Before I even saw The Passion of the Christ, I saw Mel Gibson's interview with Diane Sawyer. It seemed to me that Mel did have a true conversion, and indeed, as he stated, it was his destiny that he make this movie. I believe it's his destiny to make more spiritual films and films of honor, like Braveheart.
I would hope that Mel Gibson continues to grow spiritually and move into Fifth Epochal Revelation (The URANTIA Book) and Continuing Fifth Epochal Revelation (The Cosmic Family volumes) so he would have a higher grasp of the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus Christ.
I would have liked to have seen more flashbacks in the film for the audience to get to know more of the mission of Jesus and to gain more of an in-depth understanding of His divine personality. I was disappointed that the film left off portraying Peter as one who denied Jesus three times without showing or educating about Peter's later life as one who was himself crucified–and Peter chose to be crucified upside down as he didn't want to be crucified right-side-up like his Master.
Peter, along with the other nine apostles (excepting Judas and John), was told by Jesus not to go to the cross, not to go to His crucifixion,
and to stay alive–that information is in The URANTIA Book. Because John was the soul of Nod who joined in the Lucifer Rebellion (see The
URANTIA Book, Paper 67), Jesus wanted John at the foot of the cross so that Nod/John could see the great love and forgiveness that the Master had
for him and for all humankind. John had divine protection at those moments at the cross to see just that–the suffering, passion, and divinity of Jesus.
The Master also wanted all to see the great trust that He had in those who truly repented–just as he trusted John/Nod with the care of Jesus' own mother.
As far as the brutality goes, unless you were there and could remember, you would have no idea if it was as bad as portrayed or not. I lean toward
that it was that bad. Whoever sees The Passion of the Christ should never again complain about anything.
*MPAA = Motion Picture Association of America
