Mary (2024)

This is my fourth attempt at writing a review for Netflix's new film Mary (dir. D.J. Caruso), which is certainly far more attention than I'd planned on giving it originally. That's partially driven by my business in my day job -- not to mention the season -- but it's also because while I was not particularly taken by the film on my first viewing, it's become a little more interesting as I've grappled with how to write about it.

One of those questions is the team behind it. In many ways Mary is a bit of a left-field offering for Netflix. One critique of the film I read, said that Hollywood never does the Bible right. This surprised me, because even without having read much about it, it felt every inch like a Christian Bible movie. I've seen enough to know the signs. 

It turns out that this is essentially a faith-based film. The film names televangelist Joel Osteen as one of its executive producers as well as Adam W. Schindler, from the right-wing think-tank America First Policy Institute, as is its biblical scholar. Moreover, director D.J. Caruso's last film was another faith-based effort Shut In (2022) and before that he directed Redeeming Love (2020), the not-quite-modern-day adaptation of the Book of Hosea.

Yet Caruso is coming from a very different faith background to Osteen and Schindler. Caruso is a Roman Catholic, as he revealed in a fascinating interview with my friend Peter Chattaway. So while the film is essentially conservative, in that its presentation of Mary is unlikely to shock or surprise anyone, it doesn't feel like a right-wing evangelistic film.

Caruso's Catholic background is apparent right from the start as the film begins with the events surrounding Mary's birth. These episodes are not included in the canonical gospels, but do feature in the Protoevangelium of James (also known as the Infancy Gospel of James) from the second half of the 2nd-century AD. While the film doesn't overly dwell on this part of the story, it does include a number of its initial elements: Mary's parents are called Anne and Joachim; Joachim goes into the dessert while Anne prays for a child at home; an angel reveals that they will have a child; it's understood that there's something miraculous about the conception; then when she's young she is sent to the temple. 

From there things diverge and the focus moves to the palace of Herod the Great (Sir Antony Hopkins) while Mary grows up. Having snagged a major star like Hopkins, the screenplay gives him plenty of screen time, but it's clear that Caruso is unable to get the best out of him. The performance from the two-time Oscar winner is well below the level of everything else I've seen him do. It's tempting to blame his age, until you remember that he was nominated for an Oscar less than 4 years ago for his portrayal of Pope Benedict in The Two Popes (2020). 

Hopkins has long had an active Christian faith and taken many faith-related roles over the years from St Paul in Peter and Paul (1981) through to Methuselah in Noah (2014) and the recent Freud's Last Session (2023) where he played the titular psychoanalyst debating God's existence with a fledgling C.S. Lewis. Perhaps he was just too keen to accept the role he didn't vet it as well as he might have.

Certainly there are problems with the script. For one thing it seems to lack a sense of conviction, unusual for a Christian movie. I've always thought The Nativity Story (2006) tried to be three different kinds of film (a gritty coming of age drama at the start, a historical road movie adventure in the middle, and a traditional Christmas card schmaltz-fest at the end), but it certainly had no shortage of ideas or ambition. Here it's hard to work out what we should really care about.

I think that's partly because the film is far more interested in its male leads than in its eponymous hero.  Hopkins murders his way through wives, sons and workers, in order that we can be quite clear that him slaughtering of Bethlehem's innocents is very much consistent with his character. Joachim too gets far more developed than he has been in previous Nativity movies. But Mary, for all her screen time, feels rather underdeveloped. She takes in all the things happening around her, but is essentially a passive character. The subtlety of Noa Cohen's performance might be more revealing in the hands of a different director, but here any real sense of who Mary was is lost.

Yet while the film fails to really land Mary's character, it has a far more developed take on Joseph. For one thing it eschews almost all sense of him having second thoughts about marrying Mary and recreates him as someone who loves her completely from first sight. His character diverts significantly from his role in James, and to a lesser extent Matthew and Luke, but it does so in interesting ways, even if the scene where he thrusts a short sword into Lucifer's back, in a possible fantasy sequence, feels out of place. His unbridled devotion though, which plays as more than just strong teenage emotions, is quite a refreshing angle to look at things from.

The one female character who does get developed fairly well, at least far more significantly than in Luke chapter 2 is Anna, the female prophet who "never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying" (Luke 2:37). Anna befriends Mary, when she first gets sent to the temple, and defends her later on when Mary's pregnancy is discovered later on. She appears as a mentor to Mary. The film also has Mary's mother and Elizabeth present at the birth, which was featured in the 2003 BBC documentary The Virgin Mary but not in any other onscreen depictions that I can recall.

Visually there's the occasional nice shot some of which reflect classical compositions and poses without feeling forced or sappy, but things feel a little too pristine and sterile at times as well. Moreover, as with most Netflix productions much of the quality props and sets are lost to the over-dark lighting. That doesn't appear to be a tribute to "O Little Town of Bethlehem" with its mention of "the dark streets", not least because the film's biggest failing is that it never fully manages to convey the "everlasting light" which will finally meet "hopes and fears of all the years". That is the real heart of the story, but it remains unignited here.With more heart, conviction and, above all, hope, Mary's flaws might have disappeared a little more into the background. Instead its notable elements are overshadowed and its blessings left unimparted.

Bale in Mary the Mother of Jesus

I've started re-watching the Jesus-as-a-grown-up section of Mary the Mother of Jesus and thought I'd write down a few notes.

Locating the transition from Jesus' life as a child to adulthood turned out to be harder than you might expect. Sometimes DVD makers fail to do the most obvious things, and for some reason no-one seems to have thought that it might be a good idea to start a new DVD chapter when we jump from Jesus as a 12 year old to him as an adult.

When we do encounter him as an adult he's 30 (as in Luke) and working as a carpenter. After a shot or two with him banging about bits of wood, there's a phony scene of him dealing with a customer who can't afford the service he has just provided. Jesus just smiles. "Pay me when you can". It's not that I struggle to accept that Jesus may have been compassionate with his customers, or even that he let some of them delay payment that gets me. No it's the sense that this customer's failure to mention his financial situation until after the work was done would be received in such a wet-blanket fashion. And the filmmakers deciding that of all his years working as a carpenter, this would be the moment to show as if to force the point "hey look Jesus is so compassionate".

Like Jesus (1999) this initial focus on Jesus as a carpenter is quickly overshadowed by the death of Joseph. Before he dies Joseph croaks to Mary "Jesus: everything he is, you've made him". Whilst the Yoda-esque sentence construction, and Joseph giving Mary all the credit for how Jesus has shaped up are just about forgiveable, Mary's silence and refusal to share the credit is not. I imagine this dialogue was conceived to highlight May's all-round wonderfulness, but it just makes her appear arrogant and uncaring. Not only is Joseph's statement the rising of a last desperate cry of a man fearing his imminent death - which surely calls for reassurance - but it's utterly unrealistic to imagine that a parent could have been with his son for 30 years and had yet no influence whatsoever on his son (no matter who the son in question was).

Both films also explore the idea that Joseph's death acts as a trigger for the start of Jesus' ministry. Further, both films contend that Mary's advice is pivotal in helping Jesus realise this. The films were released at more or less exactly the same time so it's unlikely this is the result of copying. That said, the way this film does this is particularly galling: Mary conveniently decides to let Jesus know that he actually has a cousin and fills Jesus in as to his behaviour at the River Jordan. Jesus replies that the reason he went to the temple aged 12 was because he heard God tell him to, and now, through Mary's words he has heard God speak again.

So Jesus, along with Mary, goes in search of his cousin, and after hearing his message Jesus decided to take the plunge, but bizarrely Mary then wades into the water to share in the moment. It's a strange moment not because it could not have happened - mother and son being baptised together is eminently reasonable - but because, again, it rings false. The gospels bracket off Jesus' baptism as in some way exceptional. Here Mary is brought, unwarranted, into that bracket, and in a way that is laboured and awkward.

Having only made it as far as 10 minutes through I'm going to have to stop, at least for now, partly because it's late and partly because it's already all got a bit too much. Jesus and Mary have just been discussing his plans for saving the world. "
Those stories you used to tell" he says, as if incapable of original thought, "that's how I'll teach them..."

Mary Mother of Jesus for £2

Just flicking through the latest sale at Play.com and it turns out they have Mary Mother of Jesus for just £1.99 (including delivery!) It's been at least 6 years since I saw that film, during which time star Christian (geddit?) Bale has gone from strength to strength, but as I remember it, it's pretty awful.

I'd be interested to revisit it though, if only to see what Bale does with his part. As far as I recall he's actually only third in terms of amount of dialogue / screen time. The film's main focus is on Mary and just under half the film focusses, therefore, on Jesus' birth (starring Melinda Kinnaman as a young Mary), which obviously excludes Bale. The larger part of the film stars Pernilla August as Mary so Bale is more of a character in her story than vice versa. As I say, it's been a while since I saw this, so that may all be wrong; as may my distant memory that Kinnaman's section was passable (also featuring David Threlfall as Joseph), but August's part was very poor.

There's also one other interesting point of trivia in relation to this film: the same year that this film was released (1999), Pernilla August also starred in another film where she played a young virgin who somehow manages to conceive a son who is expected to be some kind of messiah. That film is somewhat better known, even if it's no more highly regarded - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Saint Mary and Jesus the Spirit of God on Google Video

Peter Chattaway's blog has been quiet recently whilst he's been at VIFF, but he has popped up at Arts and Faith with a few interesting bits and pieces. Two items that caught my eye in particular were regarding two 'Islamic' Jesus films coming up on Google Video. I've had a copy of Saint Mary, for a while, but it's nice that there's a subtitled version available to view for free. There's also Mesih/Massiah/Jesus the Spirit of God. I couldn't find the video Peter refers to, but it looks like the whole film is available on YouTube. No subtitles for that one unfortunately. Hopefully I'll get a chance to watch these soon.

Mary News on Cast and DirectorFoley Returns to (the) Madonna

Foley directing Dustin Hoffman in Confidence, © Lionsgate

The Hollywood Reporter has more details on Mary, Mother of the Christ. Joining Al Pacino (Herod), Camilla Belle (Mary) and Peter O'Toole (Symeon) will be Portuguese actor Diogo Morgado (Joseph) and Julia Ormond. It also names James Foley (pictured above) as director. Foley has a number of well known films behind him including Madonna vehicle Who's That Girl? and the excellent Glengarry Glen Ross. Filming is due to start in October.

Thanks to Peter Chattaway for the tip off. Whilst I'm talking about Mr Chattaway, I should also congratulate him for winning the award for Best Column of 2008 at the Fellowship of Christian Newspapers (North America) - for his film column for BC Christian News.

Mary, Mother of Christ: An Update from Barbara Nicolosi

Back in January 2007, MGM gained the rights to Benedict Fitzgerald's screenplay Myriam, Mother of the Christ. Despite the fact it was lined up for an Easter 2008 release date, there's been almost no news about it at all, save the occasional detail about Fitzgerald's law suit against Mel Gibson.

But yesterday, Barbara Nicolosi, resurfaced to announce that not only had she just handed in the fifth rewrite of the script, but that it had also just changed it's title to the more obvious Mary, Mother of Christ (see IMDB page). Here's what she had to say:

I submitted probably the fifth version of the rewrite today. I think the thing is amazingly better than it was two weeks ago. ("Amazingly better"? Yeah, I have no words left with which to think or express myself.) Hopefully, the producers will agree and I will have a break for a bit.

It was cool to see that the production company has entered a listing for the project here. I can't say a lot about the project yet. I can say it has some wonderfully profound theological moments that hearken back to The Passion of the Christ in style.

I have two or three other projects which could be listed up on IMDB, but for some reason the producers are cagey about doing that. Now, that I'm really up there, I've become obsessed with getting the others up. This is that Hollywood disease, I think. But, as we say in the biz, it is an honor just to have a listing.

Quite. Not really sure what to make of the final line of the second paragraph. Jeffrey Overstreet credits Nicolosi with "talking Mel Gibson into adding flashbacks to The Passion of the Christ" and Fitzgerald obviously wrote that film's screenplay, but at the same time comparing your movie to that film is par for the course of promoting a Bible film these days. And calling parts of your own screenplay "wonderfully profound" seems to rubs me up the wrong way. But then we British are pretty squeamishness about anything other than self-deprecation.

Nevertheless, it's good to hear that this film, at least, is still on track. Thanks to Peter Chattaway (IMDB page) for spotting the story.

Mary in Film Database

Michael P. Duricy has created a database of films which either feature the Virgin Mary, or some kind of Mary figure or imagery. The database lists over 1000 films split into 3 categories: Drama, Documentary, and Lecture; Historical and Symbolic Films; and, Intentional and Illustrative Aspects.

The photo above is of Julia Ormond from the Peter Greenaway film Das Wunder von Macon (1992).

Another new Mary Film? Myriam, Mother of the Christ

Peter Chattaway has another scoop. According to the Hollywood Reporter, MGM has gained the rights to a new film about the mother of Jesus. Myriam, Mother of the Christ has been written by Benedict Fitzgerald who also wrote The Passion of the Christ and who will also produce it alongside Richard Garzilli, John Garbett and Erik Lomis.

Peter makes some great observations. Personally, I have a number of questions regarding timing. Firstly, does the timing of this announcement signify that MGM were encouraged by the turnout for The Nativity Story, or that they think New Line botched it? Does planning to show the film at Easter (2008) mean that they have given up hope of Christian related material getting aired at Christmas, and that the more overtly Christian Easter time might be more profitable? Finally, there are now at least three bible films heading for an Easter 2008 release (this, the BBC's as yet unnamed project and The Resurrection). Admittedly one is a British television project, but the other two would rather seem to clash. I wonder if box office clash between films written by the (presumably) Catholic Fitzgerald, and the evangelical La Haye will result in the coalition which resulted in such success for The Passion of the Christ splitting to leave neither film the winner.

Saint Mary Iranian film

My friend Peter Chattaway recently interviewed Shohreh Aghdashloo at the junket for The Nativity Story (Aghdashloo plays Elizabeth). Along the way, she mentioned an Iranian made film called Saint Mary which neither Peter or I were aware of.

Peter's done some research and written a post on the film which includes finding the retailers website, which includes a montage of clips from the film. A different selection of clips are available on YouTube in Farsi (with English subtitles).

One thing Peter doesn't mention is that the film would appear to be primarily based on the Qu'ran. Sura 3 discusses the birth of Mary, including some indications that Israel's deliverer was already expected at that point, and Surah 19 deals with Mary's role in the birth of Jesus. I notice that Aghdashloo declared that "Obviously it's been distorted, it's not the real story" in the interview. I'm not sure whether this is a reference to it being based on the Qu'ran rather than the bible (and if this was the Grace Hill organised event she would have known Peter was a Christian) or just to the fact that padding out either version of the story to fill its incredible 6 hour run time.

Whilst the original is in Farsi it is available to buy in an English dubbed version in a number of different countries (including the US and the UK). There was also a screening of the film last year, put on by the Islamic Centre of England