The Last Temptation of Christ (film)

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The Last Temptation of Christ

Original movie poster
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Produced by Barbara De Fina
Written by Novel:
Nikos Kazantzakis
Screenplay:
Paul Schrader
Starring Willem Dafoe
Harvey Keitel
Barbara Hershey
David Bowie
Harry Dean Stanton
Music by Peter Gabriel
Editing by Thelma Schoonmaker
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) Flag of the United States August 12, 1988
Flag of Chile13 March 2003
Flag of Mexico 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 Christ, 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 being tempted by 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.

Contents

[edit] Background

Martin Scorsese had wanted to make a film version of Jesus' life since childhood. Scorsese optioned the novel The Last Temptation in late 1970s, and he gave it to Paul Schrader to adapt. The Last Temptation was originally to be Scorsese's follow-up to The King of Comedy; production was slated to begin in 1983 for Paramount. The cast included Aidan Quinn as Jesus, David Bowie as Pontius Pilate, and Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene. Management at Paramount and its parent company, Gulf + Western became uneasy due to the ballooning budget for the picture and protest letters received from religious groups. The project went into turnaround and was finally canceled in December 1983. Scorsese went on to make After Hours instead.

In 1986, Universal Pictures became interested in the project. Scorsese offered to shoot the film in 58 days for $7 million, and Universal greenlighted the production. Critic and screenwriter Jay Cocks worked with Scorsese revising Schrader's script. Aidan Quinn passed on the role of Jesus, and Scorsese recast Willem Dafoe in the part. Principal photography began in October 1987. The location shoot in Morocco (a first for Scorsese) was difficult, and the difficulties were compounded by the hurried schedule. "We worked in a state of emergency," Scorsese recalled. Scenes had to be improvised and worked out on the set with little deliberation, leading Scorsese to develop a minimalist aesthetic for the film. Shooting wrapped by Christmas.

The film opened in August 1988.[1]

[edit] Synopsis

Jesus of Nazareth is a carpenter in the Roman-occupied Judea. He is torn between himself as a man and his knowledge that God has a plan for him. His conflict results in self loathing, and he collaborates to construct crosses Romans used to crucify Jewish revolutionaries, an act that brands him a traitor in the eyes of his fellow Israelites.

Judas Iscariot belongs to a nationalistic splinter faction which wishes to revolt against Roman rule. He is sent with orders to kill Jesus for being a collaborator. Judas suspects Jesus is the Messiah, and asks Jesus to lead a revolution against the Romans. Jesus tries to tell Judas that his message is love, that love of mankind is the highest virtue that God wants. Judas joins Jesus in his ministry, but Judas tells Jesus that he will kill him if he strays from revolution.

Jesus also has an undisclosed history with Mary Magdalene, a Jewish prostitute. Mary asks Jesus to stay with her, which Jesus seriously considers before leaving for a monastic community. Jesus later saves Mary from an angry mob which has come to stone her for her prostitution and working on the sabbath. Jesus persuades the crowd to spare her life—instructing "he who is without sin [to] cast the first stone"—and instead preaches to them using many of the parables from the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus develops a following of disciples, but throughout this time he is still uncertain of his role and his status as Messiah. He travels with his disciples to see John the Baptist, who has heard of Jesus' reputation. John baptizes Jesus, and that night the two discuss their differing theologies. John believes that one must first gain freedom from the Romans before the world of God is declared, while Jesus believes that love is more important. Jesus then goes off into the desert to see if God really speaks to him.

While in the desert Jesus is tempted three times by Satan. Jesus resists all these temptations and instead has a vision of himself with an axe chopping down an apple tree. He appears as a vision to his waiting disciples where he rips out his heart and tells them to follow him. With new found courage as the Messiah he proceeds to perform many signs and wonders: giving vision to a blind man, turning water into wine, and raising Lazarus from the dead.

Eventually his ministry reaches Jerusalem where he is enraged by the money changers in the temple and throws them out. The angry Jesus even leads a small army to try and take the temple by force. But instead he halts on the steps and begins bleeding from the hands. He realizes that violence is not the right path, and that he must die in order to bring salvation to mankind. Confiding in Judas he asks his best friend and strongest apostle to turn him in to the palace guards, something that Judas does not want to do. But Jesus implores that this is the only way. A crying Judas acquiesces.

Jesus joins his disciples for the Passover seder—the Last Supper. After the meal, while in the garden of Gethsemane, Judas leads the palace guards to take Jesus away. Pontius Pilate tells Jesus that he must be put to death because he represents a threat against the status quo, the Roman Empire. Jesus is flogged and a crown of thorns is placed on his head. He is lead to Golgotha, where he is crucified.

While on the the cross, Jesus sees and talks to a young girl who appears to be an angel. She tells him that he is not the son of God, not the Messiah, but that God loves him, is pleased with him, and wants him to be happy. She brings him down off the cross and leads him away.

She takes him to be with Mary, and the newly married couple make love. The couple has a child and lives an idyllic life in what looks to be a Northern European forest. But Mary unexpectedly dies, and the sobbing Jesus is told by his angel that all women are "Mary," and thus he is betrothed to Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus. He starts a family with them and lives his life in peace. When he encounters the apostle Paul preaching about the Messiah—that is, about Jesus—Jesus tells Paul that he is not the son of God and that Paul is wasting his time. But Paul tells him that his message is more important than who he really is.

Near the end of his life, Jesus' former disciples visit him on his deathbed. Judas comes last and calls Jesus a traitor. It is revealed that Jesus' supposed angel is in fact Satan, who has managed to tempt him into this life of comfort as a mortal man. Jesus realizes that he must die to bring salvation to mankind. Crawling back through the burning city of Jerusalem, he reaches the site of his crucifixion and begs God to let him fulfill his purpose and to "let [him] be [God's] son."

Jesus is instantly back on the cross. He cries out as he dies, "It is accomplished! It is accomplished."

[edit] The Final Shot

At the very end of the film, before the closing credits, the screen fades into solid white at the point where Jesus dies on the cross. According to director Martin Scorsese, this was unintentional. The camera used in the shooting was damaged and leaked light onto the film. The fade to white wasn't discovered until after the film was processed. [1]

[edit] Cast

[edit] Controversial content

Jesus (Willem Dafoe) is given a vision of himself not having to die on the cross and instead marrying Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey).
Jesus (Willem Dafoe) is given a vision of himself not having to die on the cross and instead marrying Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey).

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 is depicted as marrying Mary Magdalene instead of dying on the cross. A brief scene of the married couple making love is shown in the film, which sparked the anger of many protesters.

The rationale behind this scene is that it represents Satan's 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, angelic child, Satan deceptively brings Christ down from the cross and gives him the life he has desired, telling him he is in fact not the Messiah, and doesn't have to die. Under Satan’s sham, Jesus marries and raises a family. However, as he is nearing the end of his envisioned 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. 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, kissing other men on the lips, 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 for several years.[2]

[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 fulfill 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, especially in what he considers its portrayal of Judas Iscariot as braver and wiser than Jesus.

On Rotten Tomatoes.com, the film rating website, the picture had reached a rating of 80%, which an average rating of 7.2 out of 10 by August 2007 [2].

[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.

  1. ^ Kelly, M. (1991). Martin Scorsese: A Journey. New York, Thunder's Mouth Press.
  2. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/last_temptation_of_christ/

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Martin Scorsese
1960s What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963)  • It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964)  • The Big Shave (1967)  • Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)
1970s Street Scenes (1970)  • Boxcar Bertha (1972)  • Mean Streets (1973)  • Italianamerican (1974)  • Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)  • Taxi Driver (1976)  • New York, New York (1977)  • American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (1978)  • The Last Waltz (1978)
1980s Raging Bull (1980)  • The King of Comedy (1983)  • After Hours (1985)  • The Color of Money (1986)  • The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)  • New York Stories (1989)
1990s Goodfellas (1990)  • Cape Fear (1991)  • The Age of Innocence (1993)  • Casino (1995)  • Kundun (1997)  • My Voyage to Italy (1999)  • Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
2000s Gangs of New York (2002)  • The Blues (2003) • The Aviator (2004)  • No Direction Home (2005)  • The Departed (2006)  • Shine a Light (2008)  • Silence (2008)
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