.. Janet Maslin's review of.. Scorcese's.. "The Last Temptation of Christ".. in the New York Times..

Review/Film; 'Last Temptation,' Scorsese's View Of Jesus' Sacrifice The Last Temptation of ChristNYT Critic's PickDirected by Martin ScorseseDramaR2h 44m By Janet Maslin Aug. 12, 1988 Credit...The New York Times Archives See the article in its original context from August 12, 1988, Section C, Page 1Buy Reprints New York Times subscribers* enjoy full access to TimesMachine—view over 150 years of New York Times journalism, as it originally appeared. SUBSCRIBE *Does not include Crossword-only or Cooking-only subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS'S radical, revisionist novel ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' redefines divinity through choice. It suggests that if Jesus accepted his destiny triumphantly, in full awareness of another alternative, his spiritual example was thus greatly enhanced by a human dimension. ''That part of Christ's nature which was profoundly human,'' Mr. Kazantzakis wrote in his introduction to this startling volume, ''helps us to understand him and love him and to pursue his Passion as though it were our own.'' Martin Scorsese's film adaptation of this 1951 novel, which opens today at the Ziegfeld, is also informed by a concept of choice, and the choices the film maker has made cover a wide spectrum. He has elected to shun the conventions of Biblical cinema, underscore the contemporary implications of Mr. Kazantzakis's story, create a heightened historical context for Jesus' teachings and emphasize the visceral aspects of his experience as well. Though the choices that shape this exceptionally ambitious, deeply troubling and, at infrequent moments, genuinely transcendent film are often contradictory, they create an extra dimension. Mr. Scorsese's evident struggle with this material becomes as palpable as the story depicted on the screen. Faith and sacrifice, guilt and rede mption, sin and atonement - these are forceful elements in many of Mr. Scorsese's earlier films, from ''Mean Streets'' (1973) to ''Taxi Driver'' (1976) to ''Raging Bull'' (1980). And these works have established their director as perhaps the most innately religious of major American film makers, certainly one of the best. But paradoxically, the film that finds Mr. Scorsese in such close proximity to the heart of his earlier concerns is often strikingly less spiritual than its secular equivalents. It seems possible, indeed understandable, that for him this monumental subject has had a daunting effect. COOKING: Daily inspiration, delicious recipes and other updates from Sam Sifton and NYT Cooking. Sign Up The director does not seem constrained by the episodes setting forth Mr. Kazantzakis's most daring constructs; if anything, it is these seemingly irreverent and sometimes very bloody sequences that generate the film's most spontaneous and powerful scenes. ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' begins with a voice-over (its tone reminiscent of Harvey Keitel's opening inner monologue in ''Mean Streets'') that presents Jesus as a tormented, worried individual. Soon afterward, he is seen assisting in the crucifixion of a fellow Jew, an act that makes him the object of universal scorn. He is doing this, he then explains, in a passage that typifies the film's unconventional tactics, because he fears and dreads his Messianic destiny. Perhaps he would rather invoke God's wrath than His love. ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story Soon afterward, he appears transfixed by guilt, sorrow and even longing in the presence of Mary Magdalene (played in fiery style by a tattoo-wearing Barbara Hershey) as he watches her engage in prostitution with an international array of clients. Pained, awkward and self-analytical in these early moments (''What if I say the wrong thing? What if I say the right thing?''), the film's Jesus changes markedly as the story progresses. He is seen addressing and conquering his doubts until he at last attains a joyful acceptance of his role. Thanks for reading The Times. Subscribe to The Times The promise held forth by the film's beginning, a promise to use drastic and unexpected ideas as a means of understanding Jesus' inner life, gradually gives way to something less focused. Though this handsome film was made on a small budget and a streamlined scale, it's big enough to wander from the central thread of its story. The opening sequences, which are abruptly strung together, are closely connected with Jesus' internal struggle, but they give way to a less emotionally compelling central section in which miracle after miracle is re-enacted. This part of the film, working as a kind of greatest hits sequence in which Jesus heals the sick, turns water to wine and raises a handsome young Lazarus from the grave, functions as pageantry without much passion. A lot of the film has this stilted, showy quality, since it's often more apt to announce its ideas than to illustrate them. In contrast with the real spiritual torment conveyed by many of Mr. Scorsese's other characters, his version of Jesus is a controlled, slightly remote figure, despite the screenplay's many allusions to his pain. Fortunately, Willem Dafoe has such a gleaming intensity in this role, so much quiet authority, that the film's images of Jesus are overwhelming even when the thoughts attributed to him are not. As photographed by Michael Ballhaus and staged by Mr. Scorsese, with many aspects of religious painting in mind, some of the film works better on a visual level than a verbal one. Many of the tableaux that come to life here, like the elaborate Palm Sunday scene, are altogether breathtaking. The dialogue that accompanies these moments amounts to one of the film's great incongruities, since the language (in a screenplay by Paul Schrader) is often as intentionally flat as the imagery is starkly glorious. Peering out through various odd-looking beards and wigs are actors so identifiable and eccentric that they often upstage the material: though David Bowie makes a strikingly urbane Pontius Pilate, Andre Gregory as a chattering John the Baptist and Harry Dean Stanton as a fast-talking Saul (who becomes Paul) have a more distracting effect. So does Harvey Keitel, with red hair and an enlarged nose to play an eminently down-to-earth Judas, whose betrayal of Jesus is one of the many events that this film re-envisions. When a lion appears to Jesus in the desert and asks, in the voice of Mr. Keitel, ''Don't you rekonnize me?'', the film is in danger of becoming silly. And yet, despite such maladroit moments, ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' finally exerts enormous power. What emerges most memorably is its sense of absolute conviction, never more palpable than in the final fantasy sequence that removes Jesus from the cross and creates for him the life of an ordinary man. Though this episode lasts longer than it should and is allowed to wander far afield, it finally has the mightily affirmative, truly visceral impact for which the whole film clearly strives. Anyone who questions the sincerity or seriousness of what Mr. Scorsese has attempted need only see the film to lay those doubts to rest. The Inner Life Of the Absolute THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, directed by Martin Scorsese; written by Paul Schrader; based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis; director of photography, Michael Ballhaus; edited by Thelma Schoonmaker; music by Peter Gabriel; production designer, John Beard; produced by Barbara De Fina; released by Universal Pictures. At the Ziegfeld, Avenue of the Americas and 54th Street. Running time: 160 minutes. This film is rated R. Jesus ... Willem Dafoe Judas ... Harvey Keitel Mary Magdalene ... Barbara Hershey Saul/Paul ... Harry Dean Stanton Pontius Pilate ... David Bowie John the Baptist ... Andre Gregory Lazarus ... Tomas Arana Editors’ Picks They Can’t Leave the Bay Area Fast Enough An 11-Minute Body-Weight Workout With Proven Fitness Benefits How a Historian Got Close, Maybe Too Close, to a Nazi Thief The Last Temptation of ChristNYT Critic's Pick DirectorMartin Scorsese WritersNikos Kazantzakis (novel), Paul Schrader StarsWillem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Paul Greco, Steve Shill RatingR Running Time2h 44m GenreDrama