THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST Screening at The St. Louis Library for Banned Book Week!

“If I was a woodcutter, I’d cut. If I was a fire, I’d burn. But I’m a heart and I love. That’s the only thing I can do.”

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (1988) screens at The St. Louis Public Library Central Branch (1301 Olive Street St. Louis) as part ‘Banned Book Week’. The film begins at 1pm Saturday, September 29th. A discussion with Cliff Froehlich, Executive Director of Cinema St. Louis, follows the screening. This is a FREE event.

In conjunction with Banned Book Week, St. Louis Public Library is celebrating the freedom to view controversial films and discuss their cultural significance. The film selected for 2018 is Martin Scorsese’s THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. When released in August of 1988, the film was banned by some cities and one theater in France was set on fire while the film was screening. Religious groups ridiculed this film for its portrayal of Jesus Christ.

The story of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and its aftermath are the subject of the sometimes iconoclastic but always passionate religious drama THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. On its initial release, the film was the center of a notable controversy, thanks to protests from fundamentalists objecting to the film’s unconventional depiction of Jesus.THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST tells of the life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross.

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST stars Willem Dafoe , David Bowie, Barbara Hershey, Harvey Keitel, and Harry Dean Stanton.