The series will be presented when there is very little other Oscar or film news to discuss, so it will not always be in order week after week. But first up, I'd like to kick off this new series with a 2-week analysis and defense of what is possibly still the most controversial motion picture ever made. It's a film which has been unduly attacked since its release over ten years ago, and still this to day remains hard to track down because of the controversy. Former critic Gene Siskel was bold enough to call 1988's best film, and I wholeheartedly agree. Martin Scorsese's undeniable masterpiece The Last Temptation of Christ should have been nominated for at least ten Academy Awards in 1988, instead of the one nod it got for Best Director (Scorsese should have won also!). It should have been up for Best Picture, Best Actor-Willem Dafoe, Best Supporting Actor-Harvey Keitel, Best Director-Martin Scorsese, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Music-Original Score for Peter Gabriel, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound. Instead, the controversy overshadowed the film, and it was virtually ignored by the Academy ... Rain Man and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? instead ruled the 1988 Oscars.
Ever since the film's release, I have been a tireless supporter of this amazingly powerful and seriously devout film, and in this two-part analysis and defense of this film, beginning this week and concluding next week, I hope to finally put together all I've ever wanted to say in defense of one of the bravest, most honest, and powerful pieces of film art ever created. It will no doubt still engender debate, but it's time this film be honored for the truly wonderful film it is.
It's safe to say that this one film, Martin Scorsese's epic 1988 achievement, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, easily earns the title of Most Controversial Film Ever Made. Even ten years after its release, when an independent film channel attempts to do what no other cable channel is bold enough to do --televise the film -- Christian groups still try to fight to keep this film from public view. And for ten years, I've wondered why. How is it that a film from one of our most acclaimed and gifted film directors, a man who holds religion and spirituality very sacred, been so vehemently hated by individuals who claim they love Christ and God?
