PORT ANGELES — Sitting on a bench Wednesday night in the Deer Park Cinema, 17-year-old Ashley Mattson’s wide eyes and animated expression said it all.
In exactly two hours and nine minutes, Mattson realized the inner struggles she’d anticipated when she lined up with hundreds of others to catch Deer Park’s opening of “The Passion of Christ,” a Mel Gibson film raising eyebrows — and goosebumps — throughout the nation.
For Olympic Christian High School student, it was all about salvation and penance, with a little bit of guilt mixed in.
“I felt conflicted that Jesus did that for me,” Mattson said.
