I recently watched three movies based exclusively on the Gospel of Matthew.
These were:
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, in italian. (I watched three version, one unrestored in black/white, one restored in black/white, and an edited version dubbed in colour) STARRING Enrique Irazoqui as Jesus.
The Gospel of Matthew (1993-Visual Bible) Directed by Regardt Van Den Bergh, word-for-word adaptation made directly for video. STARRING Bruce Marchiano as Jesus
The Gospel of Matthew (2014-Lumo Project) Directed by David Batty, word-for-word docudrama made as at teaching resource. STARRING Silva Rasalingham as Jesus
The Gospel Acccording to St. Matthew was filmed in Italy by Pasolini. It's a critically acclaimed movie.
In this movie, Jesus comes across as a fiery revolutionary. The film is done what is called the neo-realistic style. The movie was filmed in Italy and much of it looks almost documentary style, with lots of close-ups on the actors. The film does adapt the story to include miracles, so Jesus still is both Son of God and Man in the movie; and it includes the Resurrection of Christ as well. This version also picks select stories from the Gospel; emphasizing Jesus' ministry to the poor and downtrodden, and His battle against corruption in authority; while still emphasizing some of the supernatural miracles such as healing, deliverance and walking on water, and feeding the mulititudes.
In the Visual Bible, The Gospel of Matthew (1993) a Christian company made the word-for-word adaptation of Matthew starring Bruce Marchiano as a Man of Joy. Jesus smiles, and is full of joy and compassion for people. For me, he came across as a good-natured person who would want to become your new pastor for your church. The humanity of Jesus is portrayed even though this Jesus is also divine. It is interesting how the challenge of the Word-for-Word movie is that there isn't dramatic tension that builds up for much of the movie.
And, then, in another word for adaptation from 2014, the Lumo Project The Gospel of Matthew (2014) did a word-for-word adaptation where you only have a narrator talking over the acting that you see. This was a Christian ministry that used film as a way to share the Gospel and their goal was to be able to use the film as a resource for churches and missionaries. Most of the film's cast are from Morroco (where many Bible movies are made) and Jesus is played by a British actor with a middle-eastern look. The film looks middle-eastern (not Jewish, at to me) and Jesus comes across as middle-eastern prophet. This movie also makes the choice to have many of the parables acted out instead of us watching Jesus talk about the parables. The extras in this film do a very good job at showing emotions.
It's important that we actually do the research and try to understand what the director's intent is, for any film, whether biblical or not. I share this to say that all three films use the same biblical text to showcase Jesus; with different goals from the directors How much more our different Christian traditions will read the same biblical text one way or another! We can learn to look at the Bible not through our own lenses, but through what God wants to reveal to us through His Word.
Jason Major,
December 7, 2024
