Talk:The Last Temptation of Christ (film)

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I wrote a summary for this movie and posted it here because 1) I'm new to wikipedia and don't know many of the standards and procedures. 2) I'm not a great writer and would like some feedback and/or editorial opinion. 3) I'm not a Christian. On this last point I think one advantage is that I'm only concerned about summarizing the movie, and not a life of Jesus. But it is also a disadvantage because I am unfamiliar with some of the nuisances of Christianity and what the movie is trying to say (i.e. about sin), that a devout person may know. Here is the summary without any links:

Jesus of Nazareth is a carpenter in the Roman client state of Judea. He is torn between himself as a man and the realization that he is the son of God. There is additional agony as he cannot be sure that he is the Messiah as predicted in the prophecies. This conflict results in a certain amount of self loathing and he even collaborates to construct crosses used by Romans to crucify Jews, an act that brands him a traitor in the eyes of he fellow Israelites.

Mary Magdalene, a Jewish prostitute whose clients include gentiles, represents temptation in the form of women and love to Jesus. She asks him to stay with her, which Jesus, as a man, seriously considers before deciding on traveling to a monastery. While there Jesus sees a vision of a snake in his quarters which "speaks" with the voice of Mary.

Judas Iscariot belongs to a nationalistic splinter faction which wishes to revolt against Roman rule. He is sent with orders to kill Jesus for being a collaborator. Jesus even asks him to do so when confronted, but Judas simply mimics the motion of the knife across Jesus' throat. Judas has known Jesus for a while now and wants to know of he is really the Messiah. Judas asks him if he will lead a revolution against the Romans, which Jesus denies, although not outright. He tries to tell Judas that his message is love, that love of mankind is the highest virtue that God wants. Judas is conflicted about this message, but joins Jesus in his ministry, telling him that if he (Jesus) strays from revolution he (Judas) will kill him.

Jesus then saves Mary from an angry mob which has come to stone her for her prostitution and working on the sabbath. Using the well known idiom, let he who is without sin cast the first stone, he persuades the crowd to spare her life and instead preaches to them. He tells them the parable of the sower and says that he is the farmer and they are the seeds. His message is that the weak and hungry will one day be the strong and fulfilled, and that love of their fellow man is the path of God.

Through his ministry Jesus develops a following and disciples, some of whom will eventually become his apostles. But throughout this time he is still uncertain of his role and his status as Messiah. He travels with his apostles to see John the Baptist who has heard of Jesus' reputation. After an emotional baptism, John and Jesus discuss their differing theologies. John believes that one must first gain freedom from the Romans before the world of God is declared, while Jesus claims that love is more important. The two embrace emotionally and Jesus wanders into the desert to see if God really speaks to him.

While in the desert Jesus is tempted three times by Satan: first with love as represented by a snake with the voice of Mary; second with power as represented by a lion with the voice of Judas; and third time by Satan himself as a naked flame. Jesus resists all these temptations and instead has a vision of himself with an axe chopping down an apple tree. He appears as a vision to his waiting apostles where he rips out his heart and tells them to follow him. With new found courage as the Messiah he proceeds to perform many miracles: giving vision to a blind man, turning water into wine, and raising Lazarus from the dead.

Eventually his ministry reaches Jerusalem where he is enraged by the money-changers in the temple and throws them out. The angry Jesus even leads a small army to try and take the temple by force. But instead he halts the steps and begins bleeding from the hands. He realizes that violence is not the right path, and that he must die in order to bring salvation to mankind. Confiding in Judas he asks his best friend and strongest apostle to turn him in to the palace guards, something that Judas does not want to do. But Jesus implores that this is the only way. A crying Judas acquiesces.

At the last supper Jesus tells his other apostles, Judas leaves early, to take bread and wine as his body and blood. Then while outside the city Judas leads the palace guards to take Jesus away. Simon manages to cut off the ear of one of the guards, but Jesus miraculously reattaches it telling everyone he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.

Meeting with Pontius Pilate he is told that he (Jesus) must be put to death because he represents a threat against the status quo. Jesus is tortured and whipped, and a crown of thorns is placed on his head. He is lead to Golgotha, where he is to be crucified with the plaque INRI. The crucifixion is carried out and Jesus, while in agonizing pain on the cross, sees and talks to a young girl who in his guardian angle. The noise from the crowd is muted while she leads him away, telling him that he has passed the final test and that he is not the son of God.

She takes him to be with Mary, and the newly married couple make love. Mary is impregnated by Jesus and they live an idyllic life in what looks to be a Northern European forest. But Mary one days dies and the sobbing Jesus is told by his angle that all women are "Mary," and thus he is betrothed to Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus. He starts a family with them and lives his life in peace. He even tells Paul, who is preaching nearby, that he is not the son of God and that Paul is wasting his time. But Paul tells him that his message is more important that who he really is.

Near the end of his life Judas comes and sees him and called him a traitor. It is revealed that Jesus' guardian angle is in fact Satan, who has managed to tempt him into this life of comfort and joy. Jesus realized that he must in fact die to bring salvation to mankind. Crawling back through the burning city of Jerusalem, he reaches the site of his crucifixion and begs God to sacrifice him. He is returned to the cross, his previous life being only a dream. He cries out as he dies, "It is accomplished." Ender qa 20:32, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Ender, this is a very good start. When I have some time, I'll take a crack at some revisions and additions. Jedgeco 20:40, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Dream sequence"

The article describes the events after the angel (later revealed to be Satan) takes Jesus down from the cross, as a "dream sequence". Is there a reference for this?

My interpretation is quite different. I see these events as ones that, from the point of view of the film, really happened, but then were made to not-have-happened by the intervention of God the Father, in response to Jesus' prayer, after Judas shows Jesus his error.

I don't have any reference either; that's just the way I saw the film. But consider: According to the "dream sequence" interpretation, Jesus didn't have any control over the outcome. He could fantasize as much as he wanted, but it wasn't a genuine "temptation", because there wasn't anything he could do about it. Nor is there any danger of the chance for atonement being lost.

By my interpretation, on the other hand, Satan was on the verge of victory, which would have been attained with Jesus' natural death and the loss of the hope of man's redemption, and was denied that victory by Jesus' conscious choice to throw away the joyful life he had had, and make it not have happened.

I hope it's clear that I'm writing in the terms of the film, with its traditional view of substitutionary atonement; I'm not saying I myself believe in it. But in those terms, I think my interpretation makes much more sense. --Trovatore 05:06, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Trovatore, your explanation makes sense to a certain extent. It's not really clear exactly what is happening during that extended sequence. However, it is almost universally referred to as a "dream sequence" or "hallucination" in everything that's been written about the picture; it's become a shorthand explanation. I'm going to look at my Scorsese books and see if he says anything about it. Jedgeco 20:38, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

This is a bit different but is it certan Satan tells Jesus that he is not Gods son. It has been a wile since I saw it, but can swear that one of the ways Satan convinces Jesus to come with him is by telling him that if God spared Abraham's son wouldn't he spare his own. Although maybe there is something in there that I am not interpreting correctly.140.232.146.190 (talk) 04:00, 14 December 2007 (UTC)