Director / writer: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Photography: Tonino Delli Colli
Music: Bach, Mozart, Luis Bacalov, Blind Willie Johnson
Editor: Nino Baragli
Cast: Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini, Marcello Morante, Mario Socrate, Settimio Di Porto, Otello Sestili, Rossana Di Rocco
The first time I saw director and screenwriter Pier Paolo Pasolini's treatment of the Jesus story was not long after I saw The Last Temptation of Christ. I thought if one art film director (Martin Scorsese) can do it, so can another. But St. Matthew was too slow for me, too ponderous and queasily pious. I didn't think much of it. Another look, just a few years back, went much better. I was impressed with the tone and pacing, and it felt immersive—didn't seem too long. By then, long after Pasolini's strange death, a recut, colorized, and much shorter version had become available, but I stuck with the original. This third time I thought more seriously about looking at the recut for comparison purposes, but alas that's the one they're charging money for and I remain deeply suspicious of it. I suspect the miracles and piety made the cut, but perhaps not so much the wanton ranting (by Jesus, with lines straight from the Bible) and all the general anti-business rabble-rousing.
The third time was not exactly the charm. Once again it seemed too slow and I was often bored and easily distracted (why do the armor chest plates of the Roman soldiers have defined abdominals? how did Mary age 50 years or more in 33 years?). Maybe my fidgety watch had as much to do with Italian neorealism or a mediocre print or incoming email as the subject at hand. Last Temptation gave me a way in to the Jesus story for the first time, although I admit it still doesn't make much sense to me. My favorite part is when he is praying in Gethsemane and obviously afraid to die the way he's going to die. He feels most human to me in that moment. Pasolini's Jesus—the Book of Matthew's Jesus—is more calculating and pro forma at Gethsemane, as he is with most of his other activities, such as riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Enrique Irazoqui, a nonprofessional actor, does a creditable job as the big-talking warrior type of Jesus, with an urgent message on a mission of his father's.
The first time I saw director and screenwriter Pier Paolo Pasolini's treatment of the Jesus story was not long after I saw The Last Temptation of Christ. I thought if one art film director (Martin Scorsese) can do it, so can another. But St. Matthew was too slow for me, too ponderous and queasily pious. I didn't think much of it. Another look, just a few years back, went much better. I was impressed with the tone and pacing, and it felt immersive—didn't seem too long. By then, long after Pasolini's strange death, a recut, colorized, and much shorter version had become available, but I stuck with the original. This third time I thought more seriously about looking at the recut for comparison purposes, but alas that's the one they're charging money for and I remain deeply suspicious of it. I suspect the miracles and piety made the cut, but perhaps not so much the wanton ranting (by Jesus, with lines straight from the Bible) and all the general anti-business rabble-rousing.
The third time was not exactly the charm. Once again it seemed too slow and I was often bored and easily distracted (why do the armor chest plates of the Roman soldiers have defined abdominals? how did Mary age 50 years or more in 33 years?). Maybe my fidgety watch had as much to do with Italian neorealism or a mediocre print or incoming email as the subject at hand. Last Temptation gave me a way in to the Jesus story for the first time, although I admit it still doesn't make much sense to me. My favorite part is when he is praying in Gethsemane and obviously afraid to die the way he's going to die. He feels most human to me in that moment. Pasolini's Jesus—the Book of Matthew's Jesus—is more calculating and pro forma at Gethsemane, as he is with most of his other activities, such as riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Enrique Irazoqui, a nonprofessional actor, does a creditable job as the big-talking warrior type of Jesus, with an urgent message on a mission of his father's.
