The Gospel According To St Matthew

The life of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew. Pasolini shows Christ as a marxist avant-la-lettre and therefore uses half of the text of Matthew.



The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Italian: Il Vangelo secondo Matteo) is a 1964 Italian film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.



The dialogue is primarily taken directly from the Gospel, as Pasolini felt that "images could never reach the poetic heights of the text."[1] He reportedly chose the Gospel of Matthew over the others because he had decided that "John was too mystical, Mark too vulgar, and Luke too sentimental."



Pasolini had previously been sentenced to jail for the allegedly blasphemous and obscene content of his contribution to the anthology film RoGoPaG. As a reputed atheist, the reverential nature of his film was surprising, but Pasolini himself said "If you know that I am an unbeliever, then you know me better than I do myself. I may be an unbeliever, but I am an unbeliever who has a nostalgia for a belief."



Pasolini used some of the techniques of Italian neorealism. All of the actors are amateurs: Enrique Irazoqui (Jesus) was a 19 year old student from Spain, and the rest of the cast were mainly locals from Barile, Matera and Massafra (Italy), where the film was shot (Pasolini visited the Holy Land but found the locations unsuitable and "commercialized"



The score of the film is eclectic, ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach (e.g Mass in B Minor and St Matthew Passion) to Odetta (Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child).

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This is the 137 minute version.