the cross has become romanticized as a symbol of the faith. to many Christians, this is a wake up call of how horrible a sacrifice Jesus actually made

That was actually the argument I made to her about it; that Mel wanted to go over the top because the crucifixion had become this notion rather than a horrifying event -- that it is a horror and a sacrifice. She said "yeah, maybe" but kept talking about the way he romanticized the actual flaying and torture as events themselves. And the glee with which the Romans did it. I think it disturbed her in ways totally apart from the religion.

She also had a problem with the notion that someone tortured as brutally as shown in the movie would have been able to hold himself up or even stay conscious, much less carry a cross. Of course, her faith says that Jesus was a simple mortal man until he died. Some of you may feel otherwise.