Il vangelo secondo Matteo

English title: Gospel According to St. Matthew (The)

Also known as: Évangile selon saint Matthieu (l’)

Genre: religious drama (in black and white) 

With: Enrique Irazoqui (Jesus), Margherita Caruso and Susanna Pasolini (Mary), Marcello Morante (Joseph), Settimio Di Porto (Peter)

Direction and screenplay: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Release: 1964

Studio: Arco Film, Lux Compagnie Cinématographique de France

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.8/10

A Prophet for Hard Times

QuickView

Story-line: this Pasolini film recounts essential episodes in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  

Pluses: credible acting, a well-constructed and serious screenplay faithful to Holy Scriptures, an unmistakably artistic point of view, proficient direction and an interesting choice of music (classics, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child).

Minuses: a heads-up to movie buffs: unlike some religious films made in Hollywood, this one is unadorned, unglamorous and unforgiving.

Comments: overall, I have seen four of Pasolini’s works and all were quite daring. Here again, he has taken an unusual path with this surprisingly stark portrayal of Jesus and Palestine twenty centuries ago. You won’t see much here that pleases the eye: dusty outdoors, drab locations, humble hamlets clinging to mountainsides and poor, miserable people. And while other films about Jesus (like the also excellent THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD) focus on his humanity, Pasolini shows him more as a protester confronting the religious authorities of his day. In such a light, one can easily imagine why the Apostles, whom Jesus had attracted in Galilee with his teachings and miracles, deserted him in Jerusalem when he openly criticized the religious Establishment; surrounded by soldiers, submitted to social pressures and stranded in a hostile metropolis, they naturally sought to flee. As a whole, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW is an admirable work and, I might venture, the most realistic of all movies about the Messiah.

MBiS

© 2018 – All rights reserved