The film could not be more different from the big budget Hollywood epic productions which have been made since.   Lacking false piety and excessive production values, the film engages its audience with its simple low-key depiction of what is in any event an intensely moving story.  Ironically, Pasolini’s film stands out largely because it is made with the humility which the Gospel itself teaches – ironic because Pasolini was himself an atheist.

Pasolini shot the film in Calabria in southern Italy, having decided that Palestine appeared too modern.  He hired ordinary looking non-professional actors, including an unknown Catalan student  to play the part of Jesus and his own mother to play the older virgin Mary.   The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and was immediately hailed by many critics as the best film adaptation of the life of Christ.

© James Travers 2002