His father in the above link seems to think it is, and should be, an attack. An excerpt from the article:

I learned that all men are not created equal, and those age-old aspersions of deicide against the Jews are as alive today as they were 2,000 years ago.

    I learned that "The Passion" was in fact made so that "everyone would intimately know the line" from Matthew 27:25: "His blood be upon us and our children," the cornerstone of the historic blood libel against the Jews.

I learned that a child's blind honor to a bigoted and racist parent is paramount, and that no wedge will ever be driven between them.

      In short, what I learned from Hutton Gibson and his passion was pure, unadulterated, toxic hatred.

       Perhaps most importantly, there really was a valuable message that I learned during Gibson's two-hour tirade: This vicious cycle of generational hate will end only when sons are courageous enough to stand up to the malevolence of their fathers.

Mel had a nutcase for a Dad and decided he couldn't stand against him. From such material are zealots and other forms of fanatics made.

A