- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English SDH
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: R
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Run time: 163 Mins.
- Studio: Criterion Collection
- Blu-ray Release Date: March 13, 2012
- List Price: $39.95
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Purchase The Last Temptation of Christ [Criterion Collection] on Blu-ray at CD Universe
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Controversy still swells to this day around Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ, based on the Nikos Kazantzakis novel of the same name. If memory serves me correctly, much of the vitriol aimed at the director over the film, at least what was being mentioned in the media at the time, surrounded a “salacious” love scene between Christ and the “whore” Mary Magdalene. In retrospect, the anger, though that probably had a lot to do with it as well, was and is more likely to do with the overall concept of the film. Removing Jesus from the vaunted place he has held in the hearts of many religions as the perfect Son of God sent as a sacrifice for our sins and, instead, making him seem more earthly. In this fictional account of the life of Jesus, based not on the Bible, Jesus is a man with doubts, tormented by God’s love, by his own urges to sin, and the overwhelming guilt he feels about it. He isn’t the surefooted, steadfast Jesus of the pulpit, but a questioning, but still impassioned, individual almost crushed by the weight of his responsibilities.
Kazantzakis’s novel, Paul Schrader’s screenplay, and Scorsese’s film, in other words, dared to ask the question “what about?” What about what? The things between the lines that we don’t know about Jesus’ life, everything that, perhaps, was left out of the Bible, Jesus’ daily routine, his fears, his loves, his joys, and his torments.
In The Last Temptation of Christ, Willem Dafoe (Miral) portrays Jesus who begins his life a humble but disrespected carpenter who makes crosses for the Romans to use in the crucifixion of other Jews. The voice of God leads him to travel away seeking answers that come through the help of his would be assassin turned trusted confidante Judas (Harvey Keitel; Be Cool) and John the Baptist (Andre Gregory). When he finally learns and accepts what it is that God truly wants for him after a month of solitude in the desert, he comes back to tear down the old ways of the Jewish faith, ready to sacrifice himself to save mankind. There is but one final test he must pass, however, the greatest temptation of all – the life he has longed for as a normal man, with women and children, namely the love of Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey).
Dafoe’s performance here is without fault. He is a truly impassioned and conflicted Christ, but one with absolute conviction. He singlehandedly lifts the whole cast to another level. Harvey Keitel is also quite good as a somewhat morally ambiguous, yet faithful apostle.
(For a different take, read our The Last Temptation of Christ [Criterion Collection] Blu-ray Review by Lawrence Devoe)
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
‘This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35 mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS, Pixel Farm’s PFClean, and Image Systems’ Phoenix.‘
The Criterion Collection Blu-ray edition of The Last Temptation of Christ features a restored high definition digital transfer supervised and approved by original cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and editor Thelma Schoonmaker. It is provided in its original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio in an AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 encodement. While the overall image quality looks very film-like, it is heavily grained, but that is not the biggest issue. The image is very inconsistent throughout the film. At times, it looks very sharp and clear with vivid colors, other time it is somewhat soft and dull. Mostly, however, the biggest issue is with the dark scenes where noise, grain, and inconsistent black levels become apparent. The first confrontation between Judas and Jesus in the desert, for instance, where Judas tells Jesus he was sent to kill him, shows an odd light vertical “strip,” slightly paler than the rest of the dark backdrop down the right side of the frame. The worst offense comes when Jesus goes off into the desert to wait for God to speak to him. The dark backdrop becomes very noisy and inconsistent, showing some splotches and low-level artifacting. Flesh tones also have an odd, almost salmon-colored hue at times.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
‘The 5.1 surround soundtrack was mastered from the original six-track magnetic masters. Clicks, thumps, hiss, and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated workstation.‘
Audio, with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) soundtrack by supervising sound editor Skip Lievsay, yields much better results. Peter Gabriel’s percussive score fills the channels as does much chatter from crowds and such when things get rowdy, but mostly it is clean with a good balance of sounds and intelligible dialogue. The frequencies reside mostly in the midrange to upper lows and dynamic rage is in a small space, but the mix remains engaging nonetheless.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
The video supplements for this Blu-ray release are mostly older, up-scaled-to-HD standard definition featurettes that include some behind the scenes footage shot by Scorsese on location in Morocco and an interview with Peter Gabriel. The rest are sketches and stills, in HD.
The supplements:
- Recorded by the Criterion Collection in 1997, this commentary features director Martin Scorsese, actor Willem Dafoe, and screenwriters Paul Schrader and Jay Cocks.
- Costume Designs (1080p/24) – Costume design sketches by designer Jean-Pierre Delifer.
- Stills and Research (1080p/24) – Production and publicity stills by photographer Mario Tursi, as well as images that inspired Martin Scorsese while preparing The last Temptation of Christ.
- On Location in Morocco (1.33:1; up-scaled HD; 00:15:44) – Excerpts from Martin Scorsese’s personal VHS behind-the-scenes footage of the on-location production in Morocco.
- Peter Gabriel (1.33:1; up-scaled HD; 00:12:03) – This interview with composer Peter Gabriel was conducted in 1996 in New York City. He discusses the instrumentation and inspiration for his score to The Last Temptation of Christ.
- Introduction (Text) – A brief word on the evolution of Peter Gabriel’s involvement with the film and the creation of the score.
- Photo Gallery (1080p/24) – A photo gallery of the traditional interments used on the film’s soundtrack.
- Booklet: The booklet features an essay by film critic David Ehrenstein. It is a thin foldout that is somewhat light for a Criterion Collection release.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
Even in its controversy, The Last Temptation of Christ remains inspirational. In fact, the biggest thing I find controversial about this film is all of these fair-skinned, light-haired, light-eyed individuals wandering around the desert in the Middle East. Anyone who actually reads their scriptures knows that isn’t the case, but, hey, this isn’t based on the Bible anyway, right? Recommended.
Additional Screen Captures
–
[amazon-product]B006ML50R4[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase The Last Temptation of Christ [Criterion Collection] on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
–
Related Articles:
- The Last Temptation of Christ [Criterion Collection] Blu-ray Review by Lawrence Devoe
- The Gospel According to Matthew [Masters of Cinema] [UK] Blu-ray Review by Brandon DuHamel
- The Ten Commandments Two-Disc Special Edition Blu-ray Review by Lawrence Devoe
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