I fail to see how the scene where Joe Pecsi repeatedly slams a guy's head in a car door in Raging Bull is any less violent than the scourging scene. As others have pointed out, the "violence" obsession is a creation of people who are dedicated to keeping people from seeing this movie. It emerged when the antisemitism charges didn't take.
Yep.
The secularist shock troops had their "orders." They emerged in full battle regalia to demonize The Passion anyway they could. The attacks descened to new lows of condescension.
The first foray had ADL Abe claim it was anti-Semitic. That didn't work. NYT's Frank Rich attacked next----said is was fascistic, as his NYT colleague Maureen Dowd said it was crass. That didn't work, either.
Andy Rooney bashed it on CBS and SNL evilly caricatured it on NBC. No soap, The Passion continued to break box-office records.
Newsweek's Evan Thomas told Imus it was a snuff film and so-called conservative Krauthammer lacerated the film. It was all in vain. Their credentials are badly tarnished while the film reaches new heights of popularity.
The Passion is still breaking box-office records domestically and globally, its movie memorabilia is flying off the shelves, the DVD will break records and so will the book about the movie.