Review – The Last Temptation of Christ

Though it’s been years since I last saw this movie, I’ve listened to Peter Gabriel’s soundtrack album many times. So a lot of the experience was “Oh, I didn’t know that music went with that scene.” It also taxed my memory about why it was so controversial when it first hit theaters. The film (and the novel upon which it’s based) explores Christ’s human side. In particular it speculates about Satan tempting Jesus with visions of what his life might have been like if he hadn’t been the Messiah. Otherwise it’s a fairly straightforward adaptation of the Gospels. Certainly nothing here approaches the level of “blasphemy” of The Da Vinci Code. Robbed of its scandalous nature, there isn’t much to it. Willem Dafoe’s overacting is epic, and Harvey Keitel plays Judas as a stereotypical Jewish mother. And Martin Scorsese seems at sea so far removed in time and place from the cityscapes of the Eastern Seaboard. Nonetheless, he manages to conjure an interesting moment here and there, especially when the Prince of Darkness puts in an appearance. Mildly amusing