What parts of the movie were extra-biblical?
Before we identify the added scenes it’s important to understand the purpose and motivation for the film. Mel Gibson is a conservative Catholic and does not follow the liberalization of Catholicism that came with Vatican II. (He prefers the Latin Mass.) His objective for the film was to impact the viewer with the enormity of the sacrifice Jesus undertook on our behalf. He consulted “thousands” of theologians, and it was his desire to remain true to the Bible. One must also understand that there would not be enough material from biblical quotes alone to make a feature length movie on just the passion. Here is a quote from another writer: “Gibson co-wrote the screenplay with Benedict Fitzgerald (Wise Blood). It drew faithfully from the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the script’s main sources. Still, Gibson knew he was going into largely unexplored artistic territory — into the realm where art, storytelling and personal devotion meet. ‘When you tackle a story that is s
