This movie was well done, but it has a controversial plot point that is being blown out of proportion. It is easy to center in on that and forget about the rest of the movie.
People miss the point a lot, American Psycho the book was very misunderstood when it came out. So many times disturbing images become all a movie is known for when it really strives for something bigger. I don't think this movie is striving to make a great political point. Even if it were a propaganda piece it failed miserably for many reasons. As a very good film it excelled.
There is a recut version of The Passion coming out in April that eliminates 5 minutes of the more brutal scenes. There are rumors of it becoming a yearly release at Easter.
Just for the record, I wasn't the one who didn't want to see "The Passion" because of the violence, not that you care, but when I do see it, I don't want to see some stupid watered down version that doesn't represent what the producers originally wanted me to see.