Scouting in Palestine
1965 · 55 MIN · IMDB 7.1 · 344 VOTES · DIR. Pier Paolo Pasolini
Overview
In 1963, accompanied by a newsreel photographer and a Catholic priest, Piero Paolo Pasolini traveled to Palestine to investigate the possibility of filming his biblical epic The Gospel According to Matthew in its approximate historical locations. Edited by The Gospel‘s producer for potential funders and distributors, Seeking Locations in Palestine features semi-improvised commentary from Pasolini as its only soundtrack. As we travel from village to village, we listen to Pasolini’s idiosyncratic musings on the teachings of Christ and witness his increasing disappointment with the people and landscapes he sees before him. Israel, he laments, is much too modern. The Palestinians, much too wretched; it would be impossible to believe the teachings of Jesus had reached these faces. The Gospel According to Matthew was ultimately filmed in Southern Italy. Mel Gibson would use some of the same locations forty years later for The Passion of the Christ.
Dialogue Timeline — 605 lines
A SAMPLE ACROSS THE RUNTIME — EVERY LINE IS SEARCHABLE
00:00:13 - A VISIT TO PALESTINE -
00:02:01 ...and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.
00:04:32 The multitude probably gathered here, to listen to Christ...
00:06:31 ...from a philological point of view and, more importantly, a historical one.
00:08:31 ...to condense, absorb the spirit of this situation.
00:09:53 I say this because, if I should decide to shoot the film there...
00:11:26 ...which has its religious reference in the Jordan...
00:13:30 Here is another lovely moment in our journey:
00:16:49 ...by the preaching of Christ.
00:19:23 ...only been a mother for a short time. This is your mother.
00:21:05 ...organisation of all of the committees.
00:22:49 We probably had one of our usual discussions...
00:24:39 ...why it is totally unusable for our film.
00:26:55 ...and probably very faithful to the images...
00:30:27 ...to those where Christ probably retreated to meditate and where...
00:33:32 ...from the typical landscape of southern Italy.
00:36:12 The landscape is made up of four barren hillsides...
00:37:39 My idea that the smaller and more humble things are...
00:39:41 ...it would be absurd;...
00:42:05 Don Andrea's mind, so orderly, so precise...
00:45:30 Calvary is about 5 o 6 metres from Christ's tomb.
00:47:05 The area around of the Gate of Damascus.
00:49:04 ...poor ragged people, desirous of the miracle of a coin.
00:50:51 ...and come to the grotto which tradition says is that...