Movie-A-Day #204: The Last Temptation of Christ

[Chaplin]

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The Last Temptation of Christ

Cast
Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Harry Dean Stanton, David Bowie, Verna Bloom

Synopsis
At last, Martin Scorsese’s most personal masterpiece can be seen outside of the controversy it engendered, and be seen for what it is: a l5-year labor of love. Nikos Kazantzakis’ landmark novel comes to breathtaking life in this moving and spiritual film. The all-star cast includes Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Harry Dean Stanton, David Bowie, and Willem Dafoe as Jesus.

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An amazing film, but obviously a sore subject with hardcore religious types, especially Catholics, who took offense to Jesus actually having sex onscreen (although it was very tasteful and not exploitative).

In reality, it is certainly an interesting character study about what kind of man Jesus was. Dafoe makes him extremely conflicted, at first denying and rejecting being the Son of God, but then gradually accepting it, ironically thanks to Satan, who continually tries to tempt him to no avail.

The atmosphere is very bleak, but very realistic, looking like an accurate representation of what the Jerusalem area looked like thousands of years ago.

Supporting cast is terrific, although it takes a few minutes to get over the fact that Judas speaks in a New York accent (although to his credit, Harvey Keitel does a terrific job in the role). All the stories from the Bible are there (turning water to wine, the resurrection of Lazarus, John the Baptist, the Last Supper), but the film asks the question: was Jesus tempted to NOT sacrifice himself? In the end, of course, he isn't tempted, so the conflicts regarding this film really don't have a lot of merit because in the end, the audience can understand just what kind of sacrifice he made for his personal being, which had never been touched upon in the past.

Highly recommended, even for people that might not agree with it.

 

[Pariah]

I really, really liked this movie. I was thinking of doing it myself when my week came along.

 

[Mulli]

I liked this a lot more than some of Martin Scorsese's other "personal masterpieces."

 

[Chaplin]

Trivia

* According to director Martin Scorsese, the last shot was *not* intentional. The camera used to film this scene was faulty and light leaked in onto the the film, causing a white-out at the exact point in the scene at which Jesus expires, and this was not discovered until the film was processed. Serindipity or divine intervention, take your pick.

* Some historians claim Pontius Pilate was born in Scotland, where his father was posted as a Roman Centurion guard. On knowing this, Scottish comedian Billy Connolly tried to convince David Bowie to play Pontius Pilate "as a Scotsman." (Bowie did not.)

* Willem Dafoe could not see for three days because he got too many eye drops to dilate the pupils of his eyes in bright sunlight to achieve a superhuman effect.

* The Jews have American accents while the Romans have British accents.

* The voice of Satan was provided by the late Leo Marks, who wrote the screenplay for the Michael Powell classic Peeping Tom (1960). Martin Scorsese has acknowledged this film to be a major influence on his work.

* As of February 2001, this movie still can't be seen legally in Chile because of a Supreme Court rule says so. That rule was imposed under Chilean Catholic Church pressure. If you try to import a DVD or a VHS, it is kept in customs.

* In the scene where Jesus is in the temple and Roman soldiers are coming after him in what appears to be all directions, it is the same five soldiers that are used in each shot. This was to save money as the film had a small budget.

* Director Martin Scorsese first read Nikos Kazantzakis's novel "The Last Temptation of Christ" after being given a copy by actress Barbara Hershey while he was directing her in Boxcar Bertha (1972), his first feature film, in 1972. When she read in a trade paper many years later that Scorsese was finally getting the opportunity to direct a film adaptation, she begged him to let her play the role of Mary Magdalene. To make sure she didn't feel that he was giving her the part as a favor for having recommended the book, he made her audition.

* The filmmakers were given such a paltry budget for their controversial project that many economies had to be improvised. For example, actress Barbara Hershey, playing the role of Mary Magdalene, had to continually re-apply her own mendhi tattoos (which kept streaking in the desert heat) because there were not enough make-up artists to service everyone.

* In previous attempts (by Scorsese) to film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) both Robert De Niro and Aidan Quinn, respectively, were cast to play Jesus.

* Universal Pictures agreed to produce the film if Scorsese then did a commercial film. That was Cape Fear (1991).

* As of January 2002 the film cannot be shown on public television in Bulgaria. The National Television had scheduled it for showing but the Bulgarian Orthodox Church managed to get a forbidding order and the Council of Electronic Media banned it.

* When Martin Scorsese was planning the movie circa 1983-84, he cast Sting as Pontius Pilate.

* The television premiere of the film on Channel 4 in the mid nineties used to hold the record for receiving the most complaints (1,554) about a broadcast on British television. That record was eclipsed by BBC2's broadcast of "Jerry Springer - The Opera" on 8 January 2005, which drew more than 50,000 complaints, many of which were submitted by Christians before the broadcast, offended by what they considered the blasphemous portrayal of Jesus in the programme.

* According to David Carradine in a 2003 Entertainment Weekly interview, in 1972 when Martin Scorsese first got the book from Barbara Hershey and thought of making it into a movie, Carradine was the person considered to play Jesus.

* The film attracted controversy not only in the United States, but also internationally due to the frontal nudity (especially from Jesus) in the crucifixion scenes, and the fact that Jesus had a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene.

 

[Bada0Bing]

In reality, it is certainly an interesting character study about what kind of man Jesus was. Dafoe makes him extremely conflicted, at first denying and rejecting being the Son of God, but then gradually accepting it, ironically thanks to Satan, who continually tries to tempt him to no avail.

Role of a lifetime for Dafoe, although he has been excellent in many other films as well.

I always thought this film was older than 1988. It even seemed older when I was watching it.