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All Movie Info
Starring:
Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Harry Dean Stanton, Andre Gregory, David Bowie, Verna Bloom, Juliette Caton, John Lurie, Roberts Blossom, Irvin Kershner, Barry Miller, Tomas Arana, Nehemiah Persoff, Paul Herman, Illeana Douglas, Illeana Douglas
Directed By:
Martin Scorsese
Written By:
Paul Schrader
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The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
June 18th, 2008
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'The Last Temptation of Christ' is such a profoundly spiritual film that I often wonder why Christian bigots (notably the Catholic Defense League) went to such great lengths to condemn it, even though it was made by Martin Scorsese at a moment in his life when he had rediscovered his Catholicism and renounced alcohol. This movie is not based on the Gospels, but rather on a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, even though it follows the Gospels rather closely, showing Jesus (Willem Dafoe) as a carpenter in Nazareth, depicting his meeting with John the Baptist, gathering his disciples, and giving sermons, earning the enmity of Jewish leaders, because he challenges the established dogma. His crucifixion is as harrowingly presented here as in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, though there is less gore. The resurrection of Lazarus, the casting out of demons, healing the blind, turning water to wine, all of these events are portrayed with striking scriptural accuracy, along with the Last Supper and Judas' betrayal of Jesus to Roman soldiers, and Peter's denial of him. What is so controversial about this film is in the way it has Jesus expressing doubts about himself and his destiny, he questions whether he is the Messiah, doesn't always preach about peace and love, is sometimes inarticulate and selfish; it is not until adulthood that he really begins to understand that he is on a mission from God, and realizes that he must die for the sake of the world. Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader thus meditate on Jesus' mortality, and characterize him as a flawed human being, while still emphasizing his exceptionalism.
The church tells us that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, but has none of the qualities of a human; he is supposed to be pure and infallible, which is why the doctrine of virgin birth is so important. Jesus, of course, could not have simply been the product of regular biological reproduction. His birth had to be special. But his birth is not covered here; this is not a nativity story. We meet him when he is most likely in his mid-to-late 20s, working as a carpenter, making crosses for the Romans, who then use them to crucify other Jews. Jesus is seen as a traitor to his people, most significantly by Judas (Harvey Keitel), who dismisses Jesus as a cowardly collaborator, while he is involved in active resistance to Roman rule. Jesus has a close relationship with Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey), a prostitute whom he eventually saves from being stoned to death, and she joins him as an apostle of sorts. One of the lost gospels mentioned by Christian historian Bart Ehrman is named after Mary Magdalene; its account of Jesus shows him confiding in her and telling her things he does not reveal to any of his male followers. Jesus obviously respected women enough to invest them with power and authority, something Catholics, Jews, and Muslims do not do even today. Yes, there is a scene where Jesus has sex with Mary Magdalene, marries her and has children with her, but this is all an illusion used by Satan (in the form of a little girl) to try and persuade Jesus that he is not the Messiah, and that he should strive to live a life as an ordinary man, and die of old age many decades later. This is what the title refers to, one last trick by the Devil after he failed to deceive Jesus in the desert.
Knowing this, it is painfully obvious that the film's Christian opponents never actually bothered to watch the film, given what they said about its representations of Jesus. The piety and emotionality of this film is often overwhelming. Dafoe is magnificent as Jesus, and proves that he is arguably the best actor ever to take the role. Harvey Keitel is brilliant as Judas, who at one point is sent to kill Jesus, and instead becomes his first convert. This Judas is prone to anger with and disapproval of Jesus; he does not betray Jesus willingly, he does so because Jesus asks him to, this is the function God has apparently envisioned for Judas. The oddest bit of casting is David Bowie as Pontius Pilate, who is not morally conflicted at all, nor does he exactly think that Jesus is innocent. On the contrary, he thinks that Jesus intends to topple the Roman Empire, or lead a revolt against Rome, which Jesus' teachings seem to imply. Pilate and Jesus have a brief, but stimulating conversation that is swiftly followed by Jesus' achingly brutal execution. Jesus is rude to his mother, Mary, on the one occasion he happens to meet her, and as for his conflict with the Jews, the prominent rabbis believe Jesus is mad, a magician, blasphemer, and charlatan. He tells them the laws of Abraham are wrong, that new laws are forthcoming, that God is not exclusive to the Israelites, which shocks and upsets them. Yet, he does say that he is the son of God, the Messiah, and dozens of others before him had made similar claims, and multitudes afterwards, and anyone who says such things is delusional, whether David Koresh, Jim Jones, or any other infamous cultist.
'The Last Temptation of Christ' is a feast for the senses, with one of the most authentic renditions of a biblical universe ever created. The Peter Gabriel music is fantastic. The cinematography by Michael Ballhaus is sublimely evocative. The film is also a triumph of production and costume design, as well as art direction. I should also mention Harry Dean Stanton as Paul, first introduced as Saul before he (literally) saw the light. This ranks as one of my favorite Jesus flicks, it is definitely the boldest and most provocative, for Jesus biopics, I prefer the epic Jesus of Nazareth from Franco Zeffirelli and I also like the stark Gospel According to St. Matthew, from Pier Pablo Pasolini. Interestingly, Zeffirelli is a homosexual and Pasolini was an atheist and Communist.
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 | Bobby B
Jun 23, 2008 3:03 PM
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| Thanks for the heads up. I've never seen the Pasolini film but I will now. |
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