Reflections of Brother Eulogius

XI

If you are of a certain age like myself, you'll recall the furore that greeted the Martin Scorsese film 'The Last Temptation of Christ' upon its release back in the late 1980s. The controversy was rabid. Fundamentalist Christians made the headlines of the local paper even in my own UK hometown, protesting outside the cinemas where the movie was being shown. A well-known pastor in the city gave a statement to the press condemning the blasphemy that he claimed the film was guilty of, without of course ever having seen the film in person. Condemnation by hearsay is always the most pernicious kind. After all, such was what got millions burned as witches back in the day.

Of course, the main objection that protesting evangelicals had when it came to 'Last Temptation' was its portrayal of Jesus having a physical relationship with Mary Magdalene. Never mind that the movie was only an adpatation of a much older book , called O Teleutaios Peirasmos, written in the 1950s by Nikos Kazantzakis. Never mind that Kazantzakis had only used a long-held belief held to by many for two millennia, that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had enjoyed what we might call a 'special relationship', and were possibly even lovers or husband and wife. The film was simply old news effectively  and powerfully communicated.

When I got round to catching the movie on old VHS tape some ten years after its release (yep, I tend to be a late-comer to the party!), the power of the film affected me in a way that arguably no other film ever has.  It is a tremendously powerful piece of storytelling. The most striking element of all is its portrayal of very human Jesus. He is very much a troubled character, plagued by an awakening to who he really is. He fights the voice in his head, resists the dawning realisation. This Jesus is relateable and all the more powerful for his humanity and his failings. We first encounter him making crosses for the Romans  on which they execute his countrymen. It's an effective introduction to Jesus the man who remains unaware of who he really is, who is trying to drown out the insistent voice that haunts him by inviting divine displeasure.

This schizophrenic portrayal so wonderfully acted by Willem Dafoe did little to endear Last Temptation to traditional conservative Christians. The problem has always been the inability of fundamentalist evangelicals to see the human Jesus behind the Cosmic Christ. They imagine him having always been aware of his divinity, that there was a seamless passing from the womb straight into a realisation of his true identity. Last Temptation dares to imagine the unimaginable and paints a realistic experience of a man who is waking up.

In its depiction of Mary Magdalene, the story follows the traditional view of her as a prostitute, although nowhere in the canonical or non-canonical literature is this ever stated. However, I personally have no qualms with this portrayal in Last Temptation or outside of the framework of the story. Magdalene is the Sophia to the Christ whom Jesus embodies. Magdalene's prostitution serves as a powerful metaphor for the lost Sophia who descended from Pleromic glory and was entrapped in the material realm. A metaphor for Wisdom's desperate attempt to realise her eternal union with the Light she yearns for, her Logos Christ,

The Last Temptation of Christ is arguably the most realistic and accurate portrayal of Jesus ever committed to the screen. It pulls no punches to show us a Jesus we can truly empathise with and relate to. A Jesus struggling with his doubts, a Jesus who makes mistakes on the way, a Jesus whose true power lies in this weakness and doubt, and who stays with the viewer long after the credits roll.