The Last Temptation Of Christ: Film Analysis

A significant part of The Bible is the story of Jesus Christ. In The New Testament, the story of Jesus is told from the four gospels that each tell a different recount of his life and death. Nevertheless, Jesus is believed to be the Messiah and Son of God in every telling of his story. This divinity is always associated with him, but another important characterization of him is his humanistic quality. Both of these aspects represent his dual nature as a human and a God. This nature of Jesus is present in the film, The Last Temptation of Christ, by Martin Scorsese. The movie is an alternative interpretation of Jesus’s story compared to the gospels in The Bible. Despite being different, both interpretations share the theme about his dual nature …show more content…
The Bible clearly states that “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us…” (NIV Bible, 2 Corinthians 5.21). This refers to God creating Jesus and that he cannot sin because it is in nature that he is unable to do so. His divinity is absolute and separate from his humanity. However, he is still human, which allows him to “…empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (NIV Bible, Hebrews 4.15). This ability to empathize from his human nature and not being able to sin from his divine nature allows Jesus to truly understand people. In The Last Temptation of Christ, Jesus’ divinity and humanistic quality have a different relationship. Throughout the movie, Jesus struggles with identity issues not fully accepting his divinity at first. He makes this known in his conversation with one of the Jewish, desert people, "We all sin. Not my sins. I 'm a liar. A hypocrite. I 'm afraid of everything. I don 't tell the truth. I don 't have the courage ... I want to rebel against you, against everything ... against God, but I 'm afraid" (Scorsese 0:26:45). Jesus believes that he is a sinner and lives in fear of God. He fails to accept his divinity and struggles with his identity as a human. Jesus wants to live the life of a normal man. This is apparent during the end of the film when he accepts Satan’s …show more content…
In the text, Jesus’s dual nature is portrayed as separate or cohesive, while in the film, the two ideals clash with each other. These can be seen through his reaction to temptation and sin. However, these are only two interpretations of his story. Of the many different versions of The Bible and the different mediums of storytelling, Jesus’s story could be interpreted to have a completely different meanings and themes compared to The Last Temptation of