The Last Temptation of Christ - Criterion Collection | Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel

The Last Temptation of Christ - Criterion Collection | Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel | A Good Reenactment of a Fictional Book

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The Last Temptatio...

	The Last Temptation of Christ - Criterion Collection Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel Criterion, 2000 average customer review:based on 271 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Scorsese's direction of this film wasn't bad at all.

I viewed this film with an open mind unlike some others. Most cinematic depictions of Christ show a perfect being, a one-dimensional person who is overly self confident and almost egotistical. The Last Temptation of Christ is totally different. It was banned by intolerant Christians who didn't even see it because they have conflicting viewpoints, which is one hell of a paradox. I use to say that Christ was described as a demi-god in the Bible because He is half-man and half-god, but I was told that He is really all-man and all-god. If the latter thesis is correct, than he most have all the perfections of god as well as all the faults of man.

In the movie, Jesus is not perfect. He sins, or at least, He confesses sins. He is haunted by visions and sounds almost to where He goes on the brink of insanity. He is tempted by Satan over and over again into thinking that he is just a man. When He cures a person of blindness, He does not smile; he frowns in pain because for every man he cures, he knows it brings him closer to the cross.

The characterization in this movie is excellent. This script is Schrader's best, although it was rewritten. I thought Willem Defoe was spell binding as Jesus Christ. Some people will say that he wasn't enough like Jesus, but you do have to realize that this is probably the hardest character to play and I think that Defoe did the best job that anyone could have done at playing Christ. Harvey Keitel did an equally excellent job at playing Judas, Jesus' best friend, who eventually betrays Him so the world can be saved. This may be Keitel's best performance (if not, it is one of the three). Barbara Hershey was also a great supporting roll as Mary Magdalene. Scorsese's direction wasn't bad at all. And the movie leads you to the most haunting portrayal of the crucifixion in cinematic history.

This movie is certainly not for everyone. Many people with very strong religious convictions will see this movie as offensive, simply because Christ is portrayed a frightened man who sees his fate as a bourdon through 'half' of the film, and I implicate the word 'half' for a reason. When you watch this, you just might have to wonder (I know I did), what will be the last temptation of Christ? You cannot do the film justice if you don't watch the whole film.

You may be offended throughout the entire film, but it all comes together in the end and all is well. Seriously, I give the film five stars.

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A Good Reenactment of a Fictional Book

The Last Temptation of Christ was first a book published by Nikos Kazantzakis in 1953. Martin Scorsese became quite a fan of the story, and set about to make an accurate version of the *book*. Martin clearly states this aim at the beginning of the movie. So it's critical to remember when watching the movie that this is in no way a "reenactment of the Bible". It is clearly a telling of an imaginary story written by Kazantzakis.

That all being said, the story of course involves figures that are central in a religion that millions of people believe in. So it's no surprise that many people get upset when the story changes what happened. It would be like someone growing up loving the Lord of the Rings series - and then seeing a book that has the elven race actually composed of outer space beings tormenting the Middle Earthers for fun. The objection is not only that the twisting is incorrect - but also that those who read the twisted story might then believe it is accurate. For better or for worse, there is certainly a block of people out there that form their opinions of reality based on movies they watch.

So, what is the "twisting" done in The Last Temptation of Christ? The basic story is this. Jesus - Willem Dafoe - is a carpenter who makes crosses and who is tormented by voices. He resists his calling for a while, but finally accepts that he's the son of God. He goes into the desert and is tempted by Satan, but gets through it. His apostles follow him, he's put on the cross, and he's tempted one last time. He's tempted to escape off the cross, settle down with Mary and live a happy life with kids. In the end he resists, dies, and we are saved.

If just this story was put on paper and film, I don't think Christians would be TOO upset. We know from the Bible that Jesus was tempted, we know he overcame those temptations. He wasn't "perfect". He didn't go directly from embryo to crucifixion without any doubt at all. He was human, which is why his sacrifice was so important. He lived as one of us, among us, and being one of us, he died for us. Thus says the Bible. At its core, that is what the movie says.

In fact, the movie says that far more "authentically" than any previous movie. It in essence paved the way for The Passion of the Christ. Up until now, Christ movies involved very sanitized worlds full of blonde haired beauties and charismatic, clean, well groomed men. Scorsese did an incredible job researching exactly how people lived, what they wore, how crucifixion actually looked, and so on. Whatever is "said" during the movie, the environment we see is one of the first that is well done.

You also get a real sense of the agonies and tortures that Christ went through. It wasn't a happy life, once he set on his mission. He was laughed at, scorned, and in the end, truly beaten. Crucifixion was an agonizing death. For believers, those scenes remind you just what Christ went through to help save the rest of us.

OK, so those are the "beneficial" parts of the movie. Let's now look at the "harmful" parts of the movie, in the sense that they lodge inaccurate ideas in the minds of viewers who aren't very good at distinguising movie reenactments of fictional books and actual historical documentaries.

First, a personal pet peeve of mine, they made Mary a prostitute. We've already had the Vatican clear up, officially, that misunderstanding. Mary was NEVER documented as a prostitute. The correlation was a mistake made by a single pope many centuries ago. The official declaration that Mary was not a prostitute was in 1969, after the book was written but before the movie was made. So maybe Martin felt he had to keep true to the book even though it was perpetuating a harmful myth. The scenes involving Mary seem to have been sensationalized a bit, too, and not very historically accurate.

Next, let's all agree first that the whole last third of the movie is in fact a DREAM SEQUENCE - it's when Jesus is being tempted by Satan to abandon his death. It's not real, it's a dream. Satan is notorious for coming up with wild temptations and this one is no exception. In it, Jesus first sleeps with Mary. She promptly dies. So Jesus hooks up with Mary, Lazarus' sister. Then he also sleeps with that Mary's sister! Each time, Satan (in the guise of an innocent, angelic girl) tells Jesus "Don't worry, all women are the same, so you're just loving Mary over and over again here".

My issue here isn't the generic thought that Jesus was tempted with sex. Remember, we know Jesus was tempted many times. Undoubtedly along with power, wealth, etc. he was tempted with women. It's a standard temptation. That being said, I didn't see Jesus "resisting" that temptation very hard!! It almost came across as the Star Trek episode where Captain Picard "lives" an entire life with an alien race, marrying, having kids, and reaching old age, all in a sort of dream sequence. Captain Picard resisted at first, trying to get back to his ship. Jesus didn't resist at all! He went quite willingly with the girl, and was *furious* when Mary died. But then the girl says "don't worry, go sleep with Mary #2" and Jesus says "Oh, ok!". Then when happily partnered with Mary #2 he gets a "come hither" from the sister, he barely blinks before going off with her. He reaches old age and is going to die happily. It's only when Judas storms in, angry at Jesus for abandoning them, and pointing out that the "guardian angel" is actually Satan, that Jesus decides he might as well die on the cross. Heck, he's led his good life, had lots of kids, had 3 women, and is going to die anyway. Why not die on the cross.

So my issue here is that Jesus was offered the long life with wife and child. He could have looked at that life seriously, and then said, "No, I will not take that path, I will give up my life now, willingly." Instead he DID take that path - he didn't know this was a dream at the time, remember - and he lived it ALL. He got his snuggly nights, his long days with his kids, his wine, his affairs, his slow path into old age. And even then he was happy. It was only Judas' appearance and anger that finally made him choose to spend his final "4 hours" on the cross.

So I really don't see Jesus as having resisted the last temptation. In a way he got his cake and ate it too. Not only did he eat it (i.e. have wife and child) but he went a bit wild there. If he'd been presented with an image of Mary as his wife while sitting in the circle-of-torment, had to watch her fall in love with another man, go off and have kids and be very happy, that would have been a temptation to resist. He could have been tormented and teetering on the edge of abandoning his messiah life. But to have him on the cross and choose TO marry her, to sleep around and have lots of kids and have a long life - even threatening to his apostles that he'd expose them for frauds because he was still alive - didn't seem like he resisted at all.

There are other random nits to pick in the movie, if you seek for them. Some of the accents were a bit odd, for example. But I really find those balanced out by some quite good performances. David Bowie as Pilate really did well, showing that he is trying to run his area efficiently and is frustrated by the locals who just won't keep calm. I also liked the portrayal of Judas as a loyal member of the troupe who is well trusted by Jesus and who "betrays" Jesus with his blessing. Remember, most Christians believe Jesus *had* to die for us all to be saved. Jesus knew he'd die, and he accepted it. It makes sense that he talked to Judas about this. It was Judas' role to perform that action, a necessary role.

In general, I think it's a valuable movie for anybody to watch, if they wish to learn more about religion. Yes, it's important to watch it and to know it's a reenactment of a fictional book. It's also important, during the dream sequence, to remember it is NOT REAL in any sense at all. It's a dream, a temptation. And finally, it's important to compare this movie to other sources, to get a sense of what parts are accurate and how they fit into the known story of the Biblical times. If you're not religious, it helps you understand more where religious people are "coming from" on some of these issues. If you are religious, there are certainly enough scenes in here (the crucifixion scene, for example) that are quite moving.

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