And now the second of my three Jesus movie reviews for Easter.

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

The Last Temptation of Christ was based on a 1953 Greek novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. I actually have tried to read the book once, so let me do a quick review of that.

Book review: purpleprosepurpleprosepurpleprosepurpleprosepurpleprosepurpleprosepurpleprosepurpleprosepurpleprosepurpleprose I'm done.

I didn't get very far. I found the English translation too flowery in the opening to hold my interest. Maybe I'll read all of it some later time. But regardless, Kazantzakis wanted to try and explore Jesus' humanity. Although the author said that his book was totally fictional and was just meant to be a “what if” story, many people found his portrayal of Jesus offensive and the novel frequently pops up on lists of banned books. When a movie adaptation was released in 1988, it likewise faced a lot of opposition. Theaters that showed the movie were often picketed, and the film was banned in several countries. Bill Bright, who I mentioned in my previous review as being involved in the making of the 1979 Jesus movie, even tried to buy the negatives of the film from Universal and destroy them. Since the film's producer, Lew Wasserman, was Jewish, the film was also slammed by accusations of being a product of the “Jewish media” to attack Christianity. The worst opposition the film faced occurred in France, in which the Saint Michel movie theater in Paris was burned down by fundamentalists for screening the film.

With all this controversy around this movie, I just had to check it out for myself.

The movie opens with Jesus building crosses for the Roman Empire, and he's remorseful that so many Jews are dying on crosses he built. I'm not even 5 minutes into this nearly 3-hour picture and already I can see why people got so angry at it. He even spreads his arms out on one cross he's building, contemplating his eventual fate. Jesus is played by Willem Dafoe, aka Norman Osborn/Green Goblin in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy! So for the rest of this review I will call this version of Jesus “Jesus Osborn.” Judas Iscariot comes in and berates Jesus Osborn for being a Jew that kills Jews. The Jesus-Judas relationship is played up a lot more in this movie than it is in the New Testament. Judas is depicted as an impatient disciple that wants to see the Messiah overthrow the Romans and disagrees with Jesus Osborn's teachings of peace, but at the same time remains loyal to Jesus Osborn. It's a really interesting dynamic to watch.

The way Jesus Osborn's dual nature is portrayed is very weird. I'm not even sure if Jesus Osborn is supposed to be divine in this movie's interpretation of him. It's more like Jesus is just a human and occasionally God possesses him at times, almost like having multiple personalities. Jesus Osborn's descriptions of hearing God in his own head make it seem this way, saying that when he preaches, he's uncertain what to say until he starts talking, and he doesn't know details of God's plan for him until they're revealed to him. After Judas and Jesus Osborn's meeting, Jesus Osborn visits what I assume is some sort of “pleasure center” since there's a naked couple (the woman is Mary Magdalene) in the room making love behind a curtain to entertain a crowd watching them. Jesus Osborn then visits Mary late at night and asks her to forgive him for the bad things he's done to her. Through out the movie, Jesus Osborn worries about having sinned. I'm not sure whether this version of Jesus is supposed to be sinful or if he's only imagining it.

The matter of Jesus' dual nature is confused even further in the next scene where Jesus Osborn has a private talk with one of his disciples. The disciple (I'm not sure which one it is) expresses he's uncertain at times whether he knows what God wants him to do, and Jesus Osborn responds “You think it's a blessing to know what God wants? I'll tell you what he wants. He wants to push me over!” This version of Jesus seems like he's separate from God and even despises his plan, or is at least displeased with where he's going in life. Jesus Osborn also confides that he thinks he sometimes hears Satan telling him that he's not the son of God or the Messiah… ooh, foreshadowing!

The next morning we see Jesus Osborn stop Mary from being stoned to death, loosely adapting the “let he who is without sin cast the first stone” part of John's gospel. He then starts to preach to people, yet the crowd is disinterested and disperses. Judas just so happens to be present at this incident and is displeased that Jesus is focusing so much on peace. Judas is conflicted because the Zealots hired him to kill Jesus Osborn, yet at the same time he suspects Jesus Osborn is the Messiah and could be a unifying force for Israelis. For the time though he decides to follow Jesus Osborn, but will kill him if it turns out he's not the Messiah.

Next, Jesus Osborn then goes to the Jordan river and is baptized by John the Baptist, and strangely even John disagrees with Jesus Osborn's teachings on love. He inspires Jesus Osborn to go into the desert in order to listen to God's will since “God is a God of the desert.” Jesus Osborn does so and draws a circle he will stay in until God answers him, which to me gave off a very Buddhist vibe of Siddhartha Gautama not moving from underneath the Bohdi tree until he found enlightenment. Satan then appears in the forms of a snake, a lion, and a plume of fire (I suspect the last is supposed to be reminiscent of the burning bush) and tries to tempt Jesus Osborn, but he resists. After 40 days, he finally leaves and is nursed back to health by Martha. While in Martha's house, she asks Jesus Osborn if he misses having a home and a normal life, to which he responds that he can never have one. In retrospect, this all is actually setting up what happens in the ending.

Jesus Osborn then returns to his disciples, who have been waiting impatiently for him for these 40 days, and for some reason Jesus Osborn's demeanor has suddenly changed to be very menacing (perhaps Martha injected him with the goblin serum?). Jesus Osborn starts talking about how they're all going to war with the devil, and then PULLS HIS HEART OUT OF HIS CHEST. The hell was that?! Is he practicing Mortal Kombat fatalities on himself? He then carries an axe to signify that they will attack soon. Umm, I thought the point of the Last Temptation was to show a more human Jesus, not a Jesus that's a paranoid schizophrenic. We then get a serious mood whiplash when Jesus Osborn attends the wedding of Cana afterward, where Jesus Osborn dances and has fun. Afterward he tries to preach to the guests, only to get insulted back. “You made better crosses than speeches!” Ouch! And then we get yet another mood whiplash when we cut to the funeral of Lazarus, and for some reason (get used to me saying that a lot) Lazarus' family invited the Yoko Ono choir for the occasion. But then Jesus Osborn raises Lazarus from the dead… or at least I think he does. Lazarus still looks a little bit decayed, making it look more like Jesus Osborn turned Lazarus into a zombie rather than raising him up.

Jesus Osborn then visits the Jewish temple, and then starts flipping over tables and money baskets. Why no one arrests Jesus Osborn on the spot, I don't know. Watching this scene, I have to wonder wouldn't it be neat if Jesus Osborn cleansed the temple while flying around on a goblin glider, throwing pumpkin bombs all over the place? One of the Jewish leaders scolds Jesus Osborn, yet Jesus Osborn declares that God doesn't want dead animals or any of the ceremonies done in the Temple. When the Jewish leader accuses Jesus Osborn of blasphemy, Jesus Osborn shouts in a bad ass way, “I'm the saint of blasphemy!” and basically declares that the Jewish leaders don't have a monopoly on God. What really makes this scene stand out is that it feels as if the movie anticipated its own controversy, telling the most unhinged protestors that they don't have a monopoly on Jesus' image. The filmmakers have a right to their own interpretation as much as they do.

While Jesus Osborn and the disciples leave the temple, Judas gets pulled over by one of the people that commissioned him to kill Jesus Osborn, and it turns out to be… Saul before his conversion! Dun dun DUUUUUN! Saul is growing impatient and wants to see Jesus Osborn dead asap. Maybe Saul should have hired a certain friendly neighborhood spider instead.

The next night, Jesus Osborn reveals privately to Judas what he believes is God's plan for him, and reads Isaiah 53 to him. Judas gets upset at how Jesus Osborn keeps changing his plan from peace, to war, and now to self sacrifice, and doesn’t want to participate in having him killed. Jesus Osborn seems to agree with Judas and in defiance of God's will, he leads a revolt into Jerusalem. They get into the center of the temple and are then surrounded by city soldiers, who threaten to kill them if they start fighting. Jesus Osborn prays to God to let him die in battle instead of on the cross, and then God answers… by making Jesus Osborn's hands bleed. Umm, what? Granted, this isn't as weird as the scene where Jesus Osborn does his Mola Ram impression, but it's still unsettling. He then calls the attack off.

Judas and Jesus Osborn then talk in private one last time. Jesus Osborn has reluctantly decided to go with God's plan to be a sacrifice for mankind’s sins, and asks Judas to be the instrument that will bring about his crucifixion. The movie seems to be taking inspiration from the non-canonical Gnostic Gospel of Judas, which depicts Judas as a loyal disciple who only betrayed Jesus because Jesus himself requested that he do so. Obviously this sequence didn't sit well with critics of the film. After the last supper, Judas brings the authorities to arrest Jesus Osborn in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus Osborn is taken before Pontius Pilate, and Pilate is being portrayed by musician David Bowie! However, Bowie's performance is quite subdued compared to his acting in other movies like Labyrinth. Before Bowie can break into a Pilate pop song sequence, Jesus Osborn is promptly crucified. The movie doesn't spend as much time on Jesus Osborn's torture and carrying the cross like The Passion of the Christ does, and we see the crucifixion happen very quickly. As Jesus Osborn hangs on the cross, the crowd scream insults at him repeatedly, and the wind blows loudly. Jesus Osborn screams why God has forsaken him and it looks like he's going to finally die.

And now begins the most controversial sequence in all the movie.

A little girl appears at the cross and announces she is Jesus Osborn's guardian angel. God has apparently decided that Jesus Osborn has suffered enough and removes the nails so he can come down. As they both walk away, Jesus Osborn realizes that he must have not been the Messiah after all, and is glad that he can finally lead an ordinary life! The angel leads Jesus to meet Mary Magdalene, and she is already prepared for a wedding ceremony with him. You might be thinking, “well, isn't that convenient! How is it Mary is already prepared to marry him on such short notice?!” Without spoiling what's going on, let's just say that things aren't what they seem. Mary treats Jesus Osborn's wounds, and afterward they have sex. Yes, you read that right. A SEX SCENE WITH JESUS IN IT! When it's over there's a brief scene of Mary pregnant, and before the audience can grab their pitchforks and torches, a bright light shines on Mary and she dies. Seriously. She's pregnant on screen for only a few seconds or so and then kicks the bucket. It's as if the act of showing Jesus Osborn having sex was so revolting in of itself that the movie killed off a character in protest. Jesus Osborn mourns her death, and the angel tries her best to comfort him. So she then takes Jesus Osborn to Mary the sister of Lazarus and Martha, and they become his new wives. So not only does Jesus Osborn get married and have sex, right afterward he GOES INTO A BIGAMOUS RELATIONSHIP. It's no wonder this movie made a lot of people mad.

But we're not done! Flash forward a few years, and Jesus Osborn is older and has many children. He goes traveling around Jerusalem, and he meets Saul (now Paul) preaching a crucified and resurrected Jesus Osborn. Somehow Paul had his conversion experience despite Jesus Osborn still being alive! Jesus Osborn confronts Paul and calls him a liar, yet Paul insists that what he's teaching still brings people hope, so he doesn't care whether Jesus Osborn is alive or not. Flash forward towards around 70AD, and Jerusalem is being destroyed by the Romans. Jesus Osborn is on his death bed, and then an old and haggard Judas Iscariot comes to visit him a final time. Judas Iscariot is furious that Jesus Osborn went back on the plan to be crucified, and in a surprising role reversal declares Jesus Osborn a traitor. Jesus Osborn then has blood coming from his hands and feet again (I guess he can turn his stigmata on and off like a faucet), and tries to explain that a guardian angel rescued him. Judas Iscariot then asks Jesus Osborn to look at the angel again, with a sudden flashback to the flame during the temptation in the desert. The angel was Satan all along! He tricked Jesus Osborn into not being crucified. Jesus Osborn then crawls with all his strength out of the house and into the wilderness with Jerusalem burning behind him. He asks God to forgive him for failing to fulfill his will, screaming “I WANT TO BE THE MESSIAH!”

And then -MASSIVE TWIST ENDING SPOILER ALERT- we return to Jesus on the cross. It turns out everything we saw never actually happened!  It was all a dream Satan created as one last temptation to thwart the crucifixion. Jesus Osborn then proclaims “It is accomplished!” with the Yoko Ono choir screaming again to signal his death. And then the camera breaks. I'm not making that up. The camera actually broke while filming the final scene. But the film makers decided to leave the mistake in since the exposed film created a nice psychedelic effect to transition into the credits, complete with awesome music composed by Peter Gabriel of Genesis.

What can I say about this movie overall? Well, it's unlike any other portrayal of Jesus I've seen. I can understand why some people would find this film and the novel offensive. But for rabid protestors to call for the film to be censored, demonize the filmmakers, and burn down theaters just because Jesus wasn't portrayed in exactly the way they prefer is ridiculous. It's just a movie. Get a grip. The biggest irony of the situation is that in trying to defend their religion, the most unhinged protesters against this film probably made Christianity look worse as a consequence. All this aside though, the movie is a very interesting character study. Willem Dafoe does an outstanding job as Jesus, although at times it does feel like the film makers confused “let's make Jesus more human!” with “let's make Jesus crazy!” Yet at the same time, Jesus' eccentricities kind of make the movie more memorable. If you're a fan of “what if” kinds of stories or alternative interpretations of the Bible, this will be interesting to check out.

Next up, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ!