The Last Temptation of Christ

MOVIE #1,984 • SCORE 9/10 • 09.23.24
SERIES: MARTIN SCORSESE DIRECTOR FOCUS

This one was easily on my Top 3 Most Looking Forward to Watch for the First Time list of Scorsese movies: a Schrader script + his lone (main) collaboration with Willem Dafoe. And it delivered. I did think multiple times during this watch that I wished I had a better working knowledge of history and religion, though perhaps that’s besides the point. This stirred major controversies for what was perceived as anti-Christian rhetoric (you can’t portray Jesus boning, duh) but I think it has a lot to say about the mysteries of faith and spirituality if you can step back and view it apart from any one organized religion. I think it’s a borderline 10/10 but I’ll assign it a 9 because I was very offended by Harvey Keitel’s hair.

---

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,983 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,985 ⫸

---

The Last Temptation of Christ is a 1988 epic religious drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. Written by Paul Schrader with uncredited rewrites from Scorsese and Jay Cocks, it is an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' controversial 1955 novel of the same name. The film, starring Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Andre Gregory, Harry Dean Stanton and David Bowie, was shot entirely in Morocco. It was released on August 12, 1988.