Posted on 03/11/2004 4:54:08 PM PST by missyme
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - As debate rages worldwide over Mel Gibson (news)'s "The Passion of the Christ," Mexico is just coming to grips with a Martin Scorsese (news) crucifixion film banned here since its release in 1988.
Heavily Catholic Mexico outlawed director Scorsese's film "The Last Temptation of Christ" for portraying a weak-willed Jesus Christ tempted to have sex with Mary Magdalene.
It will finally debut in cinemas here on Friday. The film's distributor said this week it was launching "this work of art so the Mexican public can decide for itself and draw its own conclusions."
The film has been timed to open exactly one week before the March 19 Mexican premiere of Gibson's "The Passion" -- alleged by some groups to be anti-Semitic and excessively violent, but praised by the Roman Catholic church, evangelical groups and some film critics.
The ban on Scorsese's film highlighted the strong influence wielded behind-scenes by Mexico's conservative church hierarchy despite the nation's tradition of church-state separation.
In 2002, church leaders pushed for a ban on "The Crime of Father Amaro," starring Latin hearthrob Gael Garcia as a venal priest who has an affair with a teenage girl. The election President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) in 2000 ended seven decades of one-party rule and offered new promise of democracy and freedom of expression.
Fox, a practicing Catholic, refused to ban "Father Amaro" but agreed to delay it until after a visit by the Pope.
The church reportedly threatened to excommunicate the film's protagonists and said any Mexican who saw it would be sinning. But people flocked to theaters and the film became Mexico's highest grossing domestic film ever. CHANGING TIMES This time round, the church accepts that times have changed. "We are against this type of film but we can't go against the right of those who are interested in seeing it. We have to respect freedom of expression," Father Jose de Jesus Aguilar, a senior cleric in Mexico City, told Reuters.
He said Gibson's portrayal of Christ was respectful, whereas Scorsese showed a fictional character.
"We are confident that Christians will certainly go to see 'The Passion of the Christ' and leave 'The Last Temptation of Christ' to one side," said Aguilar.
"Temptation," starring Willem Dafoe (news) and Barbara Hershey (news), portrays Christ as a reluctant "Chosen One" wrestling with emotions and vices like an ordinary human being.
Its release this week is not expected to cause much of a stir in this nation where 90 percent of the population professes Catholicism but many do not go to church. Gibson's film appears to be attracting more interest.
"It's the one I'm selling most. I don't know if it's because people here are very Catholic or because they like to see Christ being beaten up," said Carlos Rojas, a vendor of pirate videos at a street market in the capital. (Additional reporting by Anahi Rama)
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