mapping a directory to a script like a servlet

Hi, I hope some one out there can help me. I have been looking around for a solution to this and just getting confused. I want to run a php script like it was a servlet. At the moment I have a little application where the urls look like this: http://www.mysite.com/index.php?current_page=contact but I would like them to look like this: http://www.mysite.com/contact so I have mapped / to the index.php script and then pick up the remaining path some how. I have done this kind of thing before with servlets and asp.net but can't figure how to do it with Apache + PHP. I was looking at mod_rewrite but then got scared! Any help most welcome. Thanks, Roger