As an exhausted, dying Jesus hangs on the cross and rejects one last elaborate temptation to renounce his role as the Son of God, I have never been more moved by a motion picture.
Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” created major controversy when it played theaters in the fall of 1988, primarily from right-wing, fundamentalist religious fanatics who missed the entire point of the film.
Led by the Rev. Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association, opponents objected to several scenes – including the film’s climax in which Jesus is tempted by Satan who appears in the form of a beautiful young girl.
In that sequence, Jesus sees what life would be like if he denied his role as Savior. He marries, has children and grows old. When Jesus rejects Satan, accepts his destiny and willingly dies on the cross to save us, Scorsese movie packs powerful jolt.
I crossed a picket line and braved nasty, mean-spirited insults from a group of fundamentalists who protested the film outside the Prytania Theater in Uptown New Orleans in October 1988, where “Last Temptation” played an exclusive New Orleans engagement. These folks never saw the film or even read the script.
I’m all for Freedom of Speech. I’m a former journalist who strongly believes in the right of people to express their thoughts and opinions. I don’t, however, have any respect for people who complain about a film without knowing the facts, without reading the entire screenplay and without watching the complete movie. Yet, that’s what Scorsese’s film was up against.
Thankfully, efforts to harm “The Last Temptation of Christ” failed.
JESUS BAPTIZED BY JOHN THE BAPTIST
“Last Temptation,” based on the book by author Nikos Kazantzakis, is clearly a fictional story. Scorsese opens the movie with text clearly stating that “Last Temptation” is not based on the Gospels.
Despite that, Scorsese’s movie is a labor of love – a film that reinterprets familiar stories of the Gospels and depicts a Jesus to whom anyone can relate. “Last Temptation” doesn’t flaunt its faith like big-budget, grandiose Hollywood religious epics. Instead, the film offers a calm, contemplative look at what faith, devotion and love means.
Willem Dafoe, in his finest screen role, brings a rich humanity to Jesus. Dafoe is warm and caring – and completely believable as his destiny becomes ever more clear to him and his disciples. He depicts a Jesus who initially is confused by conflicting emotions and feelings as he struggles to accept his humanity and divinity.
Working from a small budget, Scorsese eschewed lavish showy special effects and shot “Last Temptation” on location in Morocco. Rather than a traditional symphonic score, Scorsese enlisted songwriter Peter Gabriel to compose the music using authentic ethnic music as his source.
Everything meshes together for an incredible experience, one that had me re-examine my beliefs and draw me closer to my own Catholic faith.
SCENE FROM THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST
Even during the controversial final scenes that fueled protests, Scorsese demonstrates great, tasteful restraint. We see a married Jesus having intimate relations in the distance in a scene that is clearly distinguished in the film as a temptation by Satan, fantasy. This sequence is not sacrilegious or blasphemous. Scorsese is making an important point that is a fundamental part of Christianity: Jesus was strong enough to overcome one last temptation and fulfill his role.
When I watch the film – and I have seen it several times – and see Jesus reject Satan, hang on the cross in agony, look up to the sky and say “It is accomplished,” I still feel chills.
Many people have professed their love of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” And while I admire Gibson’s decision to shoot the movie in Aramaic language, I found his film to be overly sadistic and lacking the kind of personal warmth central to “Last Temptation.”
Gibson seemed to relish scene after scene after scene of violence. I just couldn’t take it. While I realize Jesus suffered, I just couldn’t take the nonstop, numbing violence of Gibson’s film. It wasn’t nearly as emotionally involving or as spiritually moving as “The Last Temptation of Christ.”
“The Last Temptation of Christ” is available to purchase or rent on DVD. The Criterion Collection has issued an impressive collector’s edition on DVD, one I highly recommend. You can click here to purchase the DVD from Amazon.com. You also can stream the film to your computer or TV through Netflix.
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