La Dernière Tentation du Christ

I must state before I talk about the movie that I have been a Christian for the last five years. I live my life to be Christlike, as well as I do believe with all of my heart in the story of the gospels.

I must say, of all of the variations I've heard telling the story of Jesus Christ, through seven years of presbyterian school and nineteen years of catholic upbringing, this movie by far offers the most compelling, the most accessible, and is the only one that really makes Jesus out to what I believe him to be.

Supposedly Jesus was the Son of God and supposedly Jesus was a human. So what is wrong with him being tempted as every man is? There is a huge difference between being tempted and actually committing the sin. The miracle of Jesus is that he did not sin. He did not succumb to the carnal desires that all men must invariably do. Yet his struggle to resist temptation as well as find out who He really was makes him all the more human and the story of Christ so much more inspiring.

Scorsese's vision coupled with Willem DaFoe in the best performance of his career capture that struggle and that humanity. And as a result, I've never been more proud to be a Christian.

This is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen! I was amazed with all of the performances. This is certainly one of Martin Scorsese's great accomplishments in his extensive and highly acclaimed carrier. This movie was very important to Scorsese and he would put it off several times because he felt he wasn't ready to do it. I think that the wait was worth it, because this was an outstanding movie.

This is one of those movies that you either really liked, or really didn't like. Most of the people who didn't like this found it to be a mockery of the Gospels and Christ himself. I liked it because it did follow the Bible very closely, it was a fantastic telling of Jesus Christ's last days and his greatest accomplishments, and because the acting was very good.

I thought Willem Defoe was spell binding as Jesus Christ. Some people will say that he wasn't enough like Jesus, but you do have to realize that this is probably the hardest character to play and I think that Defoe did the best job that anyone could have done at playing Christ. Harvey Keitel did an equally excellent job at playing Judas, Jesus's best friend, who eventually betrays Him so the world can be saved. This may be Keitel's best performance (if not, it is one of the three). Barbara Hershey was also a great supporting roll as Mary Magdalene.

This movie is certainly not for everyone. Many people with very strong religious convictions will see this movie as offensive, simply because Christ is portrayed a frightened man who sees his fate as a burdon through 'half' of the film, and I implicate the word 'half' for a reason. For everyone else, I say go rent this, because this is a powerful and magnificent version of the final months of Christ. When you watch this, you just might have to wonder (I know I did), what will be the last temptation of Christ? 10/10

If you want a new perspective on an old story this film is for you. I can see why so many devout christians were upset about this film because it really presents a Jesus that is threatnig to traditional beliefs. If you have read Kazantzakis' novel the intro outlines he true nature of this story. It deal primaraly with the idea of being both human and god and what kind of implications that might have had on Jesus as an individual. Scorsese shows us Jesus' personal stuggle to try and deny his importance as he wants to reced into the life of a normal person. At no time did Scorsese or Kazantzakis claim this story to be anything but fiction, however it does make you wonder about the psyche of "the christ."

Jesus was declared both fully Human as well as Divine at the Council of Chalcedon. So it makes perfect sense that he would not only suffer physically but mentally as well. Why are so many outraged by this depiction rooted in their very own beliefs? Unless of course they never knew what they were in the first place...

As is typical with religious-themed movies, the broo-ha that greeted Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" was completely unnecessary. The controversy all stemmed around the film's last 30 minutes or so, when Jesus imagines what it would be like to skip out on the crucifixion scene and live the life of a normal man. I don't know what everyone got so hot and bothered about -- though I'm no Bible expert, wasn't the whole point of Christ's story that he suffered the same pains and was tempted by the same sins as mankind so that his sacrifice meant something?

Well, whatever. As a movie, "The Last Temptation of Christ" is pretty good, and yet further evidence that though Scorsese is known for gangster movies, he's a quite versatile director. It's probably a little too long, and a tad sluggish, but it's well acted and directed, and well worth watching, whether you're religious or not.

Grade: A-