Il vangelo secondo Matteo (DAS 1. EVANGELIUM – MATTHÄUS)

Is there a more beautiful, more truthful film about the life, suffering
and miracles of Jesus – and about his downright social revolutionary
content (‘gentle in heart, but never in thought’) than this one?
The Marxist Pasolini liberates the genre of the Bible film from pomp
and pathos by relying entirely on the power of words and
deeds, on the austere beauty of the untouched landscapes
of southern Italy and on the unvarnished faces
of his amateur actors, most of whom he found locally
(he cast his own mother in the role of Mary). The film won numerous
awards and was also well received by the Catholic Church, to whose Pope
John XXIII Pasolini dedicated his work – but it was heavily criticised by
conservatives, left-wingers and right-wingers, who condemned it as a
‘desecration of the pure source of the Christian West’.
(Florian Widegger)
Restored version
Fri 3 Oct: In the presence of Marco Belpoliti (curator of the
exhibition) and Peter Kammerer (translator)
Followed by the opening of the exhibition Pier Paolo Pasolini
(1922–1975). Photographs by Dino Pedriali in the mezzanine

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)