History Film / TheLastTemptationOfChrist

** In fact, the encounter between Paul and Jesus in the temptation scene may count as an instance of FridgeBrilliance. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14 that without risen Christ, all faith and preaching are in vain. Had Christ fallen to the last temptation, there would have been no resurrection and Paul's preaching, if it still took place, would have been a lie. Christ's crucifiction nullifies this and renders Paul's future preaching true.

** Scorsese also deconstructs JesusWasWayCool, pointing out that if Jesus was so charismatic then [[FridgeLogic there wouldn't have been such hatred]] or controversy provoked by him in the first place. He shows Jesus as a KingOfTheHomeless attracting lepers, prostitutes and other outcasts who the establishment would regard as weirdos with Willem Dafoe's Jesus getting AdaptationalAngstUpgrade rather than TheMessiah we see. The movie also deconstructs Christian attitudes to sexuality, by foregrounding the conflict between "Fully Human and Fully Divine". Also ''The Last Temptation'' is the first work in Western Art to depict women with Jesus at The Last Supper.

* TheMessiah: Mildly subverted -- this ain't yo momma's Jesus.

** In fact, the encounter between Paul and Jesus in the temptation scene may count as an instance of FridgeBrilliance. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14 that without risen Christ, all faith and preaching are in vain. Had Christ fallen to the last trmptation, there would have been no resurrection and Paul's preaching, if it still took place, would have been a lie. Christ's crucifiction nullifies this and renders Paul's future preaching true.

** In the same movie, Saul is briefly portrayed as the misguided kind of WindmillCrusader. However, he is quickly shown as a StrawHypocrite who simply doesn’t care if the [[WindmillPolitical gospel he preaches]] is true or not.

** According to Creator/PaulSchrader, who had a PhD in theology, the film's release was a replay of the Arrian controversy from early Christianity. He noted that in the original context of the Bible, visual representation of Jesus was itself blasphemous and that the history of Christian art patronized by the Church was no less blasphemous FromACertainPointOfView than their film, which at least had the benefit of honesty.

* CameBackWrong: Lazarus, if to a less severe extent than usual.

* CameBackWrong
* CelibateHero

* CreepyChild[=/=]LouisCypher: Don't worry, it's only [[spoiler:{{Satan}}]].

* TheObiWan

* BreakThemByTalking: Mature, un-crucified Jesus confronts [[HarryDeanStanton Saul]] over his preaching, and is shut down right quick:
-->'''Saul:''' You see, you don't know how much people need God. You don't know how happy He can make them. He can make them happy to do anything. Make them happy to die, and they'll die, all for the sake of Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth. The Son of God. The Messiah. ''Not you.'' Not for your sake. [[Beat]] You know, I'm glad I met you. Because now I can forget all about you. ''My'' Jesus is much more important and much more powerful.

** In the same movie, Paul is briefly portrayed as the misguided kind of WindmillCrusader. However, he is quickly shown as a StrawHypocrite who simply doesn’t care if the [[WindmillPolitical gospel he preaches]] is true or not.
* WindmillPolitical: Paul, see WindmillCrusader above.

** Scorsese also deconstructs JesusWasWayCool, pointing out that if Jesus was so charismatic then [[FridgeLogic there wouldn't have been such hatred]] or controversy provoked by him in the first place. He shows Jesus as a KingOfTheHomeless attracting lepers, prostitutes and other outcasts who the establishment would regard as weirdos with Willem Dafoe's Jesus getting AdaptationalAngst rather than TheMessiah we see.
** The movie also deconstructs Christian attitudes to sexuality, by foregrounding the conflict between "Fully Human and Fully Divine". Also ''The Last Temptation'' is the first work in Western Art to depict women with Jesus at The Last Supper.
** The movie in general takes the opposite stand to the Hollywood EpicMovie giving Jesus a FilmNoir narration, using a variety of American accents(because as pointed out in the quote below, they were no less realistic than the BBC or the old English of the King James Bible used in earlier adaptations) and in showing Jerusalem and the Bible Lands as a dirty, oppressed WretchedHive that it was under Roman occupation and also suggested in the Bible itself, and showing the poor who gravitated to Jesus with as little glamour or affect as possible.
** [[DeconReconSwitch The point]] of these departures from traditional iconography was because Scorsese believed that Jesus' ideas and messages were still radical and important to the world, and he wanted to place it in a more alien and unfamiliar context so that people would understand it fresh without the preconceptions and pomp and piety.

** The movie in general takes the opposite stand to the Hollywood EpicMovie giving Jesus a FilmNoir narration, using a variety of American accents(because as pointed out in the quote below, they were no less realistic than the BBC or the old English of the King James Bible used in earlier adaptations) and in showing Jerusalem and the Bible Lands as a dirty, oppressed WretchedHive that it was under Roman occupation and also suggested in the Bible itself, and showing the poor who gravitated to Jesus with as little glamour or affect as possible.

This is the 1988 film by MartinScorsese, based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis ({{Gesundheit}}). Starring WillemDafoe as {{Jesus}}, what follows is a fairly loose reinterpretation of the [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] story of Jesus' life and Crucifixion (sorry, the film's long enough without him coming back).

* DevilInDisguise: This trope is invoked during Jesus's final temptation while on the cross. A young girl introduces herself as an angel, says that Jesus has done enough, and offers him an escape from the cross. This boy accompanies as a friend him through a happy life with a wife and children. But this friend is actually Lucifer, and these years after escaping the cross were AllJustADream to tempt Jesus into abandoning his role as SacrificialLion. As soon as Jesus rebukes this temptation, the illusion ceases and he instantly returns dying on the cross, accepting it as his destiny.

* JesusWasCrazy: The film start out with portraying Jesus as a paranoid schizophrenic who start preaching because he hear voices in his head. The movie start with him working as a carpenter building crosses for the Romans and rambling on about how he want to crucify all the messiahs. The story goes through many plot-twists, and the psychiatric perspective gets obsolete after a while - but Jesus being crazy ''in one way or another'' remains the only constant throughout the movie. [[spoiler:And trying to live a decent life turns out to be the craziest thing of them all.]]

* TheQueensLatin

* OneSceneWonder: Music/DavidBowie as Pontius Pilate.

* CensorDecoy: An unintentional example. Many people were up in arms over the fact that the movie included a brief sex scene between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but there was vritually nothing mentioned about [[spoiler:the film's portrayal of Judas as a man who only betrayed Jesus because he was following orders.]]

* CensorDecoy: An unintentional example. People got all up in arms over the fact that the movie included a brief sex scene between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but ignored the part of the movie that was ''actually sacrilegious:'' [[spoiler:the film's portrayal of Judas as a man who only betrayed Jesus because he was following orders.]]

This is the 1988 film by MartinScorsese, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis ({{Gesundheit}}). Starring WillemDafoe as {{Jesus}}, what follows is a fairly loose reinterpretation of the [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] story of Jesus' life and Crucifixion (sorry, the film's long enough without him coming back).