Barabbas actor Pietro Sarubbi recounted his mystical experience in the movie “The Passion of Christ” in his book, “Da Barabba a Gesù – Convertito da uno sguardo” (From Barabbas to Jesus: Converted by a Look)

“I felt as if there was an electric current between us. I saw Jesus himself.” said Pietro Sarubbi recounting his experience while enacting the scene where Barabbas takes the first glance at the tortured Jesus.

Pietro Sarubbi, when a teenager, ran away from home and joined a circus company. He travelled around the world, believing that somewhere he could fill the spiritual void that afflicted him. Between trip and trip, he continued his career as an actor, which he began at the age of 18, working on plays, commercials and independent Italian cinema. He specialized in the comedy genre, but he always felt a slight sense of failure, because his longing was to direct.

In 2001, Hollywood seemed to smile at him with a secondary role in the movie "Captain Corelli's Mandolin", but the existential emptiness did not leave him.

Months later when Mel Gibson invited him to be a part of his movie, he thought it would be in an action movie, but was surprised to learn that the film would narrate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

A few days before the shooting, Mel Gibson explained the role of Barabbas. Barabbas was not simply a bandit who belonged to the group of Zealots, who was imprisoned for years, was tortured and pushed to the limit.

Gibson pointed out a detail that struck Sarubbi deeply: Barabbas began to become a wordless beast, which he expressed with his eyes. After investigating, he considered that he seemed to embody that wild animal well and, at the same time, harbour in the depths of his heart the look of a good man.

“As Barabbas, Gibson told me to avoid looking at Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus, until the very scene in which we were to appear together. ‘Barabbas is like a ferocious dog,’ he told me, ‘but at one moment he becomes a puppy: when he meets the Son of God and is saved.

“‘I want your look to be that of somebody seeing Jesus for the first time’.

“I did as he said, and when our eyes met, I felt a sort of surge. It was like I was really seeing Jesus. I had never experienced such a thing in all my years of acting,” the Italian actor said.

At that moment, Sarubbi said he finally found the peace he longed for.

“It was a big impact,” he told Zenit, an Italian news Portal. “I felt as if there was an electric current between us. I saw Jesus himself.”

“When looking at me, his eyes had no hate or resentment–only mercy and love,” he acknowledged in his book.

“It was not only a professional, but above all, a human experience,” Sarubbi added. “I am not embarrassed to say that during the filming, I had a conversion. All of the actors who took part changed a little bit after this experience, but I have learned much more from the film than from any conference.”