Year

Country

Home

People

Films

Articles

Store

The Last Temptation of Christ - "God Doesn't Like This Movie" 

The Scenes that Offended

The segment of the film that gave rise to the most vociferous objections is the fantasy of Jesus engineered by Satan in a final attempt to deflect him from his role as the saviour of mankind.   

In the film, an angelic girl appears at the foot of Jesus’ crucifix and leads him away from the scene of his death to an awaiting Mary Magdalene.   She cleans his wounds and makes love to him.   Nine months later, now married to Jesus, she dies in childbirth and the angel takes him to Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and Martha of Bethany, with whom he then lives as an ordinary man.   He fathers a number of children by Mary and Martha and leads an unremarkable life of domestic happiness until he is close to death.   At this point his disciples, and in particular Judas, gather around him and berate him for the wasteful life he has led.  The angel-child, who is actually an agent of Satan and has been a constant companion throughout Jesus’ alternative life, disappears and, shamed by the disappointment of his disciples, Jesus begs his father to return him to the cross so that he can fulfill his role as the saviour of mankind.   Having survived and transcended this final temptation he utters his dying words: ‘it is accomplished.’

Within this segment of the film, it was the depiction of Jesus engaging in sexual intercourse with Mary Magdalene that provoked most outrage, even though the film’s conclusion made clear that the scene was not real but a ruse of the Devil which Jesus eventually overcame.   Sex outside of marriage is forbidden for millions of Christians, and it is therefore ironic that the sex versus spirituality theme explored by the film was not seen by those protestors to whom it was most relevant.

 [ADD]

Next: The Protests (4 of 4)

(Back)