For Easter: The Gospel According to St. Matthew and more

Posted on April 21, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Reposting for Easter — Have a blessed celebration, everyone!

Ben-Hur is the traditional Easter classic, but there are some other films that beautifully illuminate the themes of this holy season. I like The Gospel of John, a very reverent re-telling of the story of Jesus. The rock musicals Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell can be very inspiring. But I have a special fondness for The Gospel According to St. Matthew, the understated, intimate re-telling of the story filmed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7DnjPrpc4E

For kids, the Veggie Tales have the delightful ‘Twas the Night Before Easter. And while it does not have much to do with Easter beyond the title song, Fred Astaire and Judy Garland make “Easter Parade” a family classic everyone will enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q77wqDDUDsc

4 Replies to “For Easter: The Gospel According to St. Matthew and more”

I applaud you for re-introducing Pasolini’s masterpiece! I remember seeing this almost 30 years ago, and being so blown away that I walked through half of philadelphia to my apartment–about 8 miles! Marking in all the faces I saw–those same figures.

“King of Kings” has great music and was my favorite Jesus movie when I was a kid. Here’s something I wrote about it:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/chatteringmind/2007/03/screening-jesus.html
I’ll check out your other suggestions this week. Thanks, Movie Mom.

Thanks, Nell, for spotlighting Pasolini’s masterful film. I grew up a movie fan, and a Christian, who never had much response to films about the life of Christ. Frankly, they bored me to tears.
It wasn’t until I was studying film in college that I discovered “The Gospel According to St. Matthew.” This might be a good weekend to pull out my laserdisc copy and watch it again.

What a great article.
Please share this with the bizymoms Lancaster community. http://www.bizymoms.com/Lancaster/index.php

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