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Jesus of Nazareth faces the ultimate existential crisis: being the son of God (and knowing His plans) while having human desires.
Starring Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Harry Dean Stanton, David Bowie
Written by Paul Schrader
Produced by Barbara De Fina
Duration 163 minutes
I’ve argued on this blog that Ridley Scott has never made a genuinely great film, despite the inexplicably elevated position he inhabits for some.
The question that occurs to me now is, has Martin Scorsese ever made a bad one?
Across 26 features, there are six that have most regularly come in for criticism, or are just simply not as well known. So are these 'lesser Marties' deserving of their status as outliers? Let’s see!
– WHO’S THAT
KNOCKING AT MY DOOR (1967): The director's debut, an Italian-American New Yorkers' tale and precursor to MEAN STREETS, it's appropriately rough around the edges. But the talent is there up on the screen and as far as first features go, it certainly makes you intrigued for what this
young man might do next.
– BOXCAR BERTHA (1972): Scorsese was one of several fledgling directors to cut their
teeth under producer Roger Corman, such
as (deep breath) Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Howard, Jonathan Demme, Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante, John Sayles and James Cameron. He made BERTHA for Corman's American International Pictures, and the film is a trashy female
gangster flick that’s a lot of sleazy low-brow fun.
– ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (1974): Probably Marty’s most unfairly
overlooked film. Central is a powerhouse performance by Ellen Barkin (who won an Oscar), and this affecting drama also has memorable turns from the pre-TAXI DRIVER pair
of Jodie Foster and Harvey Keitel.
– NEW YORK, NEW YORK (1977): I'm never going to be subjective about a musical; a jazz
musical, no less. Moving on.
– KUNDUN (1997): Um ... I’ve seen it. It exists. It's probably most remembered for that bit in The Sopranos where Christopher Moltisanti spots Scorsese in a crowd and yells out "Marty, KUNDUN! I liked it!"
– GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002): This one is a bit of a slog. Leo was still maturing
from teen heartthrob into proper leading man. Diaz was miscast. Day-Lewis was
enjoyably big, but also distractingly so. Ultimately, it was never able to recover from all its production troubles. I do like the U2 song that plays over the end
credits, though.
(In addition, THE KING OF COMEDY and AFTER HOURS didn't do much business when they were released but have both since been reassessed; I like the former but have never really warmed to the latter.)
So yes, I would say Scorsese has a batting average superior to most big-time directors, even plenty of those names listed above. And LAST TEMPTATION is firmly in the ‘definitely great’ camp.
The film was controversial for its depiction of a flawed Jesus. But anyone who bothered to absorb the opening crawl should have known to proceed with leniency: "This film is not based upon the Gospels but is a fictional exploration of the eternal spiritual conflict."
(They should have put "based on a true story" – that would have really stirred the pot.)
Marty was using Jesus Christ the man as the starting point for an exploration of the struggles we all go through – heightened, of course, by JC's unique internal wrestling match between being both a deity and a flesh-and-blood human.
In short, he's a flawed hero who goes through a journey – an 'arc', to use a term that the KUNDUN-approving wannabe-screenwriter cousin of Tony Soprano would understand. Which should tell you everything: this is a movie, where Jesus Christ is the protagonist. It’s not a sermon; it’s not a fly-on-the-wall documentary. It has thematic depth and spiritual resonance, but it also needs to move and entertain us. And it does.
JC is cut from the same cloth as other Scorsese leading men. He suffers the sexual distractions of RAGING BULL’S Jake LaMotta. He is miffed by a world full of sin, like Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER. He appears to die at the climax but then doesn’t really, like Ace Rothstein and his exploding car at the start/end of CASINO ( ... er, OK, that one might be a stretch).
Let’s talk about casting. First, the obvious question: why not de Niro as Jesus? Ironically, at the time of filming he may have been busy off elsewhere playing the devil for Alan Parker in his movie ANGEL HEART.
Or why the hell not Harvey Keitel? He was on set and everything, playing Judas Ascariot (dyed ginger, for some reason). Yes, he's still second-billed and yes, Judas is pretty much the antagonist and a meaty role in itself. But come on, Harvey would have been amazing! Just look at what he managed to do shortly after as a tormented soul, sometimes in a religious setting, in Abel Ferrara's BAD LIEUTENANT.
Anyway, the final casting choices do work well and are leftfield enough to fit in with the movie's
slanted take on its subject matter, as is having many characters talk in anachronistic Noo Yoik
accents. Willem Dafoe as the man (of God) Himself is as committed as you’d expect
(and surely influenced Ewan McGregor);
David Bowie is an icily callous Pontius Pilate; Barbara Hershey a suitably sexy
Mary Magdalene. And putting Harry Dean Stanton in your movie (as Saul/Paul)
never fails to elevate it.
So, another tick for Mr Reliable Marty. And SILENCE, his questioning-faith companion piece from 2016, is also excellent.
Five stars out of five.
Valid use of the
word ‘last’? On Earth, yes. Up in Heaven? Not sure it’s
that kind of place.
What would a movie called THE FIRST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST be about? Who can be sure that the temptations depicted
here hadn't been part of Jesus's life for years already? The Bible is famously light on details about his teens and 20s, after all.
Previously: THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
Next time: LAST PASSENGER
Check out my books: Jonathanlastauthor.com
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