It's a Wonderful Life: Bible Edition!

Here's a bit of trivia you might not know:  While THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST (2004) may be a more faithful adaptation of the particular part of the Jesus story it involves, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST is closer to the spirit of the material.  To those who may not be informed, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST is a film about Jesus of Nazareth that rivals THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST in the category of most controversial films of all time, but while THE PASSION found more of its controversy from without the Christian faith, THE LAST TEMPTATION found most of its own from within.  Directed by Martin Scorcese, considered one of the greatest film directors of our time, and adapted from a likewise extremely controversial book (no, not the Bible) of the same title, by Nikos Kazantzakis, the film was released in 1988 and resulted in fundamentalist Christian rage the world over.  The most infamous incident involved the torching of a Parisian theater using Molotov cocktails and injuring thirteen patrons, including four who sustained severe burns.  Elsewhere, picket-lines stood outside of theaters, mass protests were formed outside the headquarters of MCA (the company which produced the film), some patrons of the film were assaulted outside cinemas and some theater chains refused to show the film out of fear of violent incidents.  It is where the thinking machinations of the Christian denominations of the west becomes confusing and more than a little ironic, for while Mel Gibson's THE PASSION is a testimony of the Christian faith through extreme violence, Scorcese's THE LAST TEMPTATION is a testimony of Christianity through humanity and love.
THE LAST SUMMARY

Willem Dafoe as Jesus

As aforementioned, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST is not actually adapted from the Bible, but instead from the 1953 novel, The Last Temptation of Christ, but it is also very much an adaptation of Martin Scorcese's own feelings about his Catholic upbringing and the related teachings.  More specifically than being a Christianity movie, it is a Catholicism movie, and regardless, it is accessible to all those who have grappled with faith.  Themes of Catholic guilt, redemption, faith and doubt have always been present in Scorcese's work, but in his telling of the Jesus story, he is allowed to take those themes on directly.
The story is a sort of re-imagining, related to the Bible in a similar way that major commercial film franchises are "re-booted", so that it is a kind of "originalized" version of a well-known story.
The film begins with Jesus (Willem Dafoe) working as a carpenter in ancient Judea, under a much-despised Roman occupation, and he is a man tormented by the whisperings of God.  He is reluctant to accept his role as the Messiah, and instead builds crosses the Romans use to crucify Jewish revolutionaries, much to the disdain of his countrymen.  But God is persistent, and Jesus sets out to perform the task God has charged him with, and purges himself of all impurity.  Judas Iscariot (Harvey Keitel) is a Jewish revolutionary who has been sent by his compatriots to kill Jesus for his "collaboration" with the Romans by building crosses, but before he can carry out the deed, Judas is taken with Jesus' presence and believes he may be the true Messiah, so he follows him as one of his disciples.  When Jesus sees a mob beginning to stone a prostitute, Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey), a woman who was his childhood friend/sweetheart, he defends her and the crowd (watch for Irvin Kershner, director of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) as "Zebedee") abandons their intentions, and many of them begin to follow him, and he selects apostles from amongst them.  Jesus performs the miracles and sermons present in the Bible, but he continuously faced with the temptations of the world and of Satan, in his many forms.  He is not entirely aware of God's intentions through him; he listens, God instructs and he follows; but when he learns in a vision that he must be a willing sacrifice to atone for the sins of mankind, he does not stray, yet he is reluctant and terrified at the prospect.  He turns to his most highly-favored disciple, Judas, and requests of him that he turn him over to the Romans to be crucified as a revolutionary.  Judas is anguished at this task before him, but after some deliberation, he complies.  Following the institution of the sacrament, Jesus is arrested and crucified on Golgotha.  From here, the story takes its sharpest departure from the Bible story, as an angelic child (Juliette Caton) takes Jesus down from the cross and tells him that it was all a test.  All God really wants is for him to be happy.  He weds to Mary Magdalene and has many children and grows old.  Yet, things are never quite right; there is a certain distortion to things as the angel child accompanies him throughout this alternative life, and the angel is revealed to be Satan.  With the authenticity of those most recent events never really confirmed within the plotline, Jesus willingly accepts his role as Messiah to the world and accomplishes the Atonement.

THE LAST ANALYSIS 

Martin Scorcese, the director of the film, was born and raised in New York City, in a devoutly Roman Catholic family and community and initially intended to become a Catholic priest before he dropped out of the seminary to pursue a career in his longtime love of cinema, but even after he became a "lapsed Catholic", the powerful influences of his upbringing and heritage would never leave him and have become frequently apparent in his films.  Such themes take center stage in THE LAST TEMPTATION, as the film becomes Scorcese's personal witness of faith.  The entire film rich in Catholic themes and symbolism, such as the stigmatic event from which Jesus learns of his destiny, the serpents that appear as impurities and deceivers, and the institution of the sacrament at the Last Supper where one of the apostles discovers that the wine he has just sipped has turned to blood in his throat.

This portrayal of Jesus Christ is an extremely intricate and complex one, and is possibly the best cinematic interpretation of the man in any major work.  Of course, even amongst Christians, there are so many variations on what about Jesus is believed, and how certain elements are interpreted from the story, so how one reacts to this film's approach may vary vastly.  Whether or not this is an accurate and faithful or blasphemous and sacrilegious could be debated all day long, but I think it's well justified to call it the most accessible and sympathetic cinematic interpretation of Jesus.  By focusing on the human aspect of Jesus (whether or not you believe there really even was one), he is made into a highly relatable character, one who shares our conflict over what he was and what he stood for.  Like many who've struggled to understand the seemingly-conflicted voices of the Gospels, he's not quite certain whether his role as the Messiah demands that the "sword" he brings is strictly a spiritual one or if his cause also requires a physical fight against evil.  Also on the table is the question of the divinity/mortality dynamic to Jesus; which is more prominent, and what is the role of either?  These are all questions that have never been sufficiently reconciled and that we continue speculate on, and while the balance of his humanity and divinity is a theme, the story is primarily in consideration of the human aspect of the Christ.  The film opens with a quote from Kazantzakis' book; 

"The dual substance of Christ- the yearning, so human, so superhuman, of man to attain God... has always been a deep mystery to me.  My principle anguish and source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh... and my soul is the arena where these two armies have clashed and met."

This is followed by a 'disclaimer':

"This film is not based upon the Gospels but upon this fictional exploration of the eternal spiritual conflict."

Therefore, it isn't even a film about Jesus, in the strictest sense, but rather, a study of mankind's struggle to understand our spiritual expectations, our relation to God and our moral struggle between our spiritual aspirations and our mortal desires.

THE LAST CONTROVERSY

Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene

The key component to the controversy is in the final, and coincidentally, most important act in the film, when Satan, in the guise of a child, appears to Jesus on the cross and tempts him with his greatest longing; to put aside his charge as the Savior of Mankind and have the life of an ordinary man, with a wife and children, to grow old and die in bed, surrounded by his family.  As part of this section of the film, a brief scene, lasting less than ten seconds, depicts Jesus and Mary Magdalene consumating their fantasized marriage.  If it were anyone other than Jesus in the scene, it would hardly cause a stir and would probably be regarded as 'tasteful'.  Obviously Christians would be prone to find the scene offensive, but I think the outrage of those who were offended is an unfortunate and impulsive reaction.  If your offense to it is strictly because it is Jesus Christ in the scene, I could point out that in this 'alternative' that Jesus is being tempted with, he would not be Jesus Christ; that fantasy depicts what he wishes he were, not the Messiah that the Jesus in that scene has been misinterpreted as.  Whether or not this section of the film is meant as a literal direction of the storyline, culminating with the George Bailey moment that he begs to be allowed to re-take up his role as Messiah, or merely as the potential course of events if Jesus had accepted the child's offer is left ambiguous, but I'm inclined to believe the former, and either way, Jesus does die on the cross and does atone for the sins of men.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter, because, if you're going to talk about THE LAST TEMPTATION, you are obligated to address the "Jesus sex scene" issue.

THE LAST PARAGRAPH

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST is not likely to work for many religious persons, specifically the Orthodox ones, because it asks for certain flexibility and understanding that the more certain may not be receptive to, but for many others, it is an especially spiritually fulfilling experience, one that informs the soul with a certain kind of peace and restoration. 

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (1988)
4 out of 4
Directed by: Martin Scorcese
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Harry Dean Stanton, David Bowie
Rated R for unspecified reasons (but contains violence, sexuality and nudity).