The Gospel According to St. Matthew

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Teddy B Pasolini humbles the Passion without the grandiose frivolities, overblown budgets and misplaced cruelty of other interpretations. The simplicity of the film, very much a 'what you see is what you get' type situation, feels interesting but isolating at the same time. The documentary style and over-reliance of pure silence does make this film slightly uncomfortable to get through, though. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/30/25 Full Review Alec B It's interesting to compare this to the biblical epics getting cranked out by Hollywood at the same time. Those movies were massive in scope, incredibly long, overwrought, and excessively sentimental while Pasolini's vision is intimate, comparatively short, and more emotionally subdued. Can you guess which was the more successful? Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 04/13/25 Full Review Vitor O Arguably the best religious epic from the 60's, this picture (made by an atheist and marxist Pasolini) is beautiful, elegant, and stripped from all the nonsense and hokum characteristic from the Holywoodian versions from that era. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/15/25 Full Review Hilary L Terrible movie. The acting is bad, the depiction of Jesus Christ is by far the worst I've seen in my life. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 04/03/24 Full Review Nawt W How ironic that one of the most faithful depictions of Jesus' life is put on film by a gay, Marxist atheist. Showing Matthew 1–28 in the most unostentatious, raw way possible. Everything is under the rule of realism, starting with the unkempt unibrow of first-time actor Enrique Irazoqui, who plays the most intimidating Jesus yet. His deadpan expression of determination and his sudden splashes of temper really paint a vivid picture of a preacher. As is customary with neorealism, non-professional actors are used, and this Bible story is no exception. The muddy outskirts of Judea clash with anachronistic Roman armor that is clearly not from this age or maybe the Roman era at all. The movie has one Odetta song play on repeat, and since this is an Italian movie, the mandatory dub is mostly out of sync. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review William L Are the massive hats worn by the priests considered historically accurate? That's got to be a weight on the neck. Hope Jerusalem had a solid chiropractor. Bringing together neorealist aesthetic and production quality with dialogue that pulls only from translations of Biblical accounts from Jesus' life, The Gospel According to Matthew was a radical political statement in its day but has aged into one of he better takes on its subject matter in film. Gone are blinding lights and distracting depictions of some form of holy 'power' (and not just because the budget was too low to allow them). Pasolini was focused on depicting Christ as the revolutionary and the antagonist of convention, focusing on the rebellion against corrupt interpretations of doctrine and combating his adversaries with logic and conviction rather than outright divinity (the director apparently had misgivings about including as many of the miracles as he did). The film shows a particular appreciation for Christian doctrine, allowing the poetic nature of the text and timeless qualities to the canon descriptions of Jesus' life to carry the story; these aspects are often underappreciated due to just how well-known the content is, if nothing else. Surprisingly diverse soundtrack, as well. I still never quite got over the story of the Woman with the Ointment, a parable that is in three of the four Gospels and one that has implications for many of the problems that some have had with the Church in the past two millennia - the extravagance of worship, and the problem of money in faith when the less fortunate still exist. A woman anoints Jesus with valuable oil, which Jesus justifies by clarifying that his death is forthcoming; the disciples then (in accordance with Jesus' teachings of good works) ask why the oil was not sold for the benefit of the poor; Jesus than says that "the poor will always be with you." But so will Jesus, in the form of the Spirit, and isn't admitting that the poor will always exist an acceptance of the ultimate insufficiency of charity in the mortal world? To me, it felt implied that the worship of Christ and the pursuit of good works were supposed to be totally intertwined, but this lone story has always seemed to contradict it. (3.5/5) Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/27/21 Full Review Read all reviews

The Gospel According to St. Matthew

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