Martin Scorsese's Divine Comedy : Movies and Religion, Paperback by O'Brien, Catherine, ISBN 1350141607, ISBN-13 9781350141605, Brand New, Free shipping in the US

<p><b>This book is open access and available on . It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched.</b><br><br>Catherine O'Brien draws on the structure of Dante Alighieri's <i>Divine Comedy</i> to explore Martin Scorsese's feature films from <i>Who's That Knocking at My Door </i>(1967-69) to <i>Silence </i>(2016). This is the first full-length study to focus on the trajectory of faith and doubt during this period, taking very seriously the oft-quoted words of the director himself: 'My whole life has been movies and religion. That's it. Nothing else.' Films discussed include <i>GoodFellas</i>, <i>The Last Temptation of Christ</i>, <i>Taxi Driver </i>and <i>Mean Streets</i>, as well as the more recent <i>The Wolf of Wall Street</i>.<br><br>In Dante's poem in 100 cantos, the Pilgrim is guided by the poet Virgil down through the circles of Hell in <i>Inferno</i>; he then climbs the steep Mountain of the Seven Deadly Sins in <i>Purgatory</i>; and he finally encounters God in <i>Paradise</i>. Embracing this popular analogy, this study envisions Scorsese as a contemporary Dante, with his filmic oeuvre offering the dimensions of a cinematic <i>Divine Comedy</i>. <br><br> Drawing on debates at the heart of religious studies, theology, literature and film, this book goes beyond existing explorations of religion in Scorsese's work to address issues of sin and salvation within the context of wider debates in eschatology and the afterlife.</p>