Page - 92 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

The Gloria literally introduces the film, accompanying the title, a strategic choice that immediately highlights the importance of the piece. In the film prop- er, it is used as a motif in four scenes. The first comes immediately after the revelation of the Angel to Joseph in a dream, while he is returning to Mary. The Gloria is accompanied by another sound element, the citation of the prophet’s words in Matthew 1:23. The second is when Jesus and his disciples approach a deformed man, referred to in Matthew 8:2 as a “leper”. The Gloria marks the healing of the leper, whose face returns to its normal state when Jesus speaks in the first explicit miracle. Even though we have witnessed a miracle in the previous scene, no words are spoken. The cries of the possessed, accompanied by a musical motif especially composed by Bacalov, are gradually stilled until si- lence indicates that sanity has returned. The leper, by contrast, has been healed through the spoken word, with all the value known to be attributed to the logos in Christianity. The third time the Gloria occurs within the film is when Jesus enters Jeru- salem amidst the festive crowd, and the last occasion, which extends over three scenes, is when the stone blocking the entrance to the tomb falls away and the empty shroud is revealed, an episode that covers all the final part of the last sequence, through to the foreground shot of the risen Jesus. The mo- tif continues during the credits, mirroring the introduction. The Gloria theme thus accompanies those moments that confirm Jesus’s divine identity, his ex- traordinariness and the highpoints of his time on earth. Everything might be summed up by Matthew 28:18, with which the final dialogue of the risen Jesus begins: “All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go, ye and teach all nations, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching all things I have commanded. I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”18 “SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD” The second musical theme is “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”, in the version by the African American singer Odetta Holmes. The roots of this spiritual song date to the time of slavery in the United States, when black fam- ilies deported from Africa were often split up and sold in different areas as a strategy of social control. The song has long been part of the traditional rep- ertoire of spiritual and blues music, and the version chosen by Pasolini is just one of many. Odetta Holmes was a leading figure on the folk-music scene in the 1950s and 1960s. She was also an important supporter and representative of 18 The passage is quoted here as it appears in the English subtitles of the film, reflecting that the author originally quoted the dialogue as in the movie. See also note 21, where the same is true. 92 | Nicola Martellozzo www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1