In 1986 a play called ക്രിസ്തുവിന്റെ ആറാം തിരുമുറിവ് (Kristhuvinte Aaram Thirumuriv - The Sixth Sacred Wound of Christ) written by P.M. Antony kicked up a storm in Kerala when the church called for its ban. It was based on Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis's 1955 novel The Last Temptation of Christ, the English version of which came out five years later. A Hollywood film was made on it in 1988 by Martin Scorsese. It is generally held that Christ had five wounds in his body. The sixth wound that the play talks about is that in his heart. The Last Temptation is a great recreation of the Gospels. Essentially what Kazantzakis did was to fill a gap in the Bible.
What happened to Christ from the time of his Crucifixion to the Resurrection? Infamous prostitute Mary Magdalene was one of the handfuls of people who cared to visit him at the cross. The story takes a radical approach in that it does not portray Christ as a superhuman son of God but as an ordinary carpenter in Jerusalem who did extraordinary acts of compassion. And one of the recipients of his love was Mary Magdalene. Jesus is gloriously divine, yet earthy and human, as he travels among peasants and is tempted by their comfortable life. On the cross, Christ dreams about marrying Mary Magdalene and raising a family. But the dream lasts only for a moment and he wakes up to the reality of physical pain and the realization that he had not succumbed to his last temptation. That is the premise of the book.
The Scorsese movie is banned in India. I was fortunate to watch it while in the US. Here's a portion from Kazantzakis's introduction to his book: 'This book is not a biography; it is the confession of every man who struggles. In publishing it I have fulfilled my duty, the duty of a person who struggled much was much embittered in his life, and had many hopes. I am certain that every free man who reads this book, so filled as it is with love, will more than ever before, better than ever before, love Christ'. Another great novel by Kazantzakis is Zorba the Greek.
(2017)
(2017)
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