The Last Temptation of Christ
Director: Martin Scorsese
Year: 1988
The journey of Christ is controversial in nature because of the great number of people who wish to hold the absolute truth when it comes to his life. Scorsese bravely and interestingly takes on an intentionally fictional account (meaning, in this case, based not on the Bible, but rather a book by the same title written by Nikos Kazantsakis in 1955.
When this film came out, it set off an immediate and harsh firestorm in the media, churches and many a workplace water cooler. While the film's first two hours (and it does run two hours and forty minutes, though I didn't have a problem with that) do not convey any particularly new revelations fans of other Christ films (e.g. Jesus of Nazareth, The Messiah, The Greatest Story Ever Told, etc.) won't recognize, the last forty minutes are near shocking. When Christ is upon the crucifix, calling out to God, he is visited by an angel who offers to end his suffering if he accepts that he is not the one true son of God. As the title of the film reflects, he takes the angel up on her offer.
According to Peter Travers, the film cost 6.5 million to make and was shot in Morocco. For both of those reasons, Scorsese had the artistic freedom to tell the story the way he wanted to. Willem Dafoe was excellent as Christ and I was more than a bit surprised to see he wasn't nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. Scorsese did get a nomination for his effort as Director, though the prize ultimately went to Barry Levinson for Rain Man.
Year: 1988
The journey of Christ is controversial in nature because of the great number of people who wish to hold the absolute truth when it comes to his life. Scorsese bravely and interestingly takes on an intentionally fictional account (meaning, in this case, based not on the Bible, but rather a book by the same title written by Nikos Kazantsakis in 1955.
When this film came out, it set off an immediate and harsh firestorm in the media, churches and many a workplace water cooler. While the film's first two hours (and it does run two hours and forty minutes, though I didn't have a problem with that) do not convey any particularly new revelations fans of other Christ films (e.g. Jesus of Nazareth, The Messiah, The Greatest Story Ever Told, etc.) won't recognize, the last forty minutes are near shocking. When Christ is upon the crucifix, calling out to God, he is visited by an angel who offers to end his suffering if he accepts that he is not the one true son of God. As the title of the film reflects, he takes the angel up on her offer.
According to Peter Travers, the film cost 6.5 million to make and was shot in Morocco. For both of those reasons, Scorsese had the artistic freedom to tell the story the way he wanted to. Willem Dafoe was excellent as Christ and I was more than a bit surprised to see he wasn't nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. Scorsese did get a nomination for his effort as Director, though the prize ultimately went to Barry Levinson for Rain Man.
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