Logically, Satan would have to work his way through the crowd to get close enough to tempt Jesus. From an artistic/asthetic point of view, having Satan walking beside Jesus the entire time is not as powerful.
Satan tempted Jesus early on - the conversation where Satan states that no man can take all of our sins upon himself and that we aren't worth it.
After this conversation it seems more powerful to have Satan some distance from Christ, but within sight as if to say "you can walk away from this torture and join me."
Not once, not ever, did I equate Satan with the Priests or the Jewish people in the crowd. Satan is Satan. Satan is evil. Satan is humanity sans Jesus.
While this storyline may not be part of the approved Gospels, I found it particularly uplifting and thought provoking. It forced me to confront whole new line of "what ifs?"
Primarily among them is what if Jesus had not given in to temptation. [Surely He was tempted during his crucifiction.]
Further, this storyline helps hammer home Jesus' sacrifice.
Could part of the problem of the overly sensitive be that they don't have a Faith-based frame of reference to evaluate these issues?
I truly believe that is the case and that people are being overly sensitive.
I came away from the movie angry -angry at myself and my sins. I came away from the movie angry that the Son of God endured such torture for my sake since I'm not worthy of such sacrifice. I did not come away angry at any group of people except the Media, Hollywood and some of the more hysterical Jewish leaders for creating such a fuss about nothing. Not that the movie will cause me to hunt any of them down...I'll just boycott these imbeciles and keep an open dialouge in defense of the movie.
Psycho's will always find excuses to act out their dementia. Gnashing one's teeth and tearing one's robe over a movie becuase of what it might cause is just plain silly.