The actual crucifixion event was much, much worse historically, though Gibson did a decent job in reenacting it. They didn't drive the nails through your hands, they drove them through your upper wrists to completely destroy the nerves in your hands and arms. Think about getting hit in the funny bone, now think about someone driving a nine inch nail through it and leaving you to hang by that weight. Also with all the weight being lifted up at the arms, the only way a crucifixion victim could breathe is by pushing up on their nail driven feet in order to inhale their next breath, while their lashed back is being rubbed against splintered wood. You would know if someone had died already because they would stop lifting themselves up to get a breath. The Roman soldiers often used a death blow by breaking the legs of the victims on the cross to essentially suffocate them. Again, not a pretty picture. In fact the word "excruciating" means "from the cross", and people of that time did not speak of it. It was only for the most vile of criminals.
