Willem Dafoe, “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988)
Were it not for the enormous firestorm of controversy that greeted its premiere, it’s questionable if anyone beyond Scorsese diehards would remember this effort…and that would be a shame. For those willing to accept a portrayal of Jesus as a man with very human temptations (that he does still resist) it is a fascinating attempt to breathe fresh life into New Testament stories that can easily seem stale and stodgy. Not all of the experiments work.… Harvey Keitel’s Brooklyn-accented Judas is conceptually a wonderful jab at those that think everyone in the past spoke in a British accent, but it’s still distracting (though an otherwise great performance). Dafoe, coming off his Oscar-nominated turn in “Platoon,” gives a wonderfully alive performance as the man from Nazareth.
(Netflix)
