Simon of the Desert (Simón del Desierto). In place of Hamlet's "I must be cruel only to be kind," Buñuel seems to say, "I must be cruel, mon semblable, mon frère." His treatment of the temptations of St. Simon Stylites, who spent thirty-seven years atop a sixty-foot column, demonstrates, as Jackson Burgess put it, "The moral serenity which can grant to the most depraved, the most wretched human being its humanity. Even a saint." This excruciating serenity allows Buñuel to make exhilaratingly blasphemous jokes, gags, diabolically trenchant points about contemporary society. A version of the descent into hell, epiphanies, miracles, the carnal, the community of sinners and saints (appear) in visions that are above and below establishment Christianity. -William Nestrick Written by Buñuel. Photographed by Gabriel Figueroa. With Claudio Brook, Silvia Pinal, Hortensia Santovena. (42 mins, In Spanish with English subtitles, B&W, 16mm, Print from PFA Collection) Rare Screening! The Last Temptation of Christ: This is a rare opportunity to see Scorsese's critically acclaimed adaptation of the Kazantzakis novel, with a screenplay by Paul Schrader. The novel, one of the great works of modern literature, nevertheless was controversial and suppressed in Greece. The film was greeted with similar sentiments in some circles and is not available in theatrical release. About Buñuel's Simon, Pauline Kael said, "Simon performs his miracles and the crowds evaluate them like a bunch of New York cab-drivers discussing a parade: whatever it was, it wasn't much." That's an accurate description of the initial reactions to Scorsese's Jesus (portrayed by Willem Dafoe), only the crowds really do have New York accents. Scorsese's small-scale epic takes the story of Jesus and transforms it into an intimate character study: that of a common man who gradually and painfully learns of the divine side of his nature. One-on-one dialogues and soul-searching monologs give voice to Scorcese's active, searching camera. This passionate, subjective approach intensifies the traditional story and gives it a new dramatic scope, most stunningly in the brilliant revisionist and visionary dream sequence that characterizes the film's profound struggle between the spirit and the flesh. We do not watch Jesus in awe (as in Hollywood's typical reverential approach) but empathize with this struggle. Dafoe, Harvey Keitel as Judas, and company lend Kazantzakis's radical Passion Play a divine, emotive Method. -Tom Kemper