The Gospel According to St. Matthew (film)
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| Il Vangelo secondo Matteo | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Produced by | Alfredo Bini |
| Written by | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Starring | Enrique Irazoqui |
| Music by | Luis Enríquez Bacalov Carlo Rustichelli (uncredited) |
| Cinematography | Tonino Delli Colli |
| Editing by | Nino Baragli |
| Distributed by | Titanus Distribuzione S.p.a. |
| Release date(s) | 1964 |
| Running time | 133 min. |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
| IMDb profile | |
Il Vangelo secondo Matteo is a 1964 Italian film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It proved to be one of his most popular with both critics and the public.
The film depicts the life of Jesus through the Marxist-Catholic perspective of the director (though he himself was an atheist.) It remains one of the more faithful cinematic adaptations of any biblical book, as Pasolini felt that "images could never reach the poetic heights of the text." He reportedly chose Matthew over the other gospels because he had decided that "John was too mystical, Mark too vulgar, and Luke too sentimental."
The film was widely touted in Italy, which was ironic since Pasolini had previously been sentenced to jail for the allegedly blasphemous and obscene content of his contribution to the anthology film RoGoPaG. Pasolini was also an atheist and Communist, which made his reverential film more surprising. Matthew was released in the United States in 1966 and was nominated for three Academy Awards: Art Direction, Costume Design, and Score.
Unlike many biblical films, Matthew is noted for its sense of authenticity. All of the actors are amateurs: Enrique Irazoqui in the role of Jesus was a 19 year old student from Spain, and the rest mainly locals from Matera, Italy, where the film was shot (though Pasolini had originally intended to shoot in Israel.) The score (selected by Pasolini himself) is quite eclectic, ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach to Odetta.
[edit] Source
- Bart Testa, "To Film a Gospel ... and Advent of the Theoretical Stranger," in Patrick Rumble and Bart Testa (eds.), Pier Paolo Pasolini: Contemporary Perspectives. University of Toronto Press, Inc., 1994, pp. 180-209. ISBN 0-8020-7737-4.
[edit] External links
- Il Vangelo secondo Matteo at the Internet Movie Database
- The Gospel According to St. Matthew at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list
| Movies by Pier Paolo Pasolini |
|---|
|
Accattone | Mamma Roma | La ricotta (RoGoPaG) | The Gospel According to St. Matthew | Love Meetings | The Hawks and the Sparrows | The Witches | Oedipus Rex | Theorem | Love and Anger | Pigpen | Medea | The Decameron | The Canterbury Tales | Il fiore delle mille e una notte | Salò |
 |
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