[This review is posted here because it *is* a review of the film. While it does cover a lot of the controversy regarding THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, it does it in the context of the film itself. Opposing reviews are, of course, welcome (Siskel and Ebert both panned the film, for example), but they must be reviews and based on the author's opinion of the film after viewing it him/herself. -Moderator]
THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST
A film review by Keith Doyle
Copyright 1988 Keith Doyle
Well, due to all the controversy surrounding THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, I went to see just what the furor was about on opening Friday night.
I arrived at the CinePlex theatres in Century City a little after 8:00 hoping that perhaps the 9:00 show wasn't yet sold out. Only show for which they still had tickets: 12:00 midnight. Okay, I didn't have much else to do, so I bought a ticket for midnight.
In the meantime I wandered around checking out the protest activity. It appeared that at any given time there was about 1/3 part protesters and 2/3 moviegoers outside the theatre, so there was no shortage of activity, hundreds of people milling around, etc.
During the entire time waiting around moviegoers were subjected to quite a bit of entertainment in the form of lots of imaginative protest signs, "Holy Word, not Hollywood," "The Greatest Story Ever Distorted," "Don't Rewrite His-Story," etc. About half were preprinted and the other half were homemade. Included were a very few protesters with signs for the other side, all handmade. I thanked a couple of those for getting out and standing up for Marty's rights to make such a movie.
There was one identifiable organized group mixed in with the protesters ranks, the TFP, who seemed to be made up of a very few well-dressed gents with big red sashes and perhaps a few helpers, and had most of the area directly in front of the theatre complex staked out, where their audience was not so much the waiting theatergoers, but the automobile traffic out front. They had a great color flyer entitled "Blasphemy!" and a coupon to send away for more flyers, or just send money to their cause. They didn't stick it out as long as the more generic protesters; they were gone by the time I got in line for the last show, about 10:45. Their statement of "who they are" on the back of their flyer was kind of interesting:
"The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) is a civic and cultural organization. Its doctrinal inspiration is entirely Catholic, and its goal is to preserve our country and Christian civilization from the ideological offensive (revolutionary psychological warfare) promoted incessantly inside all the countries of the West by insidious Communist propaganda."
The bulk of the protesters were there until we went in, (which ended up being close to 1:00 due to protest-induced delays) and no one was around at 4:00 when we got out.
The newsmedia was there for a couple of hours, but didn't seem to be getting much of any use out of the scene, any time the lights went on the protesters immediately crowded around the newscaster and started chanting about Jesus, etc. to the point of drowning out any comments by the newscaster herself. There were lots of "Gimme a J" kind of chants and songs and the like. Turned it into a real E-Ticket ride and kept my long wait for the movie considerably less boring.
At any rate, after the wait, I had no idea what to expect about the movie, and after seeing it, I have to say:
The protesters *completely* missed the boat on this one. I feel if they saw the movie and understood the point that is being made, they'd love this movie. Unfortunately, it's been ruined for them, as I doubt that even if they did see it, their eyes could un-cloud long enough to get the point.
This movie will clearly mean far more to Christians than non-Christians, due to the message it presents. The basis of this movie is that Christ is the Son of God, and it is a basic underlying assumption throughout the entire movie that is not called into question in any way.
This movie asks fundamental questions some of which are the more difficult ones to answer (in my opinion) and answers them in a most effective and Christian manner.
One question could be basically worded, "Why did the Son of God have to be crucified for our sins?"
The technique used to answer this question is basically to propose a scenario whereby Jesus may have had the "choice" to rather than be crucified *for* man, live his life as a normal human man. In this movie, the alternate choice is explored via a dream sequence that occurs while he's on the cross, a dream apparently under control of Satan, where he imagines himself being removed off the cross by an angel, followed by living out his life as a normal man, getting married, having children, etc. Satan tells him that all women are the same, that when Mary Magdalene dies, he can take up with another women and another etc., and it is as if he is married to them all. This Jesus in his dream, falls for Satans line hook like and sinker thinking it is an actual message from God via the angel, until at the end on his deathbed Judas points Satan out for who he/she really is (appeared as a little girl a la Fellini). Ultimately, we come to find out that as the Son of God his living a normal life would be meaningless, selfish, and a complete waste. After all, how could a Son of God just live a normal life? It would only make sense if it was special in some way, and having him die for us was that way. So in the movie, he wakes out of the dream, and realizes his true destiny.
Now in order to present a scenario where Christ has the "choice" to live as a man and be plausible that he might make that wrong choice (so we can evaluate the potential consequences along with the Jesus in this movie) Scorsese/Kazantzakis has decided to make him unsure of his true destiny, and doubts himself. How else could the scenario of him following plan B instead of plan A be plausible?
In a sense this movie explores a "what if" scenario in a parallel universe.
Other points:
1. At the very beginning of this movie, there is a disclaimer that the Jesus depicted in the film is not based on the Jesus of the Gospels, but on a novel.
2. The movie is very modern and stylistic, virtually surreal. A great soundtrack by Peter Gabriel.
3. The slight amount of nudity is hardly what I would call "gratuitous", anyone who is titillated by this movie would have to be exceedingly repressed (hmmm...). I think a statement about it found in TIME magazine just about says it: "The sex scene (in which Mary Magdalene entertains some customers) exposes a strong womans degradation more than it does her flesh." Scorsese is using modern film techniques, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST is not Disney-watered-down by any means.
4. The first 15 minutes could easily be misinterpreted. Until you get to the end of the movie and understand what the point of it all is, it isn't hard to see how many people could misinterpret the apparently "wimpy" Jesus depicted here, and the reasons why he would even visit Mary Magdalene's "brothel." But after seeing the entire movie and I look back on it, it is necessary to the plot to establish the fact that Jesus and Mary Magdalene have the potential to be "mates" and establishes effectively what relationship they do have during the course of the movie.
5. The protesters conjured up more "blasphemous" concepts via their protestations than the movie ever did. In the sideshow atmosphere they created, I began to envision the movie deserved carnival barkers out front screaming "Step right up, inside, Jesus gets the girl!," "Sex with Jesus, right this way, just $6.50," etc. The movie wasn't like that at all. If you don't take Jesus being the Son of God for granted, while you can certainly enjoy the movie you will quickly realize that the movie remains completely within the context of that premise. It is a movie for believers. I expect that the Atheist organization that was also there passing out fliers to the attendees will be a little disappointed when they actually see the movie and find that it doesn't live up to the protester's promises.
I think that this movie will appeal to *thinking* Christians, and they will find it one of the best movies about some of the concepts behind Christ ever made. *Nonthinking* (i.e. programmed) Christians will probably never even see it, or if they do, won't be able to separate all of the negative things they've imagined is going on in this movie from what is actually happening on the screen. I find it pretty sad, perhaps just another item on the list of "monuments to the stupidity of a certain subset of Fundamentalist Christians".
Then again, such Christians do get uncomfortable any time anyone has anything at all to say about Christ that isn't under their control. Remember that the Catholic church screens a lot of reading material, etc., because it is over the heads of the flock's ability to keep in context and not misinterpret. I could see how this movie would definitely be in that category, you have to be a thinking person to add up 2+2 in this movie to get the point. The protesters keep coming up with 5. Odds have it that Scorsese aimed a little over the heads of much of the audience, and many people won't understand the point.
Further, perhaps certain Fundamentalist protest groups are actually out looking for something to find fault with (especially in the media) and any "liberal media" product that wasn't strictly overseed by all-knowing church members that makes statements about Jesus, good or bad, is a prime target I'm sure. The fact that they actually agree with the message does not speak well for their powers of comprehension.
I think any Christian who has formed an opinion of this movie based on all the misinformation floating around, doesn't know what he's talking about when he makes comments. Unfortunately, many of these who may actually see the movie will be over prepared to "tune out" any potential blasphemy, go to it with blinders on, and exit with a "see I told you so, I knew what to look for, and I was right it was there" because they have been force-fed what to read in between the lines.
The rest of us should go see it, Christian or not, and with an open mind, as I think you will leave with more insight into the life of *a* Son of God than the protesters will ever have.
Keith Doyle # {ucbvax,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd Contel Business Systems 213-323-8170
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