THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

1988

The Trinity is unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit. The exact relationship between these three has led to discussion on the part of religious specialists. Jesus is especially complex in that there have been arguments about his divine and human nature. The majority of Christianity regards Jesus as having both a divine and a human nature. In effect God appears in the physical form of Jesus. The early Christians debated this with some arguing for Christ being identical with God (the Father) and having a single divine nature. This is one of the differences between the Coptic Church and the other branches of Christianity. The majority of Christianity calls this the monophysite (mono - one, physis-nature) heresy, The Orthodox Christians hold there is a human component but it is not as strong as the Roman Catholics and Protestants. This is the Council of Chalcedon (451)

Monophysitism (from the Greek monos meaning 'one, alone' and physis meaning 'nature') is the christological position that Christ has only one nature, as opposed to the Chalcedonian position which holds that Christ has two natures, one divine and one human. There are two major doctrines that can undisputedly be called monophysite.

Eutychianism holds that the human nature of Christ was essentially obliterated by the Divine, "dissolved like a drop of honey in the sea".

Apollinarianism holds that Christ had a human body and human "living principle" but that the Divine Logos had taken the place of the nous, or "thinking principle", analogous but not identical to what might be called a mind in the present day.

The radical monophysitism of Eutyches, a presbyter and archimandrite at Constantinople, emerged as a response to Nestorianism. It was rejected at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and is also rejected by the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Later, monothelitism was developed as an attempt to bridge the gap between the monophysite and the Chalcedonian position, but it too was rejected by the Chalcedonians, despite at times having the support of the Byzantine Emperors and one of the Popes of Rome (Honorius I). Some are of the opinion that monothelitism was at one time held by the Maronites, but they, for the most part, dispute this, stating that the Maronite community has never been out of communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

Miaphysitism, the Christology of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, is sometimes considered a variant of monophysitism, but these churches view their theology as distinct from monophysitism and anathematize Eutyches.

As a result of Christ's dual nature, a Greek writer, Nikos Kastenzakis wrote a book in which he wondered about the way in which the human part of Christ affects his life. The book caused a major sensation when it came out.

A number of years later, Martin Scorcese, who had at one time seriously entertained the idea of becoming a priest, took the novel and made it into a film which was considered equally scandalous by a number of religious people. Like many of Scorcese's films he is interested in psychology of the characters in his films.

The film, like many "personal visions" of the life of Jesus, was attacked from many quarters, not the least of which were the fundamentalist Christians. The complexity of the American religious system is too much for this class, but it can be said that of all the western countries, the US is the most religious (and fundamentalist) and also the only one without a state religion.

Kazantzakis as the opening statement of the film says, was fascinated by the question of how these two natures interact. In effect if Jesus is both human AND divine, how does the human half deal with the divine.

One question one needs to deal with is since this is not literally drawn from the gospels, can we claim it as a "Bible film". The Ray and Stevens films try to harmonize the four gospels; Passolini relies solely on Matthew; Scorcese relies on Kazantzakis who bases his book on the gospels, but adds his own theological interests into the mix. In addition he complicates matters by having both Mary Magdalene and Judas childhood friends of Jesus.

We have talked about the problems of translation, but one we have not discussed, is the social nature of language. The King James version of The Bible uses a rather archaic language (thou, thee, etc.). How is language used in this film? What effect does that have on the viewer's perception of Jesus and his followers?

AFTER THE FILM

Film starts with Christ with a kind of divine migraine as the two parts are not really together.

Like the question of Jesus' divinity we discussed earlier there are questions of whether that is there from the start or whether it develops as Jesus grows. What is the idea in this film? What does the film say about this?

How does God reveal his plan to Jesus? Does knowledge come all at once or is it revealed slowly?

What happens with Magdalene as prostitute? It appears that Jesus didn't marry her so she became a prostitute. Jesus wants forgiveness but it isn't easy.

Jesus says "blame me not God" (does not recognize who he is yet).

Jesus confesses he sees God as "fear" (Old Testament idea). Later axe, later mercy, later sacrifice - Judas - no plan - different plan every day. Plan is being revealed. Merger of God with human.

> Discussion about the body or soul as foundation. Does this relate to mind/body spiritual/material God/human dichotomies major plot shift is Jesus descent from cross. Test like with Abraham. Doesn't have to suffer. Winds up suffering loss of Magdalene etc.

This is the Last Temptation. It is necessary for him to die, so Jesus overcomes the devil's last temptation.

Casting problems

Willem DaFoe another "known" actor as is Harvey Keitel. What is the impact of using these characters?
What linguistic problems are there in the speech of the characters.

Jesus and Judas - very low class English. Almost like street gangs. Were the disciples like that? Battles between disciples sound like arguments on the street, not theological arguments Herod (David Bowie) English. Remember earlier discussions about the "enemy" being British to parallel American Revolution.

Idea is to get people to see Jesus in a new light - not like in the Ray and Stevens films.

Visual Images