I don't know if this is the author's intentional arrangement. In any case, Pasolini really had his mother play the Virgin Mary when he made "The Gospel of Matthew."
He'd wanted to make the film for a long time -- even though he had just been sentenced to four months in prison a year earlier for the blasphemous Soft Cheese. He had long wanted to make a crucifixion movie. Ever since he was a child, he had been infatuated with the innocent, thin and helpless man who was executed for some inexplicable reason, hung on a cross, with only a piece of cloth covering his private parts. In an interview he said: "I don't believe in Jesus and I'm not as religious as Christ, but this theme of Christ, of the 'blurred halo' of the other world, started when I was 18, and Repeated."
Actually, I'm curious why Pasolini singled out the Gospel of Matthew among the four Gospels. As a gay, why didn't he choose the Gospel of John which alludes to same-sex love? He is a manic Communist himself, why not choose Luke's Gospel, which is more revolutionary and more literary? As a sentimental lyricist, why didn't he choose the lonelier Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, who was not understood by his disciples, and who was ultimately abandoned by God? According to him, the choice of Matthew's Gospel was purely accidental: he was once trapped in a hotel while attending a Holy See ecumenical council. As we all know, there is a Gospel in every hotel room, and he has nowhere to go. He picked up the book and read it, inadvertently but completely attracted by the literary nature of Matthew's Gospel. Pasolini, who was not religious, later wrote to describe the encounter with the Gospels as "a delightful and wicked ruse of the Catholics." Maybe you should really believe him. There are indications that it was the first time he read the Gospels. He once said that more than half of Italians have not read the Gospels. People are familiar with the story of Jesus, but those who have read the original text of the Bible Much less. If the truth is what he says, then there is nothing wrong with a 40-year-old Italian communist who has never read the Gospels. In any case, since then he has started to prepare for the "Gospel of Matthew".
The Gospel of Matthew is an outlier in the New Testament and can be said to be "counter-revolutionary". It imitates the narrative style of the Pentateuch, the language is simple and concise, independent of other parts of the "New Testament", more like the Torah of Judaism. Jesus was written as the Messiah who "shepherds the people of Israel". Most of the audience Jesus preached were Jews, not Gentiles. He strictly abides by the Jewish law, and also requires his followers to abide by the law: "Don't think that I have come to ask for it. Abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). In the end, Jesus was put to death as the "King of the Jews," not as a sin offering to atone for the original sin of all nations. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is closer to the majestic Israelite prophets Moses and Elijah, "as men in authority" (Matthew 7: 29); rather than being a man of temperament like Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew is a Messiah who values place and nation. It was this Jesus who spoke as a Jew in the Jewish nation that touched Pasolini, who "always liked the Jews" and felt that the Gospel of Matthew "is the greatest, the oldest in all the Gospels, the closest to the thought of the Hebrews. ." Pasolini's sensitivity to national factors has a lot to do with the enduring self-government movement he participated in. After graduating from college, Pasolini rose to prominence as a northern Italian dialect writer, using the Friulian dialect to fend off the cultural erosion of Italian. His first play, The Turks of Friuli, was written in the Friulian dialect, and he was considered the most famous dialect poet in Italy before turning to film. Friuli is located on the northeastern frontier of Italy. On the map, it looks like a flower in the mouth of a boot, and was inadvertently thrown into Eurasia. To the east is the former Yugoslavia, the territory of the Communist Party; to the west is the territory of NATO. On the European continent after the war, the dividing line between the two ideological camps stretched north from Friuli. Friuli is a bit like Galilee in Jesus’ time: Galilee was originally a self-sufficient autonomous society, but after the iron shovel, Augustus had to levy taxes throughout the Mediterranean, and census the country’s population to facilitate management. The Jewish nation, who was previously treated lightly, was not spared either. Jesus was born on the way to the provincial capital for registration in this census. Like the Jewish nation at that time, Friuli fought for independence, or at least regional autonomy, in the cracks between the Democratic Party and the Communist Party. Pasolini joined the "Friuli Autonomous Association" early on, and he has been trying to evoke this through regional dialects. people's sense of community. In 1963, "autonomy" was partially successful: Friuli-Venezia Giulia finally became one of the five autonomous regions in Italy, with special laws for speaking the Friulian language. And this year happened to be the year before "Matthew's Gospel" was released.
In Pasolini's films, it's impossible not to see any autobiographical element. He is too narcissistic. He is used to projecting himself onto the entire earth and making the world revolve around him, much like the man in Greek mythology who likes to see his own reflection. In his first book of poems, he wrote: "I remember you, Narcisse." The reason why he did not take pity on himself like this mythical figure and turned into a delicate narcissus is because he is in countless young boys. I saw my own shadow. "The main feature of my psychology is narcissism, which is my love for myself... Then I project this narcissistic complex of myself and turn it into love for others." People also like tough and strong boys. He believed in Plato's statement: "Any man who is cut in half from a man is looking for a man...because they are cut from a man and love to be friends with men, and like to sleep with men. , and even hug each other and entangle each other." He set out every evening to start what he called a "hunting adventure" to find the other half of himself.
In the original text of the Gospel of Matthew, the Virgin Mary did not appear in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. It was Mary Magdalene who accompanied Jesus' crucifixion and witnessed his resurrection. But in Pasolini's Gospel of Matthew, Mary Magdalene disappears, replaced by the Virgin played by Pasolini's mother. The only possibility of an ambiguous relationship between a man and a woman in Jesus' life was mercilessly erased by Pasolini. This is not enough. Pasolini added a lot of subjective shots in the scenes of "Interrogation of Jesus", "Judgment of Jesus" and "Passion of Jesus". The camera swayed back and forth over the shoulders, trembling, as if a man was weeping all the way, swaying in the center, tiptoeing in the crowd trying to see Jesus one last time. It doesn't take long for viewers to see that these subjective shots are actually the eyes of the apostle John. There are a total of four close-up shots of John's tearful eyes in this scene. The apostle John was no ordinary disciple. He was called "the disciple whom the Lord loved" and "the apostle of love". In the middle of the book, John is generally a white-faced, beardless, clear and thin image, like a boy with fruits in the middle of Caravaggio's paintings, exuding a clean and transparent sensuality. For example, in Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper", the apostle John is sitting next to Jesus' right hand (the Son of Man in heaven is also sitting on the right hand of the Father), with long hair and a shawl, fair skin, soft eyes looking down, and slanted eyes. Lean on Peter. John was considered by the researchers to be Jesus' same-sex partner: "There was a disciple, whom Jesus loved, and drew near to the bosom of Jesus." (John 13:23) The film was dedicated to the Holy See, so he was very interested in it. These same-sex feelings are handled very skillfully, to the point. Those subjective shots are very concealed, making the audience mistake them for their own eyes, quietly bringing the audience's emotions into the scene.
Pasolini wanted to photograph Jesus' crucifixion as a sad farewell between same-sex lovers. After the last supper, Jesus walked out into the darkness, and there were only two people in the camera: John's shoulders covered with moonlight and Jesus walking away. In the back, Bach's mournful strings rose from the ground, Jesus stopped hesitantly, and turned to greet Peter, James, and John, "Peter, and you sons of Zebedee, come out and watch with me. After saying that, Jesus turned his head and continued to walk forward, but his steps became slower and slower. He was covered in black clothes in the silky night, the night was as soft as water. With the camera behind his back, Jesus said slowly: "My heart is so sad that I almost die." The syllables of the words were estranged from each other, and finally swallowed. Jesus turned and looked at John. At this point Pasolini added a movement that was not in the original Gospels: He asked Jesus to hug John, only lightly, but against the background of the Passion of Matthew and the backlighting effect, this The lens is indescribably lingering.
If you compare the other Gospels, you can see that the plot of the "Passion of Jesus" scene in this film is very different from that of the Gospel of Matthew, but it is more similar to the description in the Gospel of John (Pasolini claims to have suffered a passage). The plot is borrowed from the Book of Isaiah, but as we all know, the Book of Isaiah is just a prophecy, there is no specific plot of the crucifixion at all). For example, there are three scenes of John and the Virgin embracing in the film, showing that the two have a special intimacy. This is absent in the Gospel of Matthew, because the two men were not present during the crucifixion of Jesus at all. The only one of the four Gospels that describes the crucifixion of John and the Virgin in detail is the Gospel of John. In the Gospel of John, Jesus entrusted the Virgin to the Apostle John on the cross (John 19:26-27): "When Jesus saw his mother standing by with the disciple whom he loved, he said to his mother, 'Woman, Behold, your son!' And he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!' And the disciple took her to his house from then on." - In the writings of the apostle John, this was the last thing Jesus did while he was alive. "After this, Jesus knew that all things had been accomplished." (John 19:28) - With the support of her mother and her beloved, Jesus could go to the kingdom of heaven with confidence. So in the Gospel of John, Jesus did not complain about why God had abandoned him (“Eli! Eli! Lama Sabathani?” Matthew 27:46) before he died, as described in the Synoptic Gospels. No worries, went safely. He "speaked, and it was done. He bowed his head and surrendered his soul to God." (John 19:31)
In conclusion, Pasolini continues to strengthen his "beloved disciple" in the most emotional passages of the film. The status of the director, and even cheated, using "John Gospel" to highlight the director's favorite mother and boy. He himself is Jesus. He later said, "I've never made a movie that suits me so well...I also realized that the man Christ is myself, because he has a terrible ambiguity." Although Pasolini's script uses After reading the original text of "The Gospel of Matthew", most of the dialogue remained unchanged, but in the gap between the characters' silence in the film, he still carried a lot of private goods.
Pasolini shot most of the film's scenes with a 300mm lens. He discovered the texture of the documentary nature of the zoom lens while shooting "Soft Cheese" "close-up from 250 meters away". A telephoto lens compresses the depth of the picture, flattening the space inside the picture. The lack of depth in the flat layout is the main characteristic of medieval icon paintings, and these images give the film a simple and solemn tone out of thin air. The still shots in the film are reminiscent of the paintings of Giotto and Masaccio (Pasolini himself played Giotto in "Decameron", showing his appreciation for Giotto's composition). Another feature of the telephoto lens is the rough texture of its live-recording style, especially when combined with a hand-held camera, a Gospel has become a documentary silhouette of the life of Jesus. Pasolini was satisfied with the style of the film, saying: "The style of Matthew is ... a combination of near-classical solemnity with the imagery of Godard's films, such as the first trial of Christ shot like a real Yes." The
film invited non-professional actors or nearby villagers, and it is said that "Jesus" has only acted in this film in his life. These people seem to be unfamiliar with the camera. In the close-up shots, they are always staring blankly at the camera, squinting, pouting, and staring blankly. When they were about to laugh, they laughed until their gums were exposed, but they didn't make a sound. When they are angry, they can't tell their emotions just by looking at their faces. The audience has to listen to what they have to say (all from the original text of Matthew's Gospel) to know that they are really in a hurry. The performances of the actors are like probing, always keeping seven points of energy in their hands, showing two points of emotions, and only one point of action. The rest was left to silence. - This creates a special alienation effect: the scene often falls into a silent silence, sometimes the action stops, the actors are lost, and the audience is not attracted by anyone's performance. Any "performance" here is unfamiliar, only the words in the gospel and the solemn and simple composition of icons are familiar to people. When the movie is silent, the gospel rises.
Careful people can find that, except for Jesus walking on water and the earth shaking during his crucifixion, the so-called "miracles" in this movie are all done by jumping. There is not even a superimposed transition, and the jump connection is neat and tidy. This kind of treatment is extremely simple, but because of the documentary style that runs through the whole film, people can't help but believe it. When I first started watching this movie, I was wondering how Pasolini would have behaved in the baptism of Jesus. Because this passage is so holy, I can't imagine how it can be expressed through pictures. The book says this:
"Jesus was baptized, and immediately came up out of the water. Suddenly the sky was opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on him." (Matt. 3:16)
There is no doubt about Pasolini's method conquered me. His method is - not to show the picture of the Holy Spirit, but to let the audience imagine it with sound. As he said in "Ten Days": "If a thing is already perfect in the imagination, why should it be expressed concretely?" In this scene, the background music is gradually changed from black spiritual songs. In Bach's "Mass in B minor", when Jesus raised his head after being baptized, he cut to a close-up shot of Jesus, and Bach's music reached a climax with three devastating tones. Jesus gazed at the audience outside the painting, holy water glistening on his forehead. Then there were solemn and low voices all around, and the voice seemed to be everywhere: "This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased with." The camera returned to the big perspective, and John the Baptist and the believers knelt down and looked up at the sky. Not moving at all.
If someone asked me after watching the movie if I had seen a miracle, I would say without hesitation that I did, I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. on the shoulders of Jesus. - Pasolini shot nothing, but the Holy Spirit appeared.
From the very beginning, Pasolini wanted to make his life a 'story' - like the lives of Jesus and Oedipus, with an ending, simplistic as possible, to keep the line between fiction and reality as possible as possible Disappear and become a 'story', a story found in reality. Novels, poems, and films all point to a meaning that, once engaged in these activities, becomes a fully integrated activity. The end of the "story" of life can only be death.
Pasolini thought his film career would end with a "Socrates", we have no way of knowing what his conception was, and he may have seen himself in Socrates. He thought that "Socrates" would be the pinnacle of his film career. Someone joked that he himself and Socrates had both been sentenced for "corrupting youth", and if this movie ever came out, it would be the most famous teacher in history filmed by a famous teacher and a sodomite and the biographical film of the sodomite. But Pasolini believes that the film will be a "pure film" and that he will use it to establish a pure relationship with the audience. God did not give him this opportunity. In the winter of 1975, he bid farewell to the world in an almost performance-art-like manner — being beaten by a 17-year-old male prostitute and then run over to death by a car.
He had long known what death meant. He once said:
"It is only when we die that we know what our lives are like. Like Manfredi, who 'shed tears on the bridge near Benifantto', as Dante depicted' That sad tear'. If not at the very last, precisely the last minute, that sad tear was shed by the bridge near Benifanto, his life would have been completely different, this tear completely changed His life prospects."
He was right. This death not only ended his life, but also redefined his life with his last film, 120 Days of Sodom. Almost like the famous death of the Galilean 2,000 years ago, everything he did during his lifetime was pointed to this death, and all his films became footnotes to that Sade film.
He must not have thought of this.
View more about The Gospel According to St. Matthew reviews
