Il Vangelo Secondo San Mateo
Review by John D. O'Brien, S.J. (The Gospel According to Saint Matthew) Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini, 137 min., Italy, 1964. Starring: Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini Music: Bach, Mozart, Prokofiev, Bacalov, Odetta. Plot In the Judean countryside, Jesus begins to preach, attracting disciples and sometimes multitudes. His is stern and demanding: “I have not come to bring peace but the sword”. He is also in a hurry, constantly moving from place to place. His teachings often criticize the powers that be, which attracts the attention of the Pharisees, elders and chief priests. He is arrested, beated, tried and crucified. Afterwards he appears to his disciples and gives them instructions. Film History Filmed in the style of Italian neo-realism, which is stark, gritty, and believed that ordinary people, rather than actors, were best suited to play characters (not any character, but the one they were born to play ), the film was the creation of...