The Last Temptation of Christ - Criterion Collection

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It isn't difficult to imagine why this 1988 retelling of the Crucifixion story was picketed vociferously upon release--this Jesus bears little resemblance to the classical Christ, who was not, upon careful review of the Gospels, ever reported to have had sex with Barbara Hershey. Heavily informed by Gnostic reinterpretations of the Passion, The Last Temptation of Christ (based rather strictly on Nikos Kazantzakis's novel of the same name) is surely worth seeing for the controversy and blasphemous content alone, but it's difficult to find in skittish chain video stores. But the "last temptation" of the title is nothing overtly naughty--rather, it's the seduction of the commonplace; the desire to forgo following a "calling" in exchange for domestic security. Willem Dafoe interprets Jesus as spacy, indecisive, and none too charismatic (though maybe that's just Dafoe himself), but his Sermon on the Mount is radiant with visionary fire; a bit less successful is method actor Harvey Keitel, who gives the internally conflicted Judas a noticeable Brooklyn accent, and doesn't bring much imagination to a role that demands a revisionist's approach. Despite director Martin Scorsese's penchant for stupid camera tricks, much of the desert footage is simply breathtaking, even on small screen. Ultimately, Last Temptation is not much more historically illuminating than Monty Python's Life of Brian, but hey, if it's authenticity you're after, try Gibbon's. --Miles Bethany

Description

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. Criterion is proud to present this cinematic treasure in an exclusive Director Approved special edition.

Customer Reviews:

A Jesus No One Would Follow.......2007-09-03

It should come as no suprise that the man who has made so many films that glamourize gangsters would make a movie about a weak, unattractive, devious Jesus....
The Son of God making crosses for the Romans to crucify his fellow Jews?
GIVE ME A BREAK...and who is the great spiritual influence in the life of Jesus...The greatest villian in the Bible...Judas...
Jesus had to be a strong man..he was a carpenter..he was so strong that after being beaten up he could carry his cross up a hill...Probably could have played linebacker for Lombardi's Packers...He was not the wimp, Defoe portrays him to be..
Jesus has a great sense of humor..Children gathered around him..Children avoid people who don't laugh...While we may laugh AT Defoe, we would never laugh WITH him...
Jesus had to be a great public speaker...not a mumbling fugitive from Actor's studio....
A great movie to show your atheist friends...they will love it!
To see a Bibical Jesus..Get the Gospel According To John ....

Good grief!.......2007-09-03

The idea of the film I have to say is a remarkable one. An examination of Christ as a man, a human being who struggles to come to terms with being granted prophethood. A man who while rejecting this and all that comes with it is compelled to act in acordance with a mission he has been sent with.

Interesting idea and one that would be well worth watching problem is 1. The choice of actors for the film 2. The roles they are given.

With such a film you need a cast who are strong enough to carry it out in its correct historical context this film sadly does not have it. What coems off is not a historical reading of the life of Jesus examining an otherwise overlooked aspect of his life but rather "Jesus goes gangster"

Take the scene where Jesus visits Mary Magdalane in a brothel. After Jesus sits for a while amongst her clients (most of whom seem to be black (as well as the local slaves) more of Scorsese's odd obsession with black people but thats another issue) after they all depart they debate on how he has his calling to dewll in the desert, Mary feels abandoned and they argue. The argument (both language and context) whould be more suited to a 40s Al Capone flick or better still the episode of the Simpsons where he thinks back to his days raising the kids in "Little Italy" The body language, the terminolgy used everything was just so out of place.

Take the scene where Jesus speaks with one of his deciples, the deciple says to him "I will follow you but if you stray this far from the path..... (As he holds his hand up in trademark Gangstar fashon)I'll kill you" Or the scene where he first speaks to the people after saving Mary "He told me stand up and here I am" With arogant head back, eyes half closed, arms streached out looked more like 'King of New York' than 'Jesus the Messiah'

The deciples come together more like 'wise guys' joining a 'crew' than followers of a prophet. There is even a bit of slow motion Resevior Dogs style strut to the camera with music played over!

Why on earth has Scorsese done this? Did he think it would bring Jesus closer to the moder audience? Did he think the protests would be too buisy....well protesting to even bother watching the film and examining weather it was actually a good film or not to criticise its quality rather than its context? Who knows.

The idea behind the film though is exellent. Its almost ironic that someone who is religious would probably get a lot of benefit from the film. The meditation and temptation of Jesus both from within and beyond him. This part of the film is remarkable I only wish the so called 'critics' could have watched this part as it realy shows what sepparated the prophets from the normal man, the need of God and religion and the simplicity of faith.

For the idea of the film I would give it 5 stars if only Scorsese had not destroyed it with this monster of a film!

Wouldn't It Be Nice If People Would Actually See The Movies They Hate?.......2007-08-27

The Last Temptation of Christ has been one of my favorite films ever since I first watched it on VHS years ago. When I saw it, I had no idea it was the controversial, much-hated work that it apparently is, primarily to those who regard Jesus as too sacred a personage to place within a work of fiction that (they've heard) conflicts with their reverent notions of this most famous individual. I've seen this impressive film many times and have had my share of conversations about it, and one universal theme seems to be present: those who have seen this motion picture speak well of it, and those who haven't scorn it. Such is the world, huh?

The Last Temptation of Christ brings Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis' finely-woven novel about the life and works of Jesus to the big screen in this vast, gritty, panoramic tale courtesy of master filmmaker Martin Scorsese. The movie depicts a human world still raw in its youth, and a society seething with resistance to oppression, divided from within, conquered from without, as the Jewish people struggle to maintain their identity in the face of a foreign presence that threatens to stifle them as no invader ever quite has.

In this world lives a simple country man, Jesus of Nazareth, a soul deeply tormented by the conflicting desires that dwell within him. Mirroring his nation, Jesus is one in whom peace is not to be found. Endowed with a sense of purpose, but purpose which mystifies him, the visionary Jesus seeks answers first in an Essene community in the wilderness, later among the outer world, where he preaches and tells parables. Jesus quests to come to know himself and his mission, and in this is aided by his friend and most loyal disciple, the zealot Judas Iscariot, who seeks above all the independence of Judea.

Does Jesus exist, as Judas hopes, to topple the Roman invaders with violence, or is it Jesus' path to serve his destiny through example and holy works? Above all Jesus feels drawn to step away and live his days in the simplicity of normal life, a husband and father whose back is turned on the world and its evils, and it is via this that Satan tempts Christ, even on the cross. Showing Jesus that which he claims might be his should he merely consent to accept it, the Devil offers a last temptation of a wife and family, and lets Jesus behold the future as it could be.

The Last Temptation of Christ is probably the greatest and certainly most cerebral film about Jesus ever shot, and has much to offer anyone who sees it with an open mind.

An underrated, really good movie.......2007-08-01

First off, just to dispose of some stupidities surrounding this film: it isn't a dramatisation of any or all of the Gospels, but of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel 'The Last Temptation'. Criticisms that it doesn't stick to the Bible are therefore irrelevant. Likewise, the Gospels themselves have long been recognised by Biblical scholars as having been written long after the event by people who couldn't possibly have been there at the time, which in turn rules out Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' as being in any way more 'authentic' than the source of this movie. Kazantzakis' novel, like the Gospels themselves, are imaginative reconstructions of dubiously historical events, dubious in that by far the most detailed sources for the life and career of Jesus of Nazareth come from people who followed him years after his death. (Check out your copy of 'The DaVinci Code' for background info on them, or better yet, read them, in the form of not just the New Testament but also the Apocryphal Gospels. The latter have been in print for decades.)

Having said all that, there are very very few movies about Jesus, or that even touch on the story of his life, that are at all watchable. The classic-era Hollywood epics such as 'King of Kings' and 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' are not amongst them. For my money, there are only three movies that are at least kind of about Jesus that are genuinely great. One is Pasolini's 'The Gospel According to Matthew', the only film ever to have been given awards by both the Vatican and the Italian Communist Party, because it effectively conveys the burning intensity of Matthew's take on Jesus. The second is 'Monty Python's Life of Brian', in which Jesus only appears for about thirty seconds in the opening scene, but which brutally and hilariously deconstructs religious hysteria. And the last, so far, is this one, in which Jesus is just a guy who has been visited by God, and who would far rather lay the burden down.

Why religious groups hate this film is a mystery to me. Surely a film that focuses on the extent and painfulness of Jesus' self-sacrifice ought to be a...well, a godsend. But apparently most church groups would rather watch Mel Gibson's witless and historically naive snuff movie, a film accurately characterised by the (firmly Catholic) Kevin Smith as a movie in which people spend two hours kicking the c**p out of the Messiah. The Catholic Scorsese, the ex-Calvinist Schrader and the presumably agnostic Dafoe made, between them, one of the most moving and most painful portrayals of Jesus ever to make celluloid, and all the church could do was bitch about it.

It's not the best movie any of these people have ever made, but it's still brilliant. It almost makes this ex-believer want to go back to the Bible.

Boring.......2007-07-17

First of, let me state that I am not religious in any way, shape or form. I never have been, so I watched this DVD solely out of curiousity, and am rating it purely on its entertainment value. As such, I found it boring and poorly made. First of, none of the actors or actresses looked Middle Eastern, considering this movie and all of its characters are Middle Eastern. Second, some of the accents were horrible; case in point is Harvey Keitel's Judas, who has a Brooklyn accent. Third, the casting of William Dafeo is entirely inappropriate. This movie focuses on Jesus in the time just prior to his crucifixion, so Jesus is in his late 20's. William Dafoe looks 35 - 40 in this movie. Fourth, the soundtrack was poor. Neither dramatic nor engaging, it leant no help to the storyline. Last, the way the movie shows Jesus rising to various occasions was quite disappointing. Consider the scene when Jesus stops the stoning of the prostitute. He comes across as timid, half-hearted, and highly unlikely to carry the force needed to stop a mob. All in all, I consider this the worst movie by Martin Scorsese, and do not recommend anyone to watch it.

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