The media pumped it, gave it awards, they still keep it alive as a great work of art and a classic.
“Scorsese received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, and Hershey’s performance as Mary Magdalene earned her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress nomination.”
“In his review of the film, Roger Ebert, who gave the film four out of four stars. Ebert later included the film in his list of “Great Movies”.”
“Writers at NNDB claim that “Paul Schrader’s screenplay and Willem Dafoe’s performance made perhaps the most honestly Christ-like portrayal of Jesus ever filmed.”
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the picture has been given a “Fresh” rating of 83%, with an average rating of 7.6 out of 10 as of December 2010.”
“The film’s musical soundtrack, composed by Peter Gabriel, received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Original Score - Motion Picture in 1988 and was released on CD with the title Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ, which won a Grammy in 1990 for Best New Age Album. The film’s score itself helped to popularize world music.”
WHAT WAS THE BOX OFFICE REACTION?
Worldwide total including US.: $8,373,585
I saw the movie. I wasn’t terribly offended by it. I just thought it was banal. I thought Dafoe’s portayal of Christ was bad. Not because he portrayed Christ as confused, but because Dafoe did a bad acting job.
Personally, I don’t mind fictional movies that might not be biblically correct, but I do mind mindless, poorly done movies that gin up controversy to mask poor writing and acting.
I don’t see your point. That those critical bodies should just look at the box office results before making any decisions? Films about Biblical figures hadn’t done well at the Box Office since the early 1960s and still don’t (’Passion of the Christ’ was an exception).