Page - 88 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

PASOLINI’S CINEMATIC APPROACH TO CHRISTIANITY Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975), writer and journalist, poet and film director, was one of the most influential Italian intellectuals of the 1960s and 1970s. In- itially quite closely aligned with the Italian Communist Party, Pasolini explored the period of the Italian economic boom in great detail, describing it as a gen- uine “anthropological revolution of the Italians”,1 the thematic core of his in- complete work.2 A year before shooting Il Vangelo secondo Matteo (The Gospel Accord- ing to St. Matthew, IT/FR 1964), he contributed, together with three other di- rectors, to the Ro.Go.Pa.G. film project (Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ugo Gregoretti, IT 1963) with the short La ricotta. The scene depicting the crucifixion of the thief, considered to be irreverent, led to his being charged with public defamation of religion. Pasolini’s film career was littered with acts of censorship and charges like this, which made his decision, just a year later, to embark on a new film about Jesus even more unexpected. The Gospel text is just the point of departure for Pasolini’s film, which also has its own context, in some ways no less complex than that of the Gospel.3 During the 1960s Italy was deeply riven by opposing political and social forces. Despite the victory of the Allies and the end of the civil war with the fall of Mussolini, the post-war situation was very troubled. A long process of indus- trial and economic transformation began in this period, reaching a peak in the 1970s. The newly established Italian Republic had to come to terms with the new global settlement, split between the influence of the United States (NATO pact of 1949) and that of the Soviet Union. Significantly, the Italian Communist Party was the largest of its kind in Europe outside the Warsaw Pact. In opposition from 1947, it prompted the strong stance against the left-wing parties taken by Alcide De Gasperi, prime minister from 1945 to 1953. The Italian Communist Party also had to compete with the Christian Democrat Party, which enjoyed the support of the Catholic Church and was the majority party for the whole of the First Republic, despite its decline in the 1980s. As for the Catholic Church, in the 1960s Pope John XXIII announced the be- ginning of the Second Vatican Council, one of the most important moments for the modern church. The Pro Civitate Christiana, a Catholic association based in Assisi, became a linchpin of the renewal proposed by the council, attracting the participation of Catholic and non-Catholic intellectuals alike. One of its initia- 1 Pasolini 1975, 39. 2 Pasolini 1992. 3 For a succinct overview: France 2007; Honoré 1968; Runesson 2008. 88 | Nicola Martellozzo www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1