Legendary director (and avowed atheist) Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to Matthew [Il vangelo secondo Matteo] is one of the great retellings of the story of Christ – a cinematic rendering (filmed by invitation from the Pope, no less) at once both passionate and poetic.
With stunning black-and-white photography, an eclectic soundtrack (Odetta, Bach, a Congolese mass, etc), and using a cast of non-professionals who voice dialogue drawn directly from scripture, The Gospel According to Matthew depicts the key events in the life of Christ, from immaculate conception to death on the cross.
Vaunted by the Vatican as one of its select few recommended films, acclaimed by the Archbishop of Canterbury as a “great film”, and revered by critics and audiences alike, Pasolini’s Oscar-, Golden Lion-, and BAFTA-nominated film remains a magnificent, awe-inspiring experience. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present The Gospel According to Matthew alongside Pasolini’s 1963 feature on the making of the film, Sopralluoghi in Palestina [Scouting in Palestine], in a special Dual Format edition.
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Supplements
- Original Italian theatrical trailer for the feature
- Sopralluoghi in Palestina [Scouting in Palestine], Pasolini’s 1965 film on the surveying of locations for The Gospel According to Matthew
- A 1963 newsreel extract on The Gospel According to Matthew and Sopralluoghi in Palestina
- A selection of outtakes from the original Sopralluoghi in Palestina rushes
- A 36-page booklet featuring a 1963 letter by Pasolini to Lucio S. Caruso of the Catholic Pro Civitate Christiana; a 2012-updated essay on the film by critic Pasquale Iannone; excerpts from a 1969 interview with Pasolini by Oswald Stack, and more