rather sad? netflix bible movies gone?

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Karen Bradley

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Apr 2, 2021, 12:03:26 PM4/2/21
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It being Good Friday I went to "continue watching" two movies,  The Gospel of Matthew; the Gospel of Luke,  and both are gone as of yesterday or today.   Anyone know where to complain to netflix?   i had found a Reuters news story from last week saying netflix was not going to remove such, but they have, in fact.   Is there some difference in what is offered on Netflix here locally ?  



Laura Staley

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Apr 2, 2021, 12:40:59 PM4/2/21
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Karen, 

Are you positive that you were watching on Netflix? I consulted the list of films being pulled from Netflix in March of 2021 and neither was listed.

I did find both films available on Amazon Video (Free with Prime Membership, otherwise rental is $3.99)

Best, 
Laura


On Apr 2, 2021, at 11:03 AM, 'Karen Bradley' via Good Neighbors <goodne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

It being Good Friday I went to "continue watching" two movies,  The Gospel of Matthew; the Gospel of Luke,  and both are gone as of yesterday or today.   Anyone know where to complain to netflix?   i had found a Reuters news story from last week saying netflix was not going to remove such, but they have, in fact.   Is there some difference in what is offered on Netflix here locally ?  




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ranifeds

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Apr 2, 2021, 1:01:03 PM4/2/21
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 Karen,

Amazon Prime lists at least the  2014 Matthew film. Hope you find one you like.

This, below, seems to be an earlier  version.
" The Gospel According to Matthew Full Movie, starring Bruce Marchiano, Richard Kiley and Gerrit Schoonhoven. Directed by Regardt van den Bergh and written by Johann Potgieter." 1993

Another still earlier version -  "The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Italian: Il vangelo secondo Matteo) is a 1964 Italian biblical drama film in the neorealist style, written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini."

The most recent one seems to be with other actors "Director: David Batty Stars: Selva Rasalingam, Karima Gouit, Ramdane Aala " 2014
The lead actor, I'd guess from his name, is Sri Lankan.  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3248148/

The Gospel of Luke (2015) - IMDb  

www.imdb.com › title › tt3900196  has the same actors

"Directed by David Batty. With Selva Rasalingam, Karima Gouit, Mourad Zaoui, El Mahmoudi M'Barek. The Gospel Of Luke from The Bible."



On Friday, April 2, 2021, 11:03:26 AM CDT, 'Karen Bradley' via Good Neighbors <goodne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:


It being Good Friday I went to "continue watching" two movies,  The Gospel of Matthew; the Gospel of Luke,  and both are gone as of yesterday or today.   Anyone know where to complain to netflix?   i had found a Reuters news story from last week saying netflix was not going to remove such, but they have, in fact.   Is there some difference in what is offered on Netflix here locally ?  



Karen Bradley

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Apr 2, 2021, 1:01:42 PM4/2/21
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yes, Netflix.   i agree they were NOT listed on movies/tv that were being removed .  But, they have been removed.  I've just called Netflix and the guy, who also said Happy Easter to me, expressing his own personal feelings about this,  said yes, they are gone from Netflix as of March 31.  I told him I had contacted Reuters to tell them their "fact Check" article of a few days ago was wrong, in which Netflix said they were NOT removing Christian/bible movies; also WGN news/tip site; and wrote it on my Facebook page, and here on GN.

The Netflix guy said they were already getting "feedback" on this issue; I told him to pass on mine as well.  He tried to give some info about how Netflix only "rents" these movies and maybe couldn't renew them, etc, but I think anyone can see that was B. S..   I told him it will affect how I perceive Netflix, especially two days before Easter.   The movies they LEFT on Netflix are children-oriented, like cartoon "bible" movies, and "The Young Messiah" , but the serious biblical ones are gone.

Karen Bradley

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Apr 2, 2021, 1:08:29 PM4/2/21
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thanks for those of you telling me where the Gospel of Matthew movie is; I hadn't searched Amazon Prime for it  yet. I was more upset with the surreptitiousness of Netflix taking away these movies without listing them as leaving, and telling Reuters they were not going to do so.  One can find some of these movies on YouTube as well.  If anyone is seeking the most intense Good Friday/Easter movie, The Passion of the Christ, that can be found free online too, such as on 


an amazing movie, filmed all in Aramaic, and Latin, and very heart wrenching.

karen


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From: 'ranifeds' via Good Neighbors <goodne...@googlegroups.com>
To: goodne...@googlegroups.com <goodne...@googlegroups.com>; Karen Bradley <bohu...@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, Apr 2, 2021 12:01 pm
Subject: Re: [Good Neighbors] rather sad? netflix bible movies gone?

Marilyn Cavicchia

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Apr 2, 2021, 1:42:36 PM4/2/21
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As a side note, the Italian Gospel of Matthew movie from the 60s is *wonderful* even if you are not coming to it as someone who practices the Christian religion in any denomination. The director himself approached it mainly as a compelling story and cast many of his friends in it. They were very everyday people, which lends some gritty realism that may be more accurate than when Hollywood actors are cast in biblical roles. I first saw it in college in a "Bible as literature" class and highly recommend it.

Marilyn 

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ranifeds

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Apr 2, 2021, 3:03:09 PM4/2/21
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The Italian one Marilyn mentions has an English  subtitled version  

"The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (English Subtitled)"


Mitchell Marks

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Apr 3, 2021, 4:38:35 PM4/3/21
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The Pasolini "Matthew"  (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058715/reference)  is very widely admired, at least by those into the director.  I see it much as Marilyn describes, but it is often said to be actually very radical.  Pasolini was a Marxist and an early gay activist, and some viewers see those viewpoints underlying the way he tells this story.  

BTW, besides that YT version, it also seems to be on Prime.  I'm looking at the first couple minutes of each, and the Prime may be a little more stable picture -- for those who have that as an option.  

I'll leave for another time the story of how a friend and I as teenagers at a musical club event were invited by a weird hanger-on by the door to go see a movie in his garage.  He turned out to be an Ayn Randist, yet the movie was this maybe-leftist take on the gospel.  Oh wait, that's all there is to the story ... 

Why did I change the posting Subject?  A striking feature of this movie, for those who know the music, is that the opening credits have as music background the Gloria from the Missa Luba.  If that was a recently-released LP (1965) and you had been listening to it lately, hearing it at the start of this peculiar film would be a shock of recognition.  

The Missa Luba recording also had early popular culture appearance in the 1968 British New Wave movie "If"  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063850/reference .  Malcolm McDowell's character goes to his boarding-school dorm, puts the record player arm down on a track he selects, and lies down to listen to it.  It's the Sanctus from Missa Luba.  (Maybe continuing thru the Benedictus.)   I forget exactly how, but this is sort of a turning point for him, and it maybe was when he decides to join the youth uprising. 

Anyway, the Missa Luba was a sort of big deal in some circles.  My family's copy of the LP was in the somewhat ornate original issue album material -- one disc but in a double-album folding sleeve, with furthermore several internal leaves, like a mini-book, but cut to different heights so it was like tabs.  One of the printed pieces inside was an essay by a writer I did not yet know of -- Studs Terkel.  

Anyway, here is a link for a YouTube playlist covering that original recording.  Note that the cuts from the record are individual YouTube clips; but the playlist should work to assemble them in order.  Yet allow them to be played or shared separately.  





I don't know where to find the original texts from the album.  Small quotations appear over some of the videos.  I'll look for Studs's note.  

I also have at some point bought the 1990 CD of Muungano National Choir of Nairobi performing this (they toured with it) and the album notes look into the fact that the original was of course an outright product of colonialism and a kind of exploitation -- but the music was created more by the boys in the choir than Father Haazen and has been taken up by African musical organizations who make it a positive touchstone rather than something to be shunned as Euro-American appropriation.  

Cheers,

   ==mitch

Karen Bradley

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Apr 3, 2021, 4:45:34 PM4/3/21
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(dear all: small note:  I have not yet located the Italian movie Gospel of Matthew,  but I see today that a third Christian movie has been removed from Netflix:  The Gospel of John,     one that I liked and had also seen.   while I can seek some of these movies elsewhere, my posts are also just about the fact that Netflix this week seems to have been removing Christian, I'd say "faith based" movies, and right before Easter.   I found not only INCORRECT reporting on Reuters, but also USA Today, which both wrote on March 24 that it was not true, just a satire, just a joke, that Netflix would be removing the movies by end of March.  Then clearly neither source even bothered to take a look at Netflix on April 1,  when they'd have seen that in fact the joke was on them: the movies are gone, at least the three I've known and reported here:  The Gospel of Matthew; The Gospel of Luke,   The Gospel of John.    I've sent messages to the news sources to inform them of their major errors, and tried sending a note to the tip desk at WGN tv, and I called Netflix too to confirm it all; the rep. even expressed his own personal sorrow at the removal of these movies at this time .    Karen B.)


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Mitch Marks

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Apr 3, 2021, 4:51:38 PM4/3/21
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I did find the following, which shows some of the fancy graphics design I mentioned, and mentions Studs writing some of the accompanying text.  It also reproduces some of the text that came with the album, and seems to attribute all of it to Studs.  But I thought some of it could be just what the record company's publicists wanted to put there.  


  ==mitch



sel

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Apr 4, 2021, 10:10:08 AM4/4/21
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listening now--thanks mm!

sel

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