The Gospel According to St Matthew
£10 / £8 Concessions / £7 ICA Members
Pasolini was widely known as an atheist, Marxist and gay. So his filming of The Gospel According to St. Matthew seems an unlikely project. Yet it is because of this apparent mismatch between filmmaker and subject that makes this among the very greatest explorations of religion in cinema. It shares the same locations as Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ - but there the
resemblance ends. Telling the story of Jesus from birth to resurrection according to St. Matthew, it's an incredible feat of filmmaking - completely unsentimental, with no interest in celebration or conversion. Instead it's a riveting exploration of how the Gospel may have played
out if it were to be taken as... gospel. It's one of the great masterworks of cinema. Using his trademark cast of non-actors (including his own mother as Mary during the crucifixion) this continued Pasolini's long-standing exploration of humanism and stands as one of the great films of the 20th century.
Presented in a new digital restoration.
Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964, Italy, Italian with English subtitles, 133mins
Cast: Enrique Irazoqui
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