The Gospel According to Matthew (1964)
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Colorized and BW, 1964)
A Film By Pier Paolo Pasolini
DVD9 (VIDEO_TS) | AR - 1.85:1 Anamorphic on Colorized; 4:3 on Original | 01:31:37 + 02:17:02 | 7,71 Gb
Audio: Colorized: English dub DD 2.0 without any subs and BW - Italian DD 2.0 with English subs
Genre: Drama, History, Biography | Nominated for 3 Oscars + 6 wins | Italy, France
A Film By Pier Paolo Pasolini
DVD9 (VIDEO_TS) | AR - 1.85:1 Anamorphic on Colorized; 4:3 on Original | 01:31:37 + 02:17:02 | 7,71 Gb
Audio: Colorized: English dub DD 2.0 without any subs and BW - Italian DD 2.0 with English subs
Genre: Drama, History, Biography | Nominated for 3 Oscars + 6 wins | Italy, France
Pasolini created the most enduring expression of the story of Jesus yet seen on the screen, before or since. 'The Gospel According to St. Matthew" makes most other representations on the medium of film seem like a pale and poor imitation. Perfect in so many senses that the director still had time to include his own political sensibilities into his marvelous visage of Christ. The acting was excellent, as is was the casting and the limited use of camera angles and effects shows a sparing humility to the ode this film was obviously paying homage to. How this same guy made 'Salo' is beyond me. The choice of music, although questionable by some, seems the pin-point counter balance juxtaposing the onscreen events… Billie Holliday to Bach. It all works like an extreme expression of love overflowing onto your awestruck gaze. This film may not be perfect in others eyes, but it was in mine.Gary W. Tooze
The Gospel According to Saint Matthew is a 1964 Italian movie directed by the legendary Pier Paolo Pasolini, based on the Gospel of Matthew. It received a number of awards plus nominations for three Oscars (Art Direction, Costume Design, and Score), and remains a highly-respected piece of film-making.
19-year-old Spanish student Enrique Irazoqui played Jesus, who is portrayed partly as a folk hero, partly as a political agitator, and always as an individual pursuing his destiny with unswerving conviction. The rest of the cast was drawn from the local peasantry of Southern Italy.
The film was highly-praised for it's absence of false piety and sentimentality, which stemmed largely from the fact that Pasolini, a dedicated Marxist, was an atheist. Film critic Roger Ebert said of the picture, "Pasolini's is one of the most effective films on a religious theme I have ever seen, perhaps because it was made by a non-believer who did not preach, glorify, underline, sentimentalize or romanticize his famous story, but tried his best to simply record it."
IMDB
Despite their obvious differences, it's surprisingly easy to draw parallels between Pier Paolo Pasolini and Christ. Both abandoned the religion of their youth and so alarmed the authorities with their outspoken views that they were charged with blasphemy. Both presented fresh interpretations of established texts - Christ the Old Testament, Pasolini the plays of Sophocles, the masterworks of medieval literature and, of course, Matthew's gospel. And both lived among society's outcasts and perished at the hands of the very people they sought to champion.
The Gospel According to Matthew (1964)
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It's not difficult, therefore, to see why the gay, Marxist poet and film-maker would be drawn to the life and teachings of a Jewish carpenter. Pasolini was inspired to make the film after realising that Christ's message was as politicised as it was compassionate and he quotes directly from scripture throughout.
The Gospel According to Matthew (1964)
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A dedication to the late Pope John XXIII and a visual style that astutely combined the revolutionary and the reverential went some way to deflecting Vatican criticism. The tableaux owed much to devotional art, while the restrained depiction of the miracles and the crucifixion contrasted with the sentimental pictorialism of Hollywood offerings like King of Kings. But the employment of handheld cameras and zoom lenses enabled Pasolini to achieve a modernity that had its roots in Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc, neo-realism and the nouvelle vague.
The Gospel According to Matthew (1964)
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More contentious was Pasolini's choice of cast. Spanish architecture student, Enrique Irazaoqui was selected for Christ because of his El Greco-like demeanour (although he was dubbed by Enrico Maria Salerno), while the director's mother, Susanna, played the Virgin Mary. Other roles were taken by Calabrian peasants and notable literary figures, with Roman trucker Otello Sestili essaying Judas.
There was an inevitable Marxist backlash against the film's `reactionary ideology' and Pasolini admitted to being ashamed of some moments of `disgusting pietism'. Yet it won the Special Jury Prize at Venice and an award from the International Catholic Film Office.
The Gospel According to Matthew (1964)
![The Gospel According to Matthew (1964)]()
Verdict
Seen as a Catholic-Marxist statement at the time, nearly 40 years on, Pasolini's cinematic accomplishment still impresses.David Parkinson, Empire
The Gospel According to Matthew (1964)
Edition Details:
- Original black and white with subs
- Text bio and filmography
- Trailers of other films
The Gospel According to Matthew (1964)
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