The film is starring Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel and Barbara Hershey. The film tells of the life of Jesus Christ and the tasks he was fighting. The film deals with the process of fighting to save man, especially the resistance to the temptation suffered by Jesus.
Concentrating on the humanity and fallibility of Jesus in continual conflict with his divinity, the film falters as a contemporary statement mainly in its primitive view of women.
All the characters in the film speak as people in today's modern society speak, and I would argue that's one of the things that make The Last Temptation of Christ so approachable.
Among those who do not already have rigid views on the subject, this film is likely to inspire more serious thought on the nature of Jesus than any other ever made.
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.
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
April 25, 2011
Quietly radical and deeply inspiring . . . thanks to a fervid commitment by Willem Dafoe as Jesus, a swirling, cross-cultural score from Peter Gabriel and some thrilling interpretations of the Bible. The ending is a rare moment of transcendence on film.
