The Gospel According to St. Matthew

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Italian: Il vangelo secondo Matteo) is a 1964 Italian biographical drama film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It is a cinematic rendition of the story of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Saint Matthew, from the Nativity through the Resurrection. In 2015, the Vatican City newspaper L'Osservatore Romano called it the best film on Christ ever made.
The dialogue is taken directly from the Gospel of Matthew, as Pasolini felt that "images could never reach the poetic heights of the text." He reportedly chose Matthew's Gospel over the others because he had decided that "John was too mystical, Mark too vulgar, and Luke too sentimental."
==Plot==
In Galilee during the Roman Empire, Jesus of Nazareth travels around the country with his disciples, healing the blind, raising the dead, exorcising demons and proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom of God and the salvation of Israel. He claims to be the Son of God and so, therefore, the prophesied Messiah of Israel, which brings him into direct confrontation with the Jewish temple leaders. He is arrested, handed over to the Romans and charged with sedition against the Roman state of which he is declared innocent by the Roman governor of Palestine, but is, nevertheless, still crucified at the behest of the Temple leaders anyway. He rises from the dead after three days.
==Cast==
*Enrique Irazoqui as Christ
**Enrico Maria Salerno as Christ's voice
*Margherita Caruso as Mary
**Susanna Pasolini as Older Mary
*Marcello Morante as Joseph
**Gianni Bonagura as Joseph's voice
*Mario Socrate as John the Baptist
**Pino Locchi as John's voice
*Settimio Di Porto as Peter
*Alfonso Gatto as Andrew
*Luigi Barbini as James
*Giacomo Morante as John
*Giorgio Agamben as Phillip
*Guido Cerretani as Bartholomew
*Rosario Migale as Thomas
*Ferruccio Nuzzo as Matthew
*Marcello Galdini as James, son of Alphaeus
*Elio Spaziani as Thaddaeus
*Enzo Siciliano as Simon
*Otello Sestili as Judas Iscariot
*Rodolfo Wilcock as Caiaphas
*Alessandro Tasca as Pontius Pilate
*Amerigo Bevilacqua as Herod the Great
*Francesco Leonetti as Herod Antipas
*Franca Cupane as Herodias
*Paola Tedesco as Salome
*Rossana Di Rocco as Angel of the Lord
*Renato Terra as Possessed one
*Eliseo Boschi as Joseph of Arimathea
*Natalia Ginzburg as Mary of Bethany
Category:1964 Releases
Category:Movies
Category:Theatrical releases
Category:Specials featuring Jesus Christ
Category:Italian Easter Specials
Category:Award-winning specials
Category:Articles that need an infobox
Category:Articles with red links
Category:Drama