The Wrathful Christ: Pasolini's Masterwork The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

Death does determine life. Once life is finished it acquires a sense; up to that point it has not got a sense; its sense is suspended and therefore ambiguous. However, to be sincere I must add that for me death is important only if it is not justified and rationalized by reason. For me death is the maximum of epicness and death.

Why create a work of art when dreaming of it is so much sweeter?

Genius Pasolini

Blessed are the poor in spirit;
the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Blessed are those who mourn;
they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the patient;
they shall inherit the land.

Blessed are those who hunger for
holiness; they shall have their fill.

Blessed are the merciful;
they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the clean of heart;
they shall see God.

Blessed are the peace-makers; they
shall be counted the children of God.

Those persecuted in right's cause;
the kingdom of heaven is theirs.


Blessed are you, when men revile
you and persecute you...

...and speak all manner of evil
against you falsely, because of me.

Be glad and light-hearted, a rich
reward awaits you in heaven.

So it was they persecuted the
prophets who went before you.

If your son asks for bread,
will you give him a stone?

If he asks for a fish,
will you give him a serpent?

If you, evil as you are, know
what is good for your children...


...will not your Father in heaven give
more good gifts to those who ask?

Do to other men all that you
would have them do to you.

That is the law and the prophets.

Do not think I have come to set aside
the law and the prophets.

I have come to bring them
to perfection.

You are the salt of the earth; if salt
loses salinity, what can restore it?

Nothing can be done with it but
throw it out to be trodden underfoot.

You are the light of the world.


A city on a mountain top
cannot be hidden.

A lamp is not placed under a bushel...

...it is put where it will
light the house.

Do not lay up treasure on earth...

...where moth and rust consume it,
thieves break in and steal it.

Lay up treasure for yourselves
in heaven...

...where there is no moth or rust,
no thieves steal it.

A man cannot serve two masters.

He will hate one and love the other,
devote himself to one, scorn the other.

You may serve God or money;
you cannot serve both.


When giving alms, let not your left
hand know what your right is doing...

...so secret is your almsgiving to be.

Then your Father, who sees what is
done in secret, will reward you.

You have heard it said: An eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

I tell you, do not offer resistance.

If a man strikes you on your
right cheek, turn the other.

You have heard it said: Love your
neighbour and hate your enemy.

I tell you: Love your enemies,
pray for those who persecute you...

...so that you may be true sons of
your Father in heaven...

...who makes his sun rise on the evil
and on the good...


...his rain fall on the just
and on the unjust.

Do not judge others, or you
yourselves will be judged.

As you have judged, so you will
be judged, by the same rule.

Award shall be made to you
as you have made award.

How is it you see the speck
of dirt in your brother's eye...

...and are not aware of the beam
which is in your own?

When you pray, do not use many
phrases, like the heathen...

...who think to make themselves
heard by their eloquence.

You are not to be like them.


Your Father knows well what your
needs are before you ask him.

This, then, is to be your prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we
forgive them that trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Do not fret over your life, how to
support it with food and drink.


Over your body, how to
keep it clothed.

Is not life itself a greater gift
than food, the body than clothing?

See the birds of the air never sow,
or reap, or gather grain into barns...

...and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them.

Have you not an excellence
beyond theirs?

Can any one of you add a cubit's
growth to his height?

And why should you be anxious
over clothing?

See how the lilies grow,
they do not toil or spin.

And yet I tell you that even Solomon
in all his glory...


...was not arrayed like one of these.

If God so clothes the grasses
of the field...

...which today live and will feed
the oven tomorrow...

...will he not be much more ready to
clothe you, men of little faith?

Do not fret then, asking what you
will eat or drink or wear.

It is for the heathen to busy
themselves over such things.

You have a Father in heaven who knows
that you need them all.

Make it your first care to find the
kingdom of God, and his approval...



...and all these things shall be
yours without the asking.

Do not fret over tomorrow, leave it
to fret over its own needs.

For today, today's troubles
are enough.

Make your way in by the narrow gate.

It is a broad gate and a wide road
that leads to perdition...

...and those who go that way
are many indeed.

How small the gate, how narrow
the road that leads to life...

...and how few there are that find it.

Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
I give you praise...

...that you have hidden this from the
wise and revealed it to children.


My Father has entrusted everything
into my hands.

None knows the Son truly
except the Father.

None knows the Father truly
except the Son...

...and those to whom it is
the Son's pleasure to reveal him.

Come to me all you that labour and
are burdened; I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon yourselves
and learn from me.

I am gentle and humble of heart;
you shall find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.

Your disciples are doing
what is not lawful on the Sabbath.

Have you never read what David did,
when he and his followers hungered?

How he went into the tabernacle,
and ate the loaves set out there...

...although neither he nor anyone but
the priest had the right to eat them?

I tell you, there is one standing
here who is greater than the temple.

If you understood the words:
I desire mercy, not sacrifice...

...you would not condemn
the guiltless.

The Son of Man has even
the Sabbath at his disposal.

Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?

If one of your sheep fell
into a pit...

...would you not pull it out
on a Sabbath?

What is a sheep compared to a man?
Mercy is not unlawful on the Sabbath.



Throw away your crutches.

Tell no man that you have
been healed...

...so that the word spoken by
Isaias may be fulfilled.

Behold my servant, my chosen,
with whom my soul is well pleased.

I will lay my spirit on him, he shall
proclaim my rule among Gentiles.

He will not protest and cry out; none
shall hear his voice in the streets.

He will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smouldering wick...

...until the time comes when he
crowns his judgement with victory.




Pasolini and Bach