Scorsese's long-gestating adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' revisionist life of Christ depicts Jesus as a profoundly troubled Messiah, wrestling with doubts about his divine mission and attracted by the prospect of earthly love, a reading that became a flashpoint for controversy upon the film's release. (Not that many, or likely any, of the outraged fundamentalists who picketed theatres had bothered to actually see the film, of course.) Defying the conventions of Biblical spectaculars, Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader opt for a demotic tone in both dialogue and casting, with Willem Dafoe as Jesus leading a fine cast that also includes Harvey Keitel as Judas, Barbara Hershey (who first introduced the director to the Kazantzakis novel on the set of Boxcar Bertha) as Mary Magdalene, Harry Dean Stanton as Saul/Paul, and David Bowie (the one Brit in the cast, his birdlike visage and precise diction offering a nice contrast to the American actors) as Pontius Pilate. Similarly, composer Peter Gabriel eschews heavenly choirs for a soundtrack that draws upon influences from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and South Asia.

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