[VOA]

I beleive Gibson when he says he just wants to tell the story.

Agreed.
He'll show how a small group of aristocrats did what they wanted when their
Roman sponsor let them "get away with it".

And that the founder of Christianity forgave anyone responsible for his physical
death...and his followers, after some hearty discussion, tried to maintain a friendly
link with Jews and Gentiles alike.
No use of Damascus steel blades to win converts in the New Testament that I can find...

If Gibson doesn't catch those major themes (or warps them)...I'll be suprised.

[Paulus Invictus]

Mel will surely lean the film heavily towards a Catholic view of the death of Christ. I'd guess that's his desire and he is free, as a director, to do that as it's his dime.

The Pharisees were the real culprits for the evil act, and everyone involved but the Romans were all Jews, including Jesus. Niether Herod nor Pontius Pilate were anxious to kill him.

By the by, have you seen Popular Mechanic's re-constituted digital image of Jesus as they think he really might have looked? The image is purported to be that of a typical Jew of the time period. It looks nothing like the medieval or more modern images that many have characterized as "genuine" representations (such as the shoud).