Jesus Goes to Hollywood

From popular piety to blockbuster, from musical to social criticism - Jesus Christ has many faces in film history. And the Italian city of Matera has often served as the backdrop for the Holy Land. Both Pier Paolo Pasolini's early masterpiece “Il Vangelo secondo Matteo” and Mel Gibson's controversial interpretation “The Passion of Christ” were filmed here. Gibson's film and Martin Scorsese's “The Last Temptation of Christ” caused a stir and scandal in 1988 and 2004 respectively. Milo Rau's interpretation also goes beyond the traditional. In “The New Gospel”, the Swiss director links the story of Jesus with current social struggles and presents a revolutionary Christ.