Mel Gibson's biblical epic "The Passion of Christ" is so popular in Roman Catholic Poland that parishes across the country have organized special showings and touts are offering tickets at twice face value.
Its Polish distributor said on Thursday that in terms of viewers per copy of the controversial film, it did better in its first weekend than Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings."
"We did not expect it to be this popular. It has already topped 500,000 viewers," said Ryszard Pawlicki of film distributors Monolith.
Polish bishops have fully endorsed the film and priests are encouraging congregations to see it, despite protests from the small Jewish community that it is anti-Semitic for blaming Jews for Christ's death. That controversy has plagued the film -- and attracted it free publicity -- around the globe.
"The depiction of sadistic (Jewish) priests may make it easier for those inclined to think in that way to see sadists in Jews," said Jewish activist Stanislaw Krajewski. Poland, the homeland of Pope John Paul, was chosen as one of the first European countries to show "The Passion," partly because over 90 percent of the population is Catholic.
"Priests reserve tickets for whole shows and distribute them in parishes," said Pawlicki. His company is racing against time to produce more copies of the film.
Priests say that the film, which graphically depicts the torture and death of Jesus Christ, solidifies people's faith.
"After seeing the film, no Catholic can walk away untouched. People will look at the cross in a different way. They will have the suffering Christ in their mind," said Jozef Kloch, spokesman of the Polish Episcopate.
Malgorzata Lewicka, a Warsaw University student, said she had never experienced a more solemn atmosphere in a cinema -- not even when watching Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" in the 1990s about a man who spared Jews from Nazi death camps.
"After the first 10 minutes of the film, all laughs and murmurs ended. People stopping eating popcorn," she said.