History Film / TheLastTemptationOfChrist

** The Catholic imagery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, usually an abstract/symbolic representation of Jesus himself with the heart just being visible on his chest or floating in his hand while being on fire, emitting rays of light and wearing a miniature crown of thorns, is interpreted in a arrestingly literal way with Jesus digging into his chest and holding his bloody heart in front of the speechless apostles.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: As noted below, the film goes out of its way to have a Middle Eastern/West Asian-influenced musical score instead of the now-cliched Western choral/"churchy" music in other Bible movies (see the Hallelujah Chorus unironically used in ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold'', not even for Jesus's resurrection), to the point of AnachronismStew for aesthetic reasons. The biggest example is probably an Arabic song from Senegal based on the ''Muslim confession of faith'' ("Call to Prayer" in ''Passion: Sources'') used for the Last Supper scene.

This is the 1988 film directed by Creator/MartinScorsese, with a screenplay by Creator/PaulSchrader, adapted from the 1953 novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. Starring Creator/WillemDafoe as UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, what follows is a loose reinterpretation of the [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] story of Jesus' life and Crucifixion (sorry, at 2 hours and 43 minutes the film's already long enough without him coming back).

* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r8v-Rz7Ofg It Is Accomplished]] by Peter Gabriel could be considered a instrumental version of this.

* AdaptationDistillation: The film depicts the "Feet of Clay" dream occurring in tandem with Jesus' meeting with Pontius Pilate. In the original scripture, the dream actually occurs in the Book of Daniel, and was a dream of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar that the prophet Daniel interpreted, rather than being a dream of Jesus' that Jesus Himself discusses. Tying in with this, the film as the doomed statue in the dream represent Rome rather than Babylon.

** The musical score by Music/PeterGabriel, a GenreBusting effort that was an attempt to create music similar to what could have been played in Israel of that time, with some AnachronismStew thrown in for good measure, generally taking Jesus away from the European High Culture trappings of Classical religious music which developed centuries later and in a land, continent, and culture far removed from First Century Israel.

* TruthInTelevision: Setting aside the controversy surrounding the film, one detail that's undeniable is that Dafoe's physical appearance as Jesus is more realistic than is usual for the Western cannon. To elaborate, the Western Jesus is usually conceptualized as a long-haired, conventionally attractive white man who, beyond being just thin, usually appears emaciated in depictions of the Passion. While Willem Dafoe is certainly a long-haired white man, he's hardly what most people would consider "conventionally attractive", and his wiry physique in the film makes a lot more sense considering that Jesus was a ''carpenter'' before beginning his ministry, even if the bits about Jesus also being a Jewish Middle Easterner still did not make it into the film.

* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgM3uO-OaRs It Is Accomplished]] by Peter Gabriel could be considered a instrumental version of this.

Other people appearing in the film include Creator/HarveyKeitel as Judas, Creator/BarbaraHershey as Mary Magdalene, Creator/HarryDeanStanton as Paul of Tarsus, and Music/DavidBowie as Pontius Pilate. The film also featured a score by Music/PeterGabriel, who later released ''Music/{{Passion}}'', a collection of songs composed for and inspired by the film, in 1989; the soundtrack album was the debut release for his vanity label Real World Records. A supplementary compilation of the album's source material, i.e. traditional musisc recordings (some recorded on-set when the film was shot), ''Passion: Sources'', soon followed.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: As noted below, the film goes out of its way to have a Middle Eastern/West Asian musical score instead of the now-cliched Western choral/"churchy" music in other Bible movies (see the Hallelujah Chorus unironically used in ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold'', not even for Jesus's resurrection), to the point of AnachronismStew for aesthetic reasons. The biggest example is probably an Arabic song from Senegal based on the ''Muslim confession of faith'' ("Call to Prayer" in ''Passion: Sources'') used for the Last Supper scene.

Other people appearing in the film include Creator/HarveyKeitel as Judas, Creator/BarbaraHershey as Mary Magdalene, Creator/HarryDeanStanton as Paul of Tarsus, and Music/DavidBowie as Pontius Pilate. The film also featured a score by Music/PeterGabriel, who later released ''Music/{{Passion}}'', a collection of songs composed for and inspired by the film, in 1989; the soundtrack album was the debut release for his vanity label Real World Records.

** The musical score by Peter Gabriel, a GenreBusting effort that was an attempt to create music similar to what could have been played in Israel of that time, with some AnachronismStew thrown in for good measure, generally taking Jesus from the European High Culture trappings of Classical religious music which developed centuries later and in a land and continent and culture far removed from First Century Israel.

Other people appearing in the film include Creator/HarveyKeitel as Judas, Creator/BarbaraHershey as Mary Magdalene, Creator/HarryDeanStanton as Paul of Tarsus, and Music/DavidBowie as Pontius Pilate. The film also featured a score by Music/PeterGabriel, who later released ''Passion'', a collection of songs composed for and inspired by the film, in 1989; the soundtrack album was the debut release for his vanity label Real World Records.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Judas, summed up by the fact that in the climactic scene, Judas yells "traitor!" at Jesus and it's totally justified in the context of the story. He gets here the very 20th Century characterization of an ally of Jesus who betrayed him per his own orders. The Gnostic Gospel of Judas and other ancient texts give a very similar portrayal, making this OlderThanFeudalism, but this idea didn't become popular until much later (ironically, even after the novel had been released).

* AdaptationalHeroism: Judas gets here the very 20th Century characterization of an ally of Jesus who betrayed him per his own orders. The Gnostic Gospel of Judas and other ancient texts give a very similar portrayal, making this OlderThanFeudalism, but this idea didn't become popular until much later (ironically, even after the novel had been released).

Other people appearing in the film include Creator/HarveyKeitel as Judas, Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene, Creator/HarryDeanStanton as Paul of Tarsus, and Music/DavidBowie as Pontius Pilate. The film also featured a score by Music/PeterGabriel, who later released ''Passion'', a collection of songs composed for and inspired by the film, in 1989; the soundtrack album was the debut release for his vanity label Real World Records.

Other people appearing in the film include Creator/HarveyKeitel as Judas, Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene, Creator/HarryDeanStanton as Paul of Tarsus, and Music/DavidBowie as Pontius Pilate. The film also featured a score by Music/PeterGabriel, who later released ''Passion'', a collection of songs composed for and inspired by the film, in 1989; the soundtrack album was his first on his vanity label Real World Records.

* ShadesOfConflict: Jesus and Satan are, respectively, [[WhiteAndBlackMorality purely good and purely evil]]; everyone else, including the Apostles, the Sanhedrin, and Pontius Pilate are various shades of gray.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: [[spoiler:This is because they aren't angels at all.]]

* RaceLift: In the novel, the guardian angel who appears to Jesus during his last temptation [[spoiler:(who is actually Satan in disguise)]] is a black Ethiopian boy. Perhaps to deflect accusations of racism, the angel is portrayed by a white girl in the film.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Jesus is given this compared to the gospels. Though as Paul Schrader and Scorsese points out this is an UnbuiltTrope most notably when Jesus wonders why had God forsaken him.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Judas gets this as per the revisionist accounts of 20th Century theology (the Gnostic Gospel of Judas and other ancient texts give a very similar portrayal though, making this OlderThanFeudalism, but this idea didn't become popular until much later).

* BibleTimes: A deconstruction, it shows the time to be really poor, with a lot of violence and many religious mystics aside from Jesus, in addition to the Zealots (as was [[TruthInTelevision really the case]]).

%%* CameBackWrong: Lazarus, if to a less severe extent than usual for this trope.
%%* CelibateHero: Subverted. [[spoiler:Then double subverted.]]

* CreatorCameo: Martin Scorsese did this many many times. In this film he pops up as the prophet Isaiah.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Mary Magdalene usually wears decorated barefoot sandals. Also, the guardian angel is over things like footwear, in her case entering BarefootSage or MagicalBarefooter field.

%% * GoOutWithASmile: Jesus after the final temptation: "It is accomplished!"

* TheFilmOfTheBook: [[Literature/TheBible No, not that book.]] It's actually an adaptation of a book by the same name.

* TheFinalTemptation: It's right there in the title, really.

Other people appearing in the film include Creator/HarveyKeitel as Judas, Barbara Hershey as Mary Magdalene, Creator/HarryDeanStanton as Paul of Tarsus, and Music/DavidBowie as Pontius Pilate.

* GoOutWithASmile: Jesus after the final temptation: "It is accomplished!"

* GodIsFlawed: {{Played with}}. The point of the novel is to examine Christ as both entirely divine and entirely human. He's subject to many of the fears and temptations that humans have, and while he doesn't necessarily ''indulge'' in sin himself, his intrinsically paradoxical nature as the Messiah fills him with severe self-doubt, insecurity as to his worthiness, and suppressed anger towards those who merely plan to use him for their own purposes. Satan tempts him with power, authority, and sovereignty, but the final temptation -- and the hardest to overcome -- [[spoiler:is a vision of himself as normal man married to loving wives with children of his own. He ultimately resists and becomes the Christ of Literature/TheBible, gladly accepting his Father's plan.]]

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: [[spoiler:Because they aren't angels at all.]]

** An oblique bit of AuthorAppeal from screenwriter Paul Schrader--the scene where [[spoiler:Jesus pulls his heart out of his chest]] was partly meant to be a reference to the [[https://calvin.edu/dotAsset/78ff17c1-c69f-4067-ab32-e00273104c78.jpg school seal]] of Schrader's alma mater, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_College Calvin College]]. (Plus, it would have resonated with [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Heart certain iconography]] from Scorsese's Catholic background.)

* TruthInTelevision: Setting aside the controversy surrounding the film, one detail that's undeniable is that Dafoe's physical appearance as Jesus is more realistic than is usual for the Western cannon. To elaborate, the Western Jesus is usually conceptualized as a long-haired, conventionally attractive white man who, beyond being just thin, usually appears emaciated in depictions of the Passion. While Willem Dafoe is certainly a long-haired white man, he's hardly what most people would consider "conventionally attractive", and his wiry physique in the film makes a lot more sense considering that Jesus was a ''carpenter'' before beginning his ministry, even if the bits about Jesus also being a Jewish Middle-Easterner didn't make it into the film.

** 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. Of course, this Saul is part of the vision shown by the Devil as part of the titular temptation, so YMMV.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Judas gets this as per the revisionist accounts of 20th Century theology. (The Gnostic Gospel of Judas and other ancient texts give a very similar portrayal though, making this OlderThanFeudalism, but this idea didn't become popular until much later.)
* AdaptedOut: The novel contains more characters that do not appear in the film, such as Simon of Cyrene (portrayed as a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold foul-mouthed yet kind]] owner of the tavern Jesus and His disciples used to hang out). Some of the more supernatural/fantasy sequences found in the novel are also muted down or cut out altogether.

* BibleTimes: A deconstruction, it shows the time to be really poor, with a lot of violence and many religious mystics aside from Jesus, in addition to the Zealots.