Summary
An alternate telling of the life of Christ as he battles internally and externally with his destined role, his personal desire, and the dichotomy between soul and body.
Context
I don’t know why I waited so long to see this film. I guess the attitude from growing up amongst fundamentalist Christians still stuck in my brain. “‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ is a blasphemous disgusting film,” I can almost hear my teacher’s, deacon’s, and pastor’s opinions as I would have overheard them.
I am no fundamentalist anymore but there are certain films which I just never got around to or never really thought about once I threw off some of my old preconceptions about them. I loved Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” and since we wanted to do a deep dive into some of his films, I figured now was the time to delve into the Jesus movie that I was warned about as a child.
The Film
Wow! I really loved this movie. Of course I understand why many Christians look at it and see nothing but blasphemy but I can’t help feeling that they are totally missing the point of this film. I’ve never really understood why people get all bent out of shape when a movie doesn’t adhere to historical fact, a particular theory of events, or viewpoint other than the predominant one.
This film never claims to be a gospel account. In fact it claims the opposite, that it is fictionalized. It’s apparent right from the beginning that there is no intention on the part of the director to adhere to any sort of biblical narrative or interpretation. Instead, Scorsese is using a well known story, events, and persons to explore ideas which he finds interesting. Of all the criticisms I found of this film, this one has to be the weakest.
So, now that that is out of the way, let’s get into the good about this movie.
First off, Dafoe (“The Lighthouse”). His performance as Jesus is absolutely phenomenal. The humanity he brings to the role is thick and layered on. His fears aren’t just moments of questioning if God really wants him to do something and then, oh, he does, OK. His fears are complex and changing as his situation changes and the fears never fully go away. His frustration at God for giving him a calling which he can’t explain to people fully or prove to them when they ask. The way he slyly does a miracle and just nods across the room at the one person who realizes it is all a side of Jesus that I had never seen portrayed before.
One of the reasons that Scorsese is so good at expounding faith concepts is that he is genuinely interest in Christ’s humanity. Many Christians tend to look at the hypostatic union (Christ is fully God and fully Human) and sort of shorthand it to Christ is human in that he has a body but in every other way he is God. It diminishes his humanity and in many ways makes him unrelatable to us. Scorsese goes the other way, delving so deep into Christ’s humanity that the Deity of Jesus seems to be the background. Neither for these approaches is where I am personally at but seeing this film definitely had me considering what some of my basic assumptions about Christ and his experience as a human must have been like.
Honestly, if not for the nudity, I would recommend this movie to almost any Christian. Seeing Christ acting so human makes it easy to put yourself in that place and wonder what we would do if it was our task to die for the world. I saw myself in his relationship with Mary Magdalene. I saw myself in his fear of death. I saw myself in his want to run away and live in seclusion.
Perhaps that is the real achievement of the film. By allowing the audience to connect so completely with the character of Jesus it highlights the disconnect that there is between who I am as a human and what my expectations of holiness or God are. I see the struggle to defeat the passions of the body for the sake of the spirit, to lay down my life for others. The challenge to be everything that God has and wants for me is always a hard one. It confronts us everyday and many times gets put on the back burner while we go on with the rest of our lives. A film like this forces a confrontation between the warring sides of ourselves and gives us room to meditate upon the task from a perspective we may not have considered before.
I found this film to be extremely meaningful and soul provoking but not in the sense that it pushed me to a protest line to lament the creation of such an abomination.
No. This film had me on my knees in prayer the next morning for the first time in a week. This film had me talking to God during the day, again. This film pulled me out of my everyday formula and into the presence of God.
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