Italian Cinema by Forshaw Barry

Author:Forshaw, Barry [Forshaw, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781843449119
Publisher: Oldcastle Books
Published: 2017-02-16T16:00:00+00:00

The Gospel According to Saint Matthew

(Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo, 1964)

Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

The classic Hollywood image of Christ is, of course, Jeffrey Hunter in Nicholas Ray’s King of Kings: distinctly Aryan, blue-eyed and non-Semitic. Even a director as rebellious as Ray could not shake off the constraints involved in making a film of the life of Christ, but (long before Martin Scorsese) the left-wing and gay Pasolini produced one of the most powerful – and least sentimental – treatments of the story. The film is most famous for the Marxist beliefs of the director, and there is no question that the behaviour of Christ (played by Enrique Irazoqui) takes on elements of a critique of society – no dewy-eyed softness here, but a rigorous, energetic figure. The film is deliberately stripped down, as if in response to the inert splendour of most Hollywood biblical epics, although it is not lacking in majesty: Pasolini’s use of composers such as Bach, Mozart and Prokofiev lend an air of grandeur. The fact that clerical money was involved in the making of the film may undercut its reputation as a non-believer’s view of the Christ story, but certainly for those unpersuaded by religion it remains one of the few watchable religious movies.

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