I finally had the opportunity to watch the film I’d wanted to watch since I was nine years old. I know it sounds odd, but I remember a hullaballoo in my Evangelical circle about The Last Temptation of Christ and how it was so controversial. The ideas presented in the film were to be feared, not explored. After becoming a man, learning more about my faith and the struggles within my own soul, and learning how to make faith something personal and not rudimentary or illogical, Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ couldn’t have been more compelling. Almost twenty years after first feeling the desire to see the film, I finally experienced it last night on the beautiful Criterion Collection rendering and I was nothing short of astonished.
With the Evangelical circle long abandoned in place of a more vivid, living faith in God, I delved into the material of Scorsese’s adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’ book “The Last Temptation of Christ.” Kazantzakis’ book explores the Christ that was ever-present in the Greek philosopher’s heart and mind, sharing the author’s metaphysical concerns and anguish over his faith with a broad audience. These thoughts, many of which are now decidedly mainstream, are not dangerous in terms of dispelling any sort of Christ mythology. These thoughts, rather, are wholesome extensions of a real, moving, engaging faith in God and humanity. Scorsese’s own personal journey to create the film based on Kazantzakis’ work is awe-inspiring.
Martin Scorsese had been wanting to make a film about Christ since his childhood. He optioned the novel by Kazantzakis in the 1970s and handed it over to Paul Schrader for adaptation into a screenplay. The idea was to have The Last Temptation of Christ follow-up The King of Comedy in what would have certainly appeared to be a rather audacious ironic twist. Production was slated to begin in 1983 for Paramount on the film. The management at Paramount became uneasy, however, after various letters from religious groups stormed in and the budgetary concerns bounded way out of control. The picture was cancelled and Scorsese went on to make After Hours. Three years later, Universal Pictures became interested in the project and Scorsese offered to shoot it in reduced time on a reduced budget, clinging to his passion for the material. A deal was struck and casting began.
Willem Dafoe stars as Jesus Christ, the carpenter from Nazareth. The film outlines the struggles of Christ as he is tormented by demons and temptations. The guilt of making crosses for Romans, pity for mankind and the world, and the constant call of God are strong on Christ’s mind throughout the film. Christ sets out to discover what God wants for him and, in the end, must face the greatest temptation designed solely for him: the life of an average human being. As Christ decides, through imagination and allegory, the final decisions of his existence, we are met with fantasy sequences and dream sequences that illustrate how dangerous choices can be and how all are afflicted with these decisions.
The film contains many ideas not present in the Scriptures, which in my view was nothing of interest or note. The Last Temptation of Christ was based on Kazantzakis’ novel, not the Gospels. At the beginning of the Criterion Collection DVD, there is a quote by Kazantzakis and a “disclaimer” telling viewers that the film is not based on the Gospels but rather on this fictional account (whether you view the Gospels as fictional accounts or not is for another blog and another avenue of discussion). One would think that those elements of storytelling would suffice, but alas the controversy raged onward. The main source of contention with religious folks who cannot read or understand film is the idea that Christ faces struggles with these temptations at all and that he chooses, in dream sequence only, to not die on the cross but rather to have the normal life of a man. Oh, heavens!
The idea that Scorsese should use these ideas as allegorical does not seem to matter to “protestors” of this film. The Last Temptation of Christ, dear friends, is not dangerous nor is it, in the least, controversial. It is life-affirming, powerful, incredible film-making from one of the masters of our time. Scorsese’s deeply personal film represents Satan’s temptation of Christ in a way that should be relatable to us all. Christ came to the world as a man, if you subscribe to the Christian idea, to illustrate the life of a normal man in service to God. The ideas presented in Scorsese’s film and Kazantzakis’ piece illustrate this idea more than the inflated “Jesus film” shovelled around by money-grabbing Evangelicals and more than any passion play. This is the struggle and temptation of Christ we’re talking about, not some sideshow involving some God-man hybrid who never suffered a day in his or His life!
No other film, in my view, has gotten the idea of Christ down as much as The Last Temptation of Christ. Scorsese’s masterpiece infiltrates the hearts and minds of the viewers and delivers a compassionate, real, breathing, and functioning Christ. This is not the lump of spiritual flesh as delivered by others; this is the man, Jesus Christ. Dafoe is brilliant as Jesus, pulling and contorting his emotions into the role of a lifetime. Other performers, such as Harvey Keitel and Barbara Hershey, are tremendous as well in this delectable palette of a film. It is a moving, inspiring, touching, powerful, poignant experience from the beginning of the film to the end.
The Last Temptation of Christ should be experienced by all believers and non-believers alike. It presents a uniquely human portrait of one of the most polarizing individuals in human history. Scorsese’s film deserves an even-handed, open-minded look. As protests against the film began before the film was even completed, The Last Temptation of Christ faced an unprecedented backlash. Religious leaders in the United States and Canada lashed out at the film in vitriolic sermons that shook the ground beneath. I know, I was there. In October of 1988, a French Catholic fundamentalist group threw Molotov cocktails inside of a Parisian theatre that was screening the film, injuring thirteen people.
The irony here is that religious leaders and religious scholars have considered Scorsese’s film to be more in tune with the realities of history than Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and most other Christ narratives in film or literature. The Last Temptation of Christ, to steal the words of Roger Ebert, “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.’”
Scorsese’s film is a masterpiece. Now that history has changed in the two decades between the release of this film and now, we can see that times have changed with history. The Last Temptation of Christ now faces acceptance in most religious communities, as the depiction of Christ is considered to be “more accurate than first thought” by those willing to finally see the film. And so it is. Experience Scorsese’s masterpiece for what it is: a brilliant, awe-inspiring film that demonstrates Christ as never before. It is truly amazing.
10/10
Trailer:
