The Last Temptation of Christ

The Last Temptation of Christ

Whilst we wouldn’t want to discourage, or comment negatively, upon a director’s right to show controversial religious imagery in their works of art, we certainly can’t understand how on earth Universal Pictures ever thought this movie would slip gently under the religious radar. Didn’t they hear? God is omnipresent. The Last Temptation of Christ is a good movie, by a great director (Martin Scorsese, no less), but it isn’t really surprising that – back in the eighties – scenes in which Christ himself kisses other dudes and engages in sexual intercourse might cause a teeny bit of a furor. The movie was banned in a handful of countries, with censors wary of the film’s religious content, and it is still banned in the Philippines and Singapore. It also drove a gang of religious zealots to firebomb a Parisian cinema that was showing it. Very forgiving.