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sábado, 14 de enero de 2012

428. Il Vangelo secondo Matteo/The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

Posted on 20:37 by Unknown
Running Time: 137 minutes
Directed By: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Written By: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Main Cast: Enrique Irazoqui, Otello Sestili, Margherita Caruso, Marcello Morante, Mario Socrate

I'M A BELIEVER

With only four films left to go before I reach my short-term goal of 400 movies watched, I revisit Pier Paolo Pasolini (director of "Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom") and one of his earlier works, "The Gospel According to St. Matthew".

I think most of us are familiar with the story of Jesus Christ, so I'll try my best to keep this plot summary short. "The Gospel According to St. Matthew" retells the story of Jesus' life, as it was written in the Gospel of Matthew, in the New Testament of the Bible. The film recounts Jesus' birth, Joseph's three visions of the angel, the baptism of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, the miracles that Jesus performed, the faith that Jesus possessed and of course, the crucifixion. The film casts "no name" actors in the parts, including that of Jesus. The film uses the music of Bach and Mozart, as well as some southern sounding music to intensify certain events.

You know, first things first, you really have to give credit to Pier Paolo Pasolini, a known atheist, who was commissioned by Pope John XXIII to make this film. When he read all four of the gospels in the bible, he is quoted as saying that at that time, all other ideas he had were expelled from his head. I guess when I think of the word "atheist", I think of a very harsh word. In my mind, that word is almost like a curse word, because I have always been a believer and in my head it was a "with us or against us" attitude. But maybe there are atheists who would really like to believe, but just can't bring themselves to. During a press conference in 1966, Pasolini was asked why he'd make a film about the life of Jesus, if he himself was a non-believer. His response:

"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."

To me, that's a man who wants to believe but, for some reason or another, cannot. Anyway, I'm rambling. It's a touchy subject. You're either a believer or a non-believer and based on that, will be the basis for whether or not you'll enjoy this film. I enjoyed it. However, I did find it a little tedious. I knew the story of Jesus and it's as if Pasolini just took everything that he knew, the "popular parts", if you will, and smashed them together into a film. We get all of Jesus' famous teachings and quotes, we get to see him walking on water and the story of the loaves and the fishes. We see the Last Supper, Judas and the thirty pieces of silver and of course, the crucifixion It's all of the things we've all been told & taught and NOTHING more. With stories about Jesus' life, it's kind of a "you've seen one, you've seen them all" kinda' deal. Sure, Pasolini lends an artistic element to his telling, but everything we'd see in any portrayal of Jesus is here.

I've often wondered if atheists could find anything at all in the story of Jesus. IF they don't believe that Jesus actually existed, walked the Earth and was the Son of God, could they at least take the Bible (and more importantly the gospels) as, at least, a good story? Would you dare find one of them saying, "Well that obviously didn't really happen, but that's a damn fine tale if I ever saw one"? I don't know - any atheists care to comment?

RATING: 7/10 I kind of got off topic there, didn't I? As for the film, yes it's good, but again it's nothing more than you'd expect from a Jesus story.

MOVIES WATCHED: 398
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH:
603

January 14, 2012 8:37pm

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