Page - 89 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

tives was an annual film festival, to which Pier Paolo Pasolini was invited in 1962, exactly when the pope was visiting Assisi. According to testimony gathered by Tommaso Subini,4 in his room in Assisi Pasolini found and read Matthew’s Gospel and was greatly struck by its aesthet- ic and expressive beauty.5 This experience marked the beginning of a journey that resulted in Il Vangelo secondo Matteo in 1964. The final product was, however, the outcome of a long creative process. Subini charts the relations between Pasolini and Pro Civitate Christiana, providing evidence of their affin- ities and divergences.6 The original screenplay preserved in the Fondo Caruso in Florence bears witness to a long process of negotiation, especially regarding the expressive form of certain scenes and references to events in the news at the time. These underlying dynamics need to be kept in mind at all times, distin- guishing the author (Pasolini the director) from the collective construction of the screenplay.7 This distinction proved difficult for critics, as was the reception of the work. Despite criticism from more conservative quarters in the Catholic world, the film won the Grand Prix of the Office Catholique International du Cinéma, and the most perceptive and favourable comments came from the Osservatore Ro- mano, Vatican City’s daily newspaper. Pasolini’s film was deemed to have cap- tured the “spirit” of Matthew’s Gospel, despite sacrificing the historic dimen- sion. The left-wing press, for example L’Unità, received the work with a certain mistrust, though it did highlight the revolutionary features of Pasolini’s Jesus. Over time Catholic intellectuals and critics have given greatest attention to the movie, even at times contradicting previous positions.8 Professor Andrea Oppo, who teaches aesthetics at the Pontificia Facoltà Teologica of Sardinia, has described it as “an almost philological work of restitutio of the gospel text, a perfect translatability of Matthew’s Gospel into images”,9 a judgement in line with the last reviews of the Osservatore Romano. This reception should not come as any surprise as Il Vangelo secondo Mat- teo is a complex work, especially in terms of its internal architecture and direc- torial choices. Musical, narrative and iconic references are interwoven through- out the film. 4 Subini 2006, 159. 5 Oppo 2015, 2. 6 Subini 2006. 7 Pasolini 1991. 8 Fantuzzi 2004. 9 Oppo 2015, 1. The Soundscape of The Gospel According to St. Matthew | 89www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1