wow.

wow.

That is about all I can say.

I've just seen the film by Pasolini "The Gospel According to Saint Matthew". It is nearly two-and-a-half hours long, and it isn't exactly a thriller or even a fast moving film, and sometimes the subtitles (it's in Italian) are impossible to read because they are white, but the film is in black and white...

and yet it is one of the best films I've ever seen. There is no dialogue that doesn't come from the book of Matthew. There are no professional actors--just Italian peasants, including even Pasolini's mother as Mary when she's old. The visual scenes more than make up for the lack of speech...and the whole thing works together so well that it is literally a piece of art. So rare, to find art in a film, or to find accurate religious values expressed in a movie...

Amazing.

We are watching this film in the Young Adult Bible Study to wrap up our 10 week study of Matthew. (That's why I was sort of "previewing" tonight, so I can come up with discussion points, in case those are lacking afterwards, which I'm sure they won't be....) It is fantastic.

anyway.