The Last Temptation of Christ is an invented tale based on the biblical story of Jesus. The film explores the human emotions that Jesus may have experienced throughout his journey—doubt, pain, anger, sadness—and portrays Jesus as constantly toiling with his call to greatness while struggling with human desires. Act 1 shows an aimless and doubtful Jesus workshopping a message of unconditional love and setting out to spread the good word. The middle of the film is sort of a “greatest hits” of his well known teachings and miracles. At the end of the film [SPOILERS], Jesus is being crucified and, while tortured on the cross, is conned into believing his sacrifice is complete and his reward is the normal life he’s desired. Jesus must come to terms with this fallacy and repent for his own sins before resuming his role as the savior of mankind.
While I didn’t love this film (let’s face it—I am not in the primary demo for this story...who is?...more on that later), this film was certainly more interesting then the religious epics of old (Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, etc). Willem Dafoe’s portrayal of Jesus was humanizing and made him extremely accessible to someone like me. At a time in my life when the world feels like a hypocritical ball of agony, Scorsese constructed a biblical world much the same. It helped me understand the ways that Jesus’s teachings were applicable then and why so many cling to them today. But ultimately, a Jesus character study didn’t hold my interest. I’m not sure who this film is for—if you’re devout, you’re likely offended by this portrayal. If you are not, you don’t understand the built-in weight of some of Jesus’s choices, or his sacrifice. But hey, a film that occasionally deliberates on the nature of love while Willem Dafoe acts his ass off can’t be all bad.