The Gospel According to St Matthew by Pasolini - Movie Review Example

The Gospel According to St Matthew Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St Matthew is presented almost as a documentary, with Jesus Christ’s depiction appearing as a reflection of the director’s own image. Unlike most contemporary television adaptations of biblical stories, this film portrays Jesus Christ as an outsider and revolutionary, typically embodying the ideas of a Catholic-Marxist world. Marxism and Christianity are not exactly known to be the same ideas, but this director manages to create an apparent compatibility between the two. However, by primarily basing his script on the Gospel as well as using the notions of neorealism to pass his message, Pasolini communicates more than just what the Gospel teaches. To this end, this paper will investigate in what ways Pasolini achieves compatibility between his understanding of Marxism and the Gospels. The Gospel According to St Matthew Introduction Earlier versions of cinematic representations of Jesus Christ, especially during the silent era, depicted him as an unearthly and distant being, almost inhuman. However, Pasolini took full advantage of the emergence of sound to set a precedent for the way Jesus Christ is viewed cinematically. The spectacular pictures seen in films are often taken for granted by audiences, not acknowledging and appreciating the challenges of creating natural, authentic and fresh images. Marxism typically views religion as a tool used to oppress the working class by the ruling class and, at the same time, a kind of rebellion the working class uses to protest against their difficult economic circumstances (Raines 2002, p 93). The general perception of both Christianity and Marxism is that communism is not compatible with Christianity. However, Pasolini manages to achieve compatibility between the Gospels, and hence Christianity, through his understanding that Marxism, as a materialist ideology, is secular and opposes any spirituality. This paper will show how he achieves the compatibility. The compatibility aspect of The Gospel According to St Matthew may most noticeably be seen from its endorsement by the Vatican as well as its dedication to Pope John XXIII’s memory (Raines 2002, p 100). Then, the film largely acknowledged the Catholic concepts about Christ. The key critique found in the gospel regarding Marxism is that traditional materialism is not compatible with the doctrines of Christianity like, for example, the reality of materials beyond matter, such as the spirit. Pasolini was exceptional in his ability and strategy to pick scenes from canonized texts and convert them into factual images. His style, which is embedded firmly in Italian neorealism, impacts on his film that brings life and reality to the screen minus the dilution created by formulas and melodrama (British Board of Film Classification 2012, p. 71). Viewed critically, the use of nonprofessional actors who are directed in realistic situations of everyday life delivers an unexpected compatibility between Pasolini’s understanding of Marxism and the Gospels, especially through the view of social criticism. An openly known Marxist, Pasolini’s film was viewed in that perspective by most of the audiences. Yet, he uses it perfectly to communicate a universal Jesus Christ as a messiah belonging to the working class and possessing revolutionary sensibilities. Politics (and the Romans too) do not play a significant role in the film. Jesus Christ’s trial before Pontius Pilate is screened from a distance and very briefly while assuming the perspective of the crowd (British Board of Film Classification 2012, p. 73). Instead, Pasolini’s focus is on the religious establishment, particularly on the scribes, Pharisees and priests. As a cultural movement, neorealism in films essentially brings forth the true life elements of the narratives they describe, rather than focusing on a world that exists chiefly in imagination. Italian neorealism, in particular, signified social progress and cultural change in the nation Pasolini is successful in continuing the concerns of neorealism with the realities of life as well as representing recent history by characteristically casting the working class and the poor while filming on location (British Board of Film Classification 2012, p. 69). As a matter of fact, Basilicata, where the film was mainly shot, is one of the desolate and poor Italian districts. The Gospel According to St Matthew is a typical example of the neorealist films because it mainly contends with the harsh moral and economical conditions of Italy after World War II. Further, it is a reflection of the changes that everyday life and psyche in Italy underwent after the war, which include desperation, oppression, defeat, injustice and poverty. This is further emphasized by the fact that the narrative is filmed outdoors by a Marxist atheist who neither romanticizes, sentimentalizes, glorifies or preaches one of the most famous historical stories. Instead he simply records it by remaking Matthew’s Gospel through analogy and sparse dialogue, basing on the belief that the texts’ poetic heights could not be matched by images. Pasolini is one of the Italian film directors who continued neorealist notions by focusing on nonprofessional characters from the lower classes as well as their practical concerns and, necessarily, constrained production budgets (The University of Auckland 2012, p. 111). He casted ordinary people, including his mother, to tell a biblical story that eventually manages to portray Jesus Christ as an ordinary person too. The idea of compatibility between how Pasolini understands Marxism and the Gospels in The Gospel According to St Matthew can be seen in his shift away from neorealist’s individual concerns to the catastrophic shortcomings of the human condition (British Board of Film Classification 2012, p. 109). Like most of the neorealist films of the 1960s, his was a transitional piece that was concerned with humanity as much as it was with the remake of the message in the Gospel. Just like the film’s content, his choice of the cast equally focuses on the way they are alienated from society, their needs and also the lack of communication. Pasolini uses the words of the bible verbatim to construct his script, which is the strongest point that keeps the title in focus (The University of Auckland 2012, p. 83). With that as the underlying point, he strategically intertwines it with the idea of what living amongst the lower working class and the poor is like. Simply stated the focus combines a biblical story with the social survival order in the everyday lives of rural people and, hence, emphasizing neorealist ideas. The Jesus Christ the audience is presented with in the film is not the usual magnificent evangelist that appears in shiny robes and performs his miracles and ministrations amidst grand spectacles (The University of Auckland 2012, p. 109). Instead, Pasolini casts a young man of ordinary appearance dressed in dingy cloaks and moves across a dusty and rugged poor countryside with quiet resolution. Interestingly, he also gathers his rugged-looking disciples from people he comes across toiling in the streets, where he preaches to crowds made up of simple peasants and children. Artistically, children are featured in neorealist films, albeit in roles that are less participatory but, rather, more observational ones (Thompson 2010, p. 57). Pasolini makes use of that concept, particularly in the scene where 5,000 people are fed with five loaves of bread and two fishes, where he shows the children, although disgustingly, picking their noses. Pasolini’s film may be credited for simplicity mainly because it uses direct words from the bible as its script to explore and describe Jesus Christ’s life and death, but a critical analysis shows that it is equally complex (British Board of Film Classification 2012, p. 112). Although it is typically created upon the structures of the then neorealist movement of Italy, it was also an attempt to give neorealism a new degree of cinematic realism. To this end, Pasolini not only filmed the poor working class and their social struggles within the poverty culture, but also represented their rough realism and emotional naturalism. His was not only raw film-making and technical styles, but a communication of harsh realism through the low-budget production from real locations without props and stages. After the traditional decades of Hollywood movies, the appeal of real people rather than actors was a strong characteristic of neorealist films that Pasolini took advantage of to show compatibility between his understanding of Marxism and the Gospels (Huda 2006, p. 23). A notable commonality between the concepts of Christianity and Marxism is founded in the biblical teachings of the preference of God for the poor people’s interests. It follows, therefore, that Pasolini as a self-proclaimed Marxist clearly delivers compatibility of the two schools of thought. Clearly, Marxism had driven him to believe that Christianity was a Capitalist’s tool against communism, but the very fact that he even directed a film about Christianity shows he acknowledged the possibility of compatibility between the two concepts (British Board of Film Classification 2012, p. 74). A key provision of Marxism regarding religion is that religious suffering is a representation of, as well as a protest against, actual suffering. In the true sense of neorealism, Pasolini communicates the suffering of the poor working class by the way he selects his cast and does not alter the contents of Matthew’s Gospel to suit contemporary entertainment requirements of films (The University of Auckland 2012, p. 92). Marxism opines that people are disillusioned by religion so that they think and conduct themselves with their perceived realities according to their disillusions. As a Marxist, Pasolini is able to show that indeed Marxism and the Gospels are compatible because his film depicts Christianity in the raw sense that Matthew used to chronicle the life of Jesus Christ and his disciples (Huda 2006, p. 19). While Marxism opines that before people pursue religion art, politics and science, Jesus Christ preached the opposite, instructing men to seek God’s righteousness and kingdom first rather than worrying about what they will eat, drink or wear (Raines 2002, p 63). Pasolini goes ahead and depicts the character of Jesus Christ speaking these words exactly as they appear in the Gospel. Essentially, this means that even though he is a Marxist, he does not directly oppose the provisions of Christianity that seem to contradict his Marxism. At a time that Italian neorealism had decline noticeably and rapidly, especially in the 1950s, socialist and liberal parties were facing difficulties communicating their messages. In the 1960s, as income levels started growing gradually and affecting the Italian economy positively, Italians mostly favored Hollywood movies because of the optimism they showed at the time. But, in a bold move, Pasolini presented the neorealist The Gospel According to St Matthew, a genre which most people had initially considered as demoralizing particularly to a nation that anxiously needed change and prosperity (The University of Auckland 2012, p. 95). This was most probably because the neorealist films were a representation of the vision of the despair and poverty that existed among the people. However, this change is perhaps what greatly communicated the compatibility of his understanding of Marxism and the Gospels. Pasolini’s film is particularly noted for its impact on neorealism that communicates compatibility between Marxism and the Gospels. The genre of the film, and particularly its largely unedited script from the Gospel of St Matthew, is a definition of a moment and trend in film in Italy. This is as opposed to just being an actual school of similar-minded and theoretically motivated scriptwriters and directors (Thompson 2010, p. 39). For example, the film was shot and produced at a time when the relationship between Marxism and Christianity was typically tragic. The key indicator of the tragic relationship is the antagonism that existed between the two concepts and dominated the Italian society for several decades, where a person was either a communist or a Christian, and particularly a Catholic (British Board of Film Classification 2012, p. 110). Just as the conflict got to its worst heights when it culminated in the battle between the repressive Christ-democrat state and left wing terrorism, Pasolini’s film represented hopes for reconciliation. This was typically in his embracing of two distinct beliefs; on one hand, he professed to be a Marxist, and on the other he simultaneously claimed to be a Catholic. Therefore, in themselves, his beliefs were the first and obvious manifestation that he understood the two concepts and believed in their compatibility. Conclusion In conclusion, it can be said that Pasolini achieves compatibility between the Gospels and his understanding of Marxism by breaking through the rigid mindsets and provisions of the two societal camps. He may have portrayed Jesus Christ more of a communist rather than a Christian Messiah, but the fact that the film was approved by the Catholic Church is an indication that compatibility between the two concepts was communicated. His was the most authentic film about Jesus Christ purely founded on the actual Gospel (Thompson 2010, p. 41). This fact, coupled by the knowledge that he was a Marxist, is a clear indication that the achieved compatibility between the two. References British Board of Film Classification, 2012, The gospel according to St Matthew, British Board of Film Classification, London. Huda, A 2006, The art and science of cinema, Atlantic Publishers, Georgia. Raines, J 2002, Marx on religion, Temple University Press, Philadelphia. The University of Auckland, 2012, Pasolini, Faculty of Arts at The University of Auckland, New Zealand. Thompson, K 2010, Film history: An introduction, McGraw, New York. Read More