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28 FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 1988
`Last Temptation' Opens
Christianity To Jews
AVIVA KEMPNER
Special to The Jewish News
F
or centuries Jews have
been blamed for being
"Christ-killers" and
bloody pogroms were commit-
ted with this misbelief in
mind. In recent years the
disputes between Jews and-
Christians have included the
political arena, like the Pope's
meeting with Arafat and the
academic dimension of teach-
ings about the Holocaust. But
the most recent battleground
— the movie theater — has
demonstrated that fierce rem-
nants of anti-Semitism still
remain in this country today,
and the challenges to artistic
freedom that accompany this
hatred.
The Last Temptation of
Christ is a very powerful and
haunting movie that depicts
a questioning and life-like
Jesus. In contrast to other
religious epics, Martin
Scorese has created Jesus
struggling with human
dilemmas. It's a portrayal
that allows those of us in the
audience who are not Chris-
tians to at least comprehend
the struggles. In the past, I
always felt alienated watch-
ing Christian-themed stories.
But William Dafoe's anguish-
ed Jesus bridges a gap. For
the first time, I could watch
the story of Jesus and try to
understand the beginnings of
Christianity without feeling
attacked that Jews had killed
Christ or that I needed to
believe in the miracles of the
New Testament. The art
direction and costumes are
beautifully shot, and offer an
interesting and eye-pleasing
depiction of Jewish life 2,000
years ago. The New York-
accented actors give the story
a contemporary twist.
Yet this film, and Nikos
Kazantzakis' provocative
book from which it's based,
are still historical fiction. The
.controversy over content
issues that these two artistic
interpretations have caused
are best debated and resolved
within the Christian com-
munity. I am sure that there
will be Jewish scholarship in-
terested in the depiction of
Jewish life in the film and
concern over historical ac-
curacy about Jerusalem and
Jewish religious issues. But I
do not believe that this film
contains such inaccuracies
that the Jewish community
Former Detroiter Auiva
Kempner is making a film
about Hank Greenberg.
need be upset.
But what American Jews
should be very concerned
about is the tone of the con-
troversy that has arisen over
The Last Temptation of
Christ. Although some Jews
have voiced the sentiment it's
just a fight "among the
goyim," the issue of censor-
ship and the blatant anti-
Semitism should be of
frightening concern for the
Jewish community.
Fundamentalists
should be more
concerned with
the womanizing of
their leadership.
,
The picket lines and vile
slogans that were seen and
heard at the L.A. home of
Lew Wasserman, the chair-
man of MCA, Inc., the parent
company of Universal Pic-
tures, were reminiscent of the
anti-Semitism directed
against public Jewish figures
during the '30s in this coun-
try. Back then, baseball great
Hank Greenberg had to en-
dure anti-Semitic catcalling
from both the opposing bench
and the bleachers throughout
his career. But here we are 50
years later and still those
tired, hateful lines against
Jews are being voiced.
Sometimes I wonder why they
do not take their absurd at-
tacks to the nth degree and
start boycotting the song
"White Christmas" because
it was written by a Jew.
At least the picket lines on
the first day at the Washing-
ton, D.C., screening did not in-
clude signs that were anti-
Semitic. But the content of
the beliefs of the picketers,
who religiously refused to see
the film before judging it, was
still scary. One of the pro-
testors, calling herself a born-
again Catholic, admitted that
the picket against Wasser-
man had been a mistake, and
conducted by "morons." But
she went on to state that if
she went to see the film she
"would be damned." Another
protestor, a 14-year-old boy,
called the film "total
blasphemy" and advocated
the boycott of the film and
any products produced by
Universal. He claimed all his
friends were going to join in
on this boycott.
The irony of the protest is
that it gives the fundamen-
talist, Christian right a new
cause to rally behind during
Continued on Page 30