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Franco Salamon,
Franco Salamon,
Willem Dafoe,
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Martin Scorsese,
Martin Scorsese
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: 
: Criterion
: Drama, Criterion Collection
: 163 min.
: English
: English
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Willem Dafoe plays Jesus Christ in this extraordinarily controversial adaptation of Nikos Kazantzaki's novel. The film depicts a sometimes reluctant, self-doubting Jesus, gradually coming to accept His divinity and the inexorability of His ultimate fate. The much-maligned sex scene with Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey) occurs as an hallucination experienced by Jesus as he suffers on the cross. This particular sequence was what infuriated the film's most rabid critics, but in fact it is just one of many iconoclastic musings to be found in the film and its source novel. Equally volatile are the intimations that, as a carpenter, Jesus indifferently shaped the crucifixes for other condemned prisoners long before his own fate was sealed, and that Judas (Harvey Keitel) was literally manipulated into betrayal by a Christ whose preoccuption with his own destiny compelled him to "use" others. None of these departures from the normal interpretation of the scriptures are offered as any more than theory; as such, it was accepted as food for thought by the more open-minded clerics and Biblical scholars who recommended the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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| Ambivalence in the highest category
by toddandsteph
October 26, 2006 - 9:36 PM PDT
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| The Last Temptation Of Christ: Speaking of favorite directors, I was pretty curious to see what all the controversy this movie raised was all about. As I expected, it was a group of extreme right Christians raising a hubbub for little to no reason. However, I'm still having a hard time thinking about the film. If I wasn't a Christian, I wouldn't have this problem, and even though this never purports itself as fact or anything like that, I still have trouble approaching the subject matter of a fictional Christ. However, there are facets of this Christ (played with a master's touch by Willem Dafoe) that I imagine are in the Christ described in the Gospels. Again though, I think that the novel and the film would have benefitted by not having the Gospel bent around it. The Judas in the film is thematically interesting, but I see no reason why he couldn't be thematically interesting while still adhering to the continuity based in the Gospels. Of course, I'm looking at the movie in the wrong way again. I guess my main problem lies in the fact that I'd love to see this vision put into the context of the Gospels, and this movie isn't about that. As a testament to the division of man and spirit, the film is flawless. However, by taking a character out of the Gospels and placing him in a fictional world, I can't help but feel that the use of this character is inappropriate in making such a point. Like I said, I think briding this interpretation of Christ and integrating the Gospels would have been the preferable choice, but that doesn't stop the film from being interesting, well-made, and deep. It just keeps it from being a more complete work. Sorry for how muddled this review is, but I saw the film two nights ago and still haven't quite figured out how I feel about it all. **** out've ***** |
| The most human picture of Christ
by larbeck
November 6, 2003 - 4:54 PM PST
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3 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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| The Moral "Majority" almost won. Production on this film began in 1983 but the rabid fundamentalists raised hell and Paramount was spineless and cancelled it. So, Scorsese convinced Universal to pick it up later and signed on to do it with half of the original budget, adding a disclaimer for the braindead to remind them this is a work of fiction, based on a work of fiction and was never intended to be scripture (I love the commentary track where I learn all of this!). But it *is* a masterpiece, a breakthrough films about Christ in that it so the most human picture of Christ I have ever seen. The language is plain and the language of the common man. Jesus with all of his doubts and fears is shown, and Judas is cast as his best friend, the best kind of friend who will let you know when you are messing up. Willem Dafoe and Harvey Keitel both give a great, great performances and Peter Gabriel's score is a treat. And guess what the apostles call Christ? "RABBI"! It makes so much sense but you never heard THAT at my Baptist Sunday School when I was growing up. A million little touches like that make it so special. I was so proud to cross the picket line of the braindead, judgemental, anti-Christians to see this film! |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.34)
301 Votes
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| Successful Adaptations |
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| One usually expects the book to be better than the movie, but here are some examples that -- with the right screenwriter -- a film can be a creative companion piece to the original work. |
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