The Last Temptation of Christ (film)

Plot

His friend Judas Iscariot is sent to kill him for collaborating with the Romans but suspects Jesus is the Messiah and asks him to lead a war of liberation. Jesus preaches love, and after saving Mary Magdalene from stoning, he acquires disciples. Following baptism by John the Baptist, Jesus goes into the desert to resist temptation. He is nursed by Martha and Mary of Bethany, who encourage him to marry.

After raising Lazarus and clearing the temple, Jesus bleeds from his hands, recognizing he must die on the cross. He instructs Judas to betray him, and after a Passover seder, Judas leads soldiers to arrest Jesus in Gethsemane. Pontius Pilate orders his crucifixion. On the cross, a girl claiming to be his guardian angel tells Jesus he is not the Messiah and brings him down.

He marries Mary Magdalene, then after her death starts a family with Mary and Martha. As an old man, he encounters the apostle Paul preaching about the Messiah; Paul repudiates Jesus, saying even if he did not die on the cross, his message is truth.

Production

Martin Scorsese wanted to film Jesus' life since childhood and read Kazantzakis's novel in 1972 after receiving copies from Barbara Hershey and David Carradine. Paul Schrader wrote a screenplay from 1981 to 1982, which Scorsese and Jay Cocks rewrote over eight months in 1983. Production began at Paramount Pictures in 1983 with a $15–20 million budget, with Aidan Quinn as Jesus and Sting as Pontius Pilate.

Management grew uneasy due to budget increases and protest letters, and the project was canceled in December 1983. Scorsese later revived the film with Universal Studios in 1986, agreeing to shoot in 58 days for $7 million and to direct a future mainstream film for the studio. Willem Dafoe was cast as Jesus after Scorsese saw his performances in To Live and Die in L.A. and Platoon; David Bowie replaced Sting as Pilate.

Reception

The film opened in 123 theaters on August 12, 1988, grossing $401,211 in its opening weekend and $8,373,585 in the United States and Canada, with a worldwide total of $33.8 million. On Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of 103 critics gave positive reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10; the consensus notes languid pacing and tinny dialogue but praises Scorsese's passion. Metacritic gives a score of 80 out of 100. Roger Ebert gave four stars, writing that the film takes Christ and his message seriously.

Gene Siskel said Dafoe draws viewers into the mystery and joy of the holy life. Catholic News Service stated the film fails due to artistic inadequacy rather than anti-religious bias. Halliwell's Film Guide awarded one star, calling it wordy and too long. Alan Jones of Radio Times gave four stars, calling it a challenging essay on Jesus' life, neither blasphemous nor offensive.

Controversy

On October 22, 1988, an Integralist Catholic group set fire to the Saint Michel cinema in Paris while the film was showing, using an incendiary device that injured thirteen people, four severely burned. Roger Ebert wrote that Scorsese received death threats and had to use bodyguards for public appearances. Christian groups organized protests and boycotts over departures from gospel narratives, including a scene of Jesus and Mary Magdalene consummating their marriage.

A protest of 600 people picketed Universal's parent company MCA; one protester dressed as chairman Lew Wasserman and pretended to nail Jesus to a cross. Evangelist Bill Bright offered to buy the film's negative to destroy it. Protests led some theater chains not to screen the film; General Cinemas later apologized. Mother Angelica called it blasphemous ridicule of the Eucharist.

The film was banned or censored in Greece, South Africa, Turkey, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and as of February 2024 remained banned in the Philippines and Singapore. In February 2020, Netflix removed it from its Singapore service at government demand.

Did You Know?

• The film's score by Peter Gabriel, released as Passion, won a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 1990.
• The angel's line 'There's only one woman in the world. One woman with many faces' was meant to alert the audience that the angel is a trick by Satan.