pier paolo pasolini's short film may last only 35 minutes, but it fits into it as many ideas, social comments and stylistic devices as any of his other films.
orson welles plays a director attempting to make a version of the story of 'the passion', and the resulting chaos that ensues provides the bulk of the film. style wise the film marks a rapid departure from the work immediately prior to this film, with the combination of the neo-realism mise-en-scene contrasting wildly with the technicolor of the scenes from welles' film intercut. the combination of the two styles is representative of the two different era's of pasolini's work collidin, likewise the scene with the talking dog and the one with the speeded up running are hugely different to the subtle nature of his earlier work and indicative of the work he would later go onto do in films such as "salo".
the religious nature of the film is but a small indication of the huge nature of the importance of religion as a theme in pasolini's work. in my opinion the fact that the film was banned upon initial release says more about the contradictory nature of the governing bodies at the time than the intention of pasolini. i honestly believe that pasolini's announcement/disclaimer of intent at the begining of the film is sincere, and that the offence caused, presumably in the scenes of the players acting around whilst waiting to film their scenes, was more of a comment than an act of genuine disdain. the comments would be more aptly applied to politics rather religion, with the character of stacci being an obvious analogy for christ.
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