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> Arts & Faith -> Film / Movies / Cinema -> The Top100 -> The Top100 (2004)
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Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo("Gospel According to Matthew")
(1964)
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, written by Pier Paolo Pasolini
Some of the most intriguing artistic tributes to faith and religion
come from nonbelievers. A Man For All Seasons, the great drama
of the life and martyrdom of St. Thomas More, was written for the stage
and screen by the non-Christian Robert Bolt. The story of The Song
of Bernadette, the Marian visionary of Lourdes, was first written
as a historical novel by a Jewish author, Franz Werfel. And Mark Twain’s
favorite work among all his books was his Joan of Arc. Pier Paolo Pasolini was an atheist, indeed a Marxist, and his The
Gospel According to Matthew is routinely interpreted as a proto-Marxist
allegory. Yet Pasolini was perhaps first of all a poet, and the concepts
of the sacred and the divine, far from repelling him as so much religious
superstition, held for him a powerful appeal. In 1962 he came to Assisi
in response to Pope John XXIII’s call for dialogue with non-Christian
artists. While there, he read through a book of the Gospels “from
beginning to end, like a novel,” later proclaiming the story of
Jesus “the most exalting thing one can read.” Read the full
review by Steven D. Greydanus at Decent Films. This film was included in the 2004 Flickerings @ Cornerstone Festival.
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to learn more about the film's appearance at Flickerings. Additional
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To correct, update, or contribute information about this or any other Top100 entry, please send it to top100@artsandfaith.com. This page was last updated on Wednesday, July 21, 2004 4:03 PM EST .
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