The Last Temptation of Christ (film)
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| The Last Temptation of Christ | |
|---|---|
 Original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Martin Scorsese |
| Produced by | Barbara De Fina |
| Written by | Nikos Kazantzakis (novel) Paul Schrader |
| Starring | Willem Dafoe Harvey Keitel Barbara Hershey David Bowie Harry Dean Stanton |
| Music by | Peter Gabriel |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  August 12, 1988 13 March 2003 March 12, 2004 |
| Running time | 164 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7,000,000 US (est.) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Last Temptation of Christ is a film adaptation of the controversial 1951 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. Martin Scorsese directed a film based on the book, which was released by Universal Pictures in 1988. It stars Willem Dafoe as Jesus, Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot, and Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene. David Bowie and Harry Dean Stanton also appear as Pontius Pilate and Paul, respectively. The film was shot entirely in Morocco.
Like the novel, the film depicts the life of Jesus Christ, and its central thesis is that Jesus, while free from sin, was still subject to every form of temptation that humans face, including fear, doubt, depression, reluctance, and lust. This results in the book and film depicting Christ imagining himself engaged in sexual activities, a notion that has caused outrage from some Christians. The movie includes a disclaimer explaining that it departs from the commonly-accepted Biblical portrayal of Jesus' life, and that it is not intended to be an exact recreation of the events detailed in the Gospels.
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[edit] Background
Scorsese has been described as a lapsed Catholic; nevertheless, he maintains a traditional Christian faith in Christ.[citation needed] He had wanted to make a film version of Jesus' life for many years. He first attempted to make one in the early 1980s, but the project had to be placed on hold.[citation needed] Finally in 1988, The Last Temptation of Christ was completed and released to theaters.
[edit] Controversial content
The film contains many ideas not present in the Scriptures. The main source of controversy stems from a scene near the end of the movie in which Jesus imagines himself marrying Mary Magdalene instead of dying on the cross. A brief scene of the married couple making love is shown in the film, sparking the anger of many protesters.
The rationale behind this scene is that it represents Satan tempting of Christ with the life of a normal man, free from the burden of being crucified and of being the salvation of mankind. In the guise of a beautiful angel, Satan deceptively brings Christ down from the cross in a dream sequence and gives him the life he has desired, telling him he is in fact not the Messiah. Under Satan’s sham, Jesus marries and raises a family. However, as he is nearing the end of his life, his most devoted disciple, Judas Iscariot, awakens him to the truth of what is happening. As Judas calls him a traitor, Jesus finally realizes he has abandoned his duty to be crucified and to be the salvation of mankind. Seeing that he has been tempted into living a man’s life and dying a peaceful death, Jesus crawls out into the streets of Jerusalem as it burns with the fires of the Jewish Rebellion, and begs God to return him to his crucifixion, finally rejecting Satan’s offering. At that point, he is returned to the cross, awakening from his dream. Jesus has now been tempted as a man, and having survived this temptation utters his dying words, "It is accomplished."
Other controversial ideas include images of Jesus constructing crosses for the Romans, being tormented by the voice of God, and using the divine name in the form "Jehovah".
[edit] Protests
Protests against the movie from religious communities began before the film had even finished production. The studio was expecting a backlash due to the controversies revolving around any media treatment of Christ (see dramatic portrayals of Jesus Christ), but the protests accompanying Last Temptation were unprecedented. Major religious leaders in the United States blasted the film in fiery sermons, and condemned its subject matter as pornographic.[citation needed]
On October 22, 1988, a French Catholic fundamentalist group launched molotov cocktails inside the Parisian Saint Michel movie theater to protest against the film. This terrorist attack injured thirteen people, four of whom were severely burned.[citation needed]
In 1991, Albuquerque high school teacher, Joyce Briscoe, showed the film to gifted history students at La Cueva High School, raising a storm of controversy by parents and local Christian broadcaster KLYT.[citation needed]
In some countries, including Mexico and Chile, the film was not released until a few years ago.[1]
[edit] Critical reception and interpretation
The film has been supported by scholars, film critics, and some religious leaders. In his defense of the movie, noted critic Roger Ebert writes that Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader
- "paid Christ the compliment of taking him and his message seriously, and they have made a film that does not turn him into a garish, emasculated image from a religious postcard. Here he is flesh and blood, struggling, questioning, asking himself and his father which is the right way, and finally, after great suffering, earning the right to say, on the cross, 'It is accomplished.'"
Writers at NNDB.com claim that "Paul Schrader's screenplay and Willem Dafoe's performance made perhaps the most honestly Christlike portrayal of Jesus ever filmed."
In recent years, the film has been cast in a more positive light within the Christian community. Some conservative Christians groups (many of whom initially attacked the film) have reexamined it and found it an acceptable hypothesis on what it might have been like for Christ to be both fully human (subject to all of man's weaknesses) and fully God (perfect and omnipotent).[citation needed] Promise Keepers is the most notable conservative Christian group to recently come out and defend this interpretation of Christ, and acceptance of The Last Temptation of Christ seems to be growing in many Christian communities and organizations.[citation needed]
Some Christian scholars acknowledge that maintaining equilibrium between these two contrasting natures might have been as difficult as The Last Temptation of Christ depicts, and that the notion is even suggested in the Gospel of John when Christ admits, "I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (chapter 6). In the case of Kazantzakis's and Scorsese's Christ, there is a notable difference between Christ's will and the will of his Father; yet driven by his love for mankind and his devotion to his Father, Christ constantly denies his own will in order to fulfil his divine mission as Savior.[citation needed]
However, some Christians, along with people of other faiths, retain a negative view of the film. Conservative film critic Michael Medved (who is Jewish) has an extreme dislike of the film for its biblical inaccuracy (although the film does not claim to be faithful to the Bible), especially in what he considers its portrayal of Judas Iscariot as braver and wiser than Jesus.
[edit] Soundtrack
The film's musical soundtrack was composed by Peter Gabriel and was released on CD with the title Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ. The film's score itself has been widely acclaimed as a landmark in the popularization of world music.[citation needed] Gabriel compiled additional material by various musicians as Passion - Sources.
[edit] Trivia
- The Last Temptation of Christ is one of Kevin Smith's five favorite movies and also Kobi Farhi's favorite film.
- In the movie Donnie Darko there is a cinema showing both The Evil Dead and The Last Temptation of Christ.
- The film Donnie Darko follows a similar pattern to The Last Temptation of Christ. In the end of both films, the protagonist returns in time to an earlier point of the film, where they die and the film ends. Also, Donnie Darko is set in 1988, the year The Last Temptation of Christ was released. It can be seen advertised at a movie theatre earlier in the film.
[edit] External links
- The Last Temptation of Christ at the Internet Movie Database
- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/theater/lasttemptation.html
- http://www.skepticfiles.org/xhate/jesusflm.htm
- The Last Temptation of Christ at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
- Criterion Collection essay by David Ehrenstein
| Films directed by Martin Scorsese |
|---|
| What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? • It's Not Just You, Murray! • The Big Shave • Who's That Knocking at My Door • Street Scenes • Boxcar Bertha • Mean Streets • Italianamerican • Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore • Taxi Driver • New York, New York • American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince • The Last Waltz • Raging Bull • The King of Comedy • After Hours • The Color of Money • The Last Temptation of Christ • New York Stories • Goodfellas • Cape Fear • The Age of Innocence • Casino • Kundun • My Voyage to Italy • Bringing Out the Dead • Gangs of New York • The Aviator • No Direction Home • The Departed |
| Preceded by: Testament of Orpheus |
The Criterion Collection 70 |
Succeeded by: The Magic Flute |
