Second, people who have traditionally viewed film with great suspicion, most notably conservative Christians, have embraced this film and repeatedly given witness to the powerful experience of watching it. Thus, a second insight: Film and filmmakers are not the enemy; the way the art form is utilized is what requires attention and critical judgment. Film is the most powerful art form on earth, and it needs to be celebrated, supported and engaged seriously by the academy, the general culture and the church. This event should make it so movies are no longer thought of as merely entertainment, but a more complex human product named art.

Third, persons who were accustomed to taking the Bible literally suddenly found themselves moved to tears by an "interpretation." Gibson's film is a piece of art which took the witness of Scripture, radically altered it, added theological insights and interpretations from many periods of Christian history, and incorporated previous artistic readings. In the process the Gospels were changed and the Passion story was retold using new symbols and stunning visual metaphors.

This film is as far from fundamentalism as one can get, yet Fundamentalists of all denominations flocked to it. A third positive result: Perhaps these communities will open themselves up to the richness of Scripture beyond the literal, to its deeper theological nuances and to the Christian community's on-going role of interpreting Christ in every generation and in a variety of ways.

Fourth, persons for whom Christ had been reduced to a caricature and who found it impossible to relate seriously to Christianity were drawn in by the artistry of this film and often transformed. I personally know of one very accomplished and previously agnostic artist who has been back at Sunday Mass ever since he reencountered Christ in the film. Fourth gift: Great art can make the complexity of Christ come alive and rekindle the fire of faith in those that a sermon cannot reach; a work of art can speak eloquently.

Fifth, Christians of all denominations are sitting next to each other to experience this film --- there is great ecumenical potential here. Gibson's vision is lush and sensual, Catholic in its iconography, Protestant in its Christ-centeredness, Hispanic/Filipino/Italian/Irish in its human suffering Christ, truly contemporary in the primacy given to the visuals, traditional in the use of ancient languages --- it almost seems like the whole world is in this film. It is catholic in its most fundamental sense.

We might be reminded here of St. Paul's great hymn: "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendant, heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3: 27-29).

There is something of the air of catacombs possible inside these movie theaters. There, we could glimpse a new beginning for all of us, a reminder of a time before we lost track of our Savior and instead focused on proving each other wrong. Our Holy Father prays for Christian unity all the time; watching this film, were we not all creyentes and at that moment one? That's the hope in Christ.

Cecilia González-Andrieu writes from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.