The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

A really interesting cinema verite of the Gospel of Matthew, where the amateurism actually adds to the experience.

Hey, this was a pleasant surprise! Cinema verite almost to the point of documentary, this is essentially what it says on the tin, a 2+ hour filming of the Gospel of Matthew. Now, as a raised-Catholic-turned-humanist, Matthew was always my favorite for being the most narrative of the Gospels. It's where all the classics show up with a minimum of the spiritualist noodling that you might find in Luke or John. It lends itself very nicely to film and it's the reason most filmed versions of the life of Jesus tend to take from it. This is a damn good version of those with the benefit of minimally cutting from the story. The acting isn't always the best of this, but there are some very interesting little performances around the periphery, especially Otello Sestili as Judas and a fantastic performance that's both venal and "wait, what if this guy is for real?" by J. Rodolfo Wilcock as Caiaphas, the high priest. If you like religious films at all, this is a really interesting example and one that avoids a lot of the schmoopy technicolor conventions of the time. It's one downside? There's a decent amount of times, especially involving the Apostles, where the camera has to pan and pause on every. Damn. One.  

★★★★

1964 - Written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini from the novel by Matthew (?)