Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” is due to be shown as part of a short Visions Of Christ season being staged at Eden Court Cinema during Easter.

During the late 1980s and early 90s, Inverness District Council placed a ban on the 18-certificate film provoking a heated public debate — much of which was played out amid high passions in the letters page of The Inverness Courier.

Objectors to the film argued it was blasphemous and offensive while those who felt it should be screened maintained the ban amounted to censorship and an infringement of artistic licence. But despite a petition containing more than 800 signatures, councillors agreed to invoke an outright ban on the film which they had not seen for themselves.

The decision to include it in next month’s programme follows a request to the Eden Court cinema projectionist from avid cinemagoer Gale Chrisman who was a leading campaigner against the ban. Consequently, “The Last Temptation of Christ” is set to be shown for one night as part a short series featuring the rock opera, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and the Monty Python classic comedy “Life Of Brian”.

Highland Council confirmed yesterday the ban had lapsed but said it could look at the matter again if complaints were received.

However Victoria Stuart, Eden Court’s marketing manager, did not expect any opposition this time. She pointed out that the film had been released in 2000 on DVD and had been given a 15 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).

“It is still down to local authorities whether films should be banned,” she said. “But the guidelines issued by the BBFC are so clear and and make it easier for local authorities to rely on in making their decisions.

“I hope it would not be banned — it was nominated for an Oscar.”

Ms Chrisman of Culduthel Road was delighted the film was set to be screened at last. “I wanted the film to be shown because it is considered a classic,” she said.

The film had been scheduled to be shown at Eden Court in the winter of 1988, several months after being released in the United States. But in December of that year, councillors imposed the ban and it was removed from the cinema’s schedule.

Ms Chrisman, a retired film and media lecturer, attributed the decision

to power exerted by

the Free Presbyterian Church. “The film was represented to people who had positions of power on the board of governors at Eden Court and on the council as presumably heretic and profane,” she said. “As I understand it, Inverness was one of only two areas which didn’t have a public screening.

“There had been opposition in the United States where fundamentalist Christian sects mounted campaigns and that filtered across the ocean.

“It was taken on board by the Free Presbyterian Church up here and the film was banned. It was outrageous.

Gale Chrisman with some of the publicity material and newspaper articles from the late 1980s and early 1990s during the height of the banning controversy. Northern Exposures

“It was opposed by people who had never seen it on the grounds it was some sort of vilification of Christ. The whole thing was a nonsense.

“Most people I spoke to at the time didn’t particularly want to see the film but they didn’t think it should be banned. They thought it was right it should be seen — in a democracy that should happen.”

The same view was taken by The Inverness Courier which in a strongly-worded editorial acknowledged district councillors had the power to ban the film but believed they had shown by their decision, against clear legal advice, they did not deserve to have that power.

“They have made a laughing stock of themselves and this community, the only one in the country where the film has been banned,” the leader stated. “It is to be hoped that the decision is now challenged and overturned.”

But despite an attempt by Ms Chrisman for the decision to be reconsidered a few years later, the ban remained in place.

Tt was not only on the big screen where the film was prevented from being viewed. Video libraries in Inverness decided not to stock the video version when it was released late in 1989.

The issue also resurfaced in 1992 when there was a flurry of correspondence between Ms Chrisman and the BBC which decided not to screen the film. A letter from the BBC stated: “There came a point at which, in view of the number and nature of the expressions of concern were receiving, we decided to go no further towards rescheduling it.”

Ms Chrisman eventually saw “The Last Temptation of Christ” during a trip to London. She felt Scorsese, a lapsed Catholic, had been “exceedingly respectful” in making the film.

“It came out of his Catholic interest in Christ’s life and death and it was terribly reverential,” she said. “It is a film which was very important for him. It was one he cared about and one which was based on a great novel.

“It is a film which deserves some respect — from the director to the writer to the story.”

Ms Chrisman believed that while people had perhaps seen it by now on video or DVD it remained important to see it on a larger screen. “On a small screen you have no sense of the film’s power,” she added.

* The Last Temptation of Christ is due to be shown at Eden Court Cinema by the Floral Hall on 6th April.

v.sweeney@inverness-courier.co.uk

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---