The Miracle Maker and the Women at the Tomb

Following the new special edition DVD release of The Miracle Maker, I've been revisiting that film, notably to listen to the director's commentary. However, I also recently watched the resurrection scenes at Easter with my daughter. She was only 10 months then, so I'm sure she got very little out of the experience, but I was intrigued to notice a detail in those scenes that has previously escaped me.

I've noted before that this film contains as much post-resurrection footage as practically any film, and that it focusses its attention on the more voluminous accounts in Luke and John. Harmonising the various accounts of the resurrection is a tricky business. Different gospels record different people arriving at the scene and omit the accounts found in the others.

Watching the resurrection scenes again at Easter I noticed three women who make fleeting appearances on the first Easter. We first encounter them as Mary rushes away from having met Jesus. The shot is so brief that I couldn't even to get a screen shot that wasn't blurred. Mary is rushing to get Peter and John to tell them of her discovery. The film diverts from John at this point, as in his gospel Mary rushes to get the disciples before she has seen the risen Jesus rather than after.

Peter and John then rush to the tomb, with Mary following a way behind them. When Peter emerges we see this shot. Mary is now talking to the three women she passed earlier. However, it's unclear who these women are meant to be. Matthew's gospel records only two women going to the tomb - Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary": Mark records three - "Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome".

Since we have already been shown Mary Magdalene going to the tomb alone, then these three women must represent a combination of the other three women recorded as witnessing the resurrection - "Mary the mother of James, the other Mary and Salome". Most scholars would, I imagine, equate "the other Mary" with "Mary the mother of James", so it's unusual that they show three figures here rather than just two. But it's interesting how the film-makers make this visual allusion to the other two resurrection accounts, without going into the details.

This is probably because whilst the story is primarily seen through the eyes of Jairus's daughter Tamar, it also encourages the viewer to look at the story of Jesus, and, in particular, his resurrection, through the eyes of both Mary, and indeed Peter. Each of the three characters encounter the risen Jesus, and in each case we are shown the moment they see him and begin to realise what has happened through a point of view shot. To tell the story from the perspective of these women (in addition to that of Cleopas and Jairus) would, no doubt, be somewhat overbearing.