I have not yet seen Passion as of yet, but from everything that I have heard and read about this movie, the whole point is that this is not intended to be Mel Gibsons portrayal of Jesus' death. It is simply Mel putting on screen as accurately as he can the story exactly as it is told in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Of course, there are bits in one gospel and not in another, so it's a conglomeration of them all. This bit about the whips having metal tips and stuff to increase the pain/bleeding is a detail that I'm not sure is actually in the Bible or not. However, it's probable that the research was done on the types of whips that Romans would use for this kind of thing, and that's why they added it. Glorification of violence? From a Catholic standpoint, especially hardcore oldschool Catholic such as Gibson is... that's the point. One should be able to meditate on the insanely intense and bloody experience Jesus went through, and this will help you focus on living a Godly life. And heck, Jesus defied the laws of physics while wallking on water, so i'm sure he found it no harder to defy the laws of anatomy and held in his blood long enough to do what had to be done.
