You’re not really offended that I misspelled your user name, are you?
Kazantzakis cared at least enough to respond
to the Catholic Church via telegram to the Vatican: “Στο δικαστήριό σου ασκώ έφεση, ω Kύριε”
and to his Greek critics: “Μου δώσατε μια κατάρα, Άγιοι πατέρες, σας δίνω κι εγώ μια ευχή: Σας εύχομαι να ‘ναι η συνείδηση σας τόσο καθαρή, όσο είναι η δική μου και να ‘στε τόσο ηθικοί και θρήσκοι όσο είμαι εγώ”
“You’re not really offended that I misspelled your user name, are you?”
i apologize if i’ve mistaken your intentions, i thought you were like that Gringo Tex who deliberately misspells my name or is unaware of its roots at all.
by the way, spot on about Kazantzakis and the fuss about its adaptation was even bigger here in Greece and imagine in equally fanatic Christian lands like Chile.
oh, and i threw that comment about the book to individuals who had no idea of who the original author was, of course i didn’t mean Matt the ones who were experienced with literature ;)
-i thought you were like that-
No, just foolish enough never to have learned to type properly.
I thought the miscasting of The Last Temptation of Christ was actually wonderful. Harvey Keitel as Judas? David Bowie as Pilate? WILLEM DAFOE AS JESUS?! Brilliant!
I have not read the novel, really really want to, but from what I understand the movie is not very close to the novel at all. More to say on this once I actually get to it.
I think The Last Temptation of Christ and Taxi Driver are Scorsese’s best movies, and they are the only two movies of his I actually rather like. Going back to the controversy issue, yeah, controversy only stems from those who don’t actually read/watch the thing they’re complaining about. It’s not really worth taking controversy all that seriously anymore.
I have to admit, I really appreciate Mel Gibson’s dead language writing. It’s kind of something I wish more filmmakers would do.
—PolarisDiB
>>I have not read the novel, really really want to, but from what I understand the movie is not very close to the novel<<
About 20 years passed between reading the book & seeing the movie, but I didn’t spot anything too different. Certainly things were compressed & omitted (including the wonderful concept of Lazarus continuing to decompose after being resurrected) & Scorcese may have emphasized the sexual aspects, but it didn’t strike be as being unfaithful.
“but from what I understand the movie is not very close to the novel at all.”
let’s just say that it’s more descriptive, more spiritual and graciously divine than the film although Scorsese doesn’t really leave too many loopholes with the characters, i just wish he had added another half hour to the final result.
truth be told, THE pitch-perfect adaptation of a Kazantzakis novel was made by Jules Dassin, Celui qui doit mourir by the novel Christ Recrucified.
I thought that the novel dealt with a theatre troupe re-enacting the crucifixion, and then the themes presented in the movie came from there…?
—DiB
>God forbid they be informed about what they are protesting.
If only this were the only thing holding the Catholic Leagues and Family Research Councils of this nation from being cultured, from living fully in the 21st century!
No – they have and will in the future be offended on principle: they weren’t merely unfamiliar with Tennessee Williams when they were pissed about Kazan’s Baby Doll in 1956, and weren’t just unacquainted with Kazantzakis when they were raving about The Jews In Hollywood before Last Temptation was even released. These people are too busy nursing their own peculiar, stale gripes about evolution, gays, “miscegenation,” and the depredations of The Media (only a tattered cover for their antisemitism) to care about bonafide culture. (Which isn’t to say that they’re not subject to an alternate mass media – movies included – which accords with their fear of the real world.)
-Harvey Keitel as Judas? David Bowie as Pilate? WILLEM DAFOE AS JESUS?! Brilliant-
And let’s not forget Harry Dean Stanton as Saul/Paul.
>>These people are too busy nursing their own peculiar, stale gripes about evolution, gays, “miscegenation,” and the depredations of The Media <<
I take it far more cynically. The leaders simply use these hot-button issues to stir up their followers (and not so coincidentally raise a bunch of money). They count on those followers to be ignorant.
But you’re right that they don’t give a rat’s ass about culture.
>They count on those followers to be ignorant.
And they’re really competitors to mainstream media, now: if Last Temptation were released today, prolonged and artificial controversies over the film would generate as much revenue for its detractors (like, say, a James Dobson) as the producers reaped from the film itself!
Dimitris Psachos
“Dimitrius,
I’ve read Last Temptation, The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, _Zorba the Greek, and Saint Francis. Will that satisfy your definition of being familiar with Kazantzakis? (along with Cavafy, he’s my favorite modern Greek writer)."
the fact some of you are still calling me Dimitrius shows your level of intellect once again regardless of your Kazantzakis knowledge.
nevertheless, i will agree to the stats above considering the general ex-communication of author / book although who gives a rat’s ass about what Christians and Churches think when the book itself is about its philosophy beyond anything else.