Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 132

Friday A Section 7 Chicago Tribune, Friday, August 12, 1968 Scorsese's admirable film a notch below his best mm artin Scorsese's movies have IT; tl long been full of Christ-like characters, from the bandit who is crucified on the side For a special Gene Siskel interview with director Martin Scorsese, plus actor Willem Dafoe's views on playing Christ, see the Arts section in Sunday's Tribune. 'Last Temptation' on of finest religious films ever of a boxcar in "Boxcar Bertha" (1972) to the yuppie who suffers a symbolic death and resurrection at the end of "After Hours" (1985). In his new film, he offers a very Scorsese-like Christ, but somehow, the inversion of the process produces a film a notch or two below Scorsese's very high standards. "The Last Temptation of Christ" is an admirably seri 3 ur Flick of the Week is "The Last Temptation of Christ" the most talked I about yet little seen movie of the year. aMIi All of the uninformed protest will only I serve to fuel attendance for what turns out to be a very fine, thoughtful and beautifully performed rumination on Jesus and the difficulty of living according to His principles.

Based on Nikos Kazantzakis' novel, which was similarly protested more than 30 years ago, "The Last Temptation of Christ" portrays Jesus questioning His divinity and, finally, fantasizing while on the cross what His life might be like if He ous, accomplished movie, though it betrays little of the complicated texture and furious creativity of Scorsese at his best It's as if the choice of subject matter, far from freeing Scorsese to explore the spiritual' themes were an ordinary man. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese Driver," "Raging whose films have mostly been concerned about the possibility of flawed humans becoming saved. With a script by Paul Schrader, "The Last Temptation of Christ" argues quietly but passionately that it is more difficult to be a good man Pi Willem Dafoe as Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ." into a frenzy of high-camp stylization for his biblical epics, Scorsese has selected a dusty neo-realist approach, similar in some respects to Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1966 "The Gospel According to St Matthew." The look of the film lays claim to an ethnographical authenticity Mary Magdalene's tattoos are based on Arabic and Mesopotamian examples, the set design keeps close to the small scale of the period architecture, the crucifixion scene is based on details discovered in archeological digs. Yet these "realistic" touches have been denatured by a stripped down, elemental camera style simple, medium-ground compositions that stand in startling opposition to Scorsese's usual dramatically forced perspectives; a limited color palette (brown and blue, with an occasional surge of red blood) that has the emotional neutrality of a postcard. Studiously neutral, too, are the lines and line-readings the cast members restrict themselves to the California accents and careful enunciations of television actors.

(For some reason, the evil characters David Bowie's Pontius Pilate among them are given British accents.) The dialogue has been shaped, in Paul Schroder's script, to avoid the too-familiar words, yet no distinctive manner of speech has been put in its place (instead of "Let he among you who is without sin Jesus now says, "Who has never sinned For Dafoe, Hershey and Harvey Keitcl (who plays the film's reluctant Judas), it's as if they had been deprived of their instruments; all performers of great individuality and emotional intensity, they leave no strong impression here. And as Scorsese proceeds through the film's first two hours, when he mixes biblical anecdotes with bloodless philosophical discussions, neither does the film. Only in the final 40 minutes the visionary passage does Scorsese allow himself a measure of freedom. As Christ imagines his descent from the cross, his marriage to Mary Magdalene and his passage into old age, the spaces suddenly become more complex, the lighting more expressive and the performances more creative. It's here that the film's most controversial image occurs a brief, distanced shot of Dafoe and Hershey making love and the effect, far from being salacious, is warm and natural.

Scorsese has had no other theme in his career than this conflict of the spirit and the flesh, the high calling and the earthly existence. He has been able to imagine this theme as the stuff of social drama horror satire musical comedy York, New and tragedy And yet, when he goes to the primary source the biblical texts that formed his world view he isn't quite able to bring the conflict to fife. He needs distance to liberate his imagination and fire his feelings. "The Last Temptation -of Christ" ft i a i hi mmm MtoAAa -1 uncna Dy mrai wtwwn oy fwtM sctvTKMr, tram tie novel by Nikoe Kezantzalae; phMograptwd by Michael BMhauc edited by Tlwtm Scteonmakw; production designed by John Board; muMC by Pater Gabriel; produced by Barbara Da Fma. A Universal Pictina release; opana Aug.

12 at the Btograph Theater. Running rims: lia. MPAA rating: R. Viownoa, aduk akuaoona, briaf nudity. TH8 CAST Jesus WMam Dafoa Judas Harvey Kettel Mary Minrtslens Barbara Heraney SaufPaui Harry Daan Stanton PontMPaate David Bowie John Via Baptist Andra Oregon MaryMotharst Jesus Varna Bloom that have always run through his work, has actually stifled him, forcing him to a plane of abstraction and over-explic-itness where this most rapturous of filmmakers can no longer comfortably function.

There's a sad irony in the fact that Scorsese, one of the very few contem-. porary filmmakers to show a serious interest in religious questions, now finds himself accused of the most extreme blasphemies. Nothing in "The Last Temptation of Christ has been designed to shock or outrage religious" people in the manner of, say, "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979) or Luis Bunuel's "The Milky Way" (1970), to name two movies that passed without engendering a fraction of the passion that has erupted over Scorsese's film. Based on a novel by Nikos Ka-zantzakis, "The Last Temptation" is actually less bold than most historical novels in its attempt to imagine the inner life of a historical figure. The outlines of the Gospels are followed fairly closely (though the picture begins with a disclaimer denying any biblical basis), with the conspicuous exception of the film's final 40 minutes an extended vision experienced by Christ on the cross of the normal life He might have had.

What has been. added is largely a matter of personal psychology that is to say, of the 20th Century's own way of dealing with the eternal questions. Scorsese's Jesus, played by Willem Dafoe of "Platoon," is a conflicted figure, dedicated to His mission but drawn by the pleasures of a secular life (represented by Barbara Hershey's Mary Magdalene), unsure of whether to follow a program of love and passive resistance (as His inner voices dic-tate)or vengeance and violent purification (as Andre Gregory's John the Baptist urges Him to do). Scorsese has done nothing more than the religious artist of any age have done that is, to paint a portrait of Christ in terms drawn from the contemporary culture. There will be those, of course, who object to any sort of interpretation of the biblical account, as is their right But by Creating the subject seriously at all, Scorsese runs an equal risk from those members of the filmgoing pub- than God.

That message should be of solace to any sinner and helps make this movie one of the very finest most accessible religious films ever made. Willem Dafoe is credible as this film's all-too-human Jesus. Speaking in his natural American accent Dafoe manages to draw us into the mystery, anguish and joy of the holy life. This is anything but another one of those boring biblical costume epics. There is genuine challenge and hope in this movie.

"The Last Temptation of Christ" is playing at the Biograph. Rated R. -k-k-kVi Flicks Picks guide New this week BAMH (outrytngl A reissue of the 192 classic that St manages to terrify little ones when Bambi't mother is shot (off-screen) and when a forest fire threatens Bambi's own life. The raw emotion is a there: the loving mother afraid only of "man and the distant, almost unapproachable father figure. What you might forget however, is the physical beauty of the fern, partjcuiarly in the "Little Apr! Shower raindrops musical sequence.

And see if you agree that the head of cute Thumper the rabbit looks to doseup a little bit Hke Roger Rabbit G. Vt B3 (Btogreph, Water Tower and ouoytngL Another one of those toy-trapped-eiside-a-man's-body comedies, which is not to be contused with those man-trapped-inaidee-boy's-borJy comedies. Tom Hanks stars as a 13-year-old boy who gets fas wish to become a bigger boy, 30-year-old man. Before you continue groaning, you might want to knew that Hanks proves himself to be an adept comedian here, much In the same way that Judge Relnhold saved smearty themed Vice Versa. And "Big Is at Its best when romance blooms at a toy company where Elizabeth Perkins Last is an executive and Hanks has become a star vice president with his innocent approach to picking best-selling toys.

Not a major movie but a pleasing one. PQ. BIG TOP PEE -WEE (Water Tower and outlying). Missing from this sequel is the totally serf -contained, off-the-wal approach of the original. Instead, this film is part whimsy and part traditional love story, leading up to a circus Urate with only one cute bit animals walking the high-wire.

The circus angle comes about when a troupe of big-top performers breaks down near Pee woe farm at which he is conducting wed experiments, such as growing hot dog trees. Pee woe fats in love with the circus' aeriaiist but the movie would have been much funnier If It had simply stayed with the experiments and Its on the farm. Kris Knstoflerson walks quietly through his role as the heed of the ctrcus. PQ. THE BLOB (Chestnut Station, Dearborn and Outlying).

A lackluster remake of the 1958 Grade-S thriller that starred Steve McQueen combating a rokng mass of glop. The fun Inherent at that film Is missing from this new production starring Kevin Oaxm, Shawnee Smith end Candy Clark as a group of young people confronting a new gooey mess from outer space that arrives in a smal rural American town. This movie concerned mostly with special latex effects as one person after another Is trapped inside the gaia-tinous blob and we see the outline of their face and body In distorted poses. And that's about It except for grand finale that leaves open the chance that another "Btob" may return. Based on See Flicks Picks, pj, lie no doubt the vast majority who find such concerns hopelessly unfashionable.

Without the publicity provided by the protests, it seems likely that "The Last Temptation" would have proven no more commercial than the 1985 box office disaster "King David," with Richard Gere. In retrospect, it now seems clear that Scorsese underestimated the offense his project might cause, and he must bear the responsibility for that And yet, the filming itself seems extremely, almost fatally cautious as if Scorsese had spent more energy avoiding the dangers inherent in the material than in devising a creative approach to it The first challenge for any maker of a biblical film is to discover a look and language for the characters that will not seem immediately absurd, and it is a challenge few. have passed. Where Cecil B. DcMille threw himself.