Mary, Mother of Jesus
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Movie Reviews of Mary, Mother of Jesus
Movie Review: Mary's Gospel: Lite and Fast
Summary: 4 Stars
This short, budgety film was produced by the Schriver/Kennedy family and it certainly will find an audience. It isn't bad at all, and it certainly is earnest.
In less than two hours however, we are whisked through the early womanhood and life of Mary, as well as Jesus's 33 years. It's a whirlwind tour, but not an unpleasant one. Christian Bale is a rather young Jesus, but, like everyone else involved here, very sincere.
The film takes licenses that some may object to, but certainly make their point. Mary is shown as a stronger influence on her son's life than is normally depicted, but I believe these are nice, realistic touches that add much depth to a beloved but not entirely understood figure, whether historical, religious or of fantasy. This Mary witnesses a stoning, and later is herself almost stoned for her unwed pregnancy, foreshadowing Jesus' saving of a woman stoned for adultery. The child Jesus listens to bedtime stories that would later become his parables, etc.
It's nicely done, providing the requisite emotional wallop at the end.
Movie Review: Great movie about Mary and Jesus realtionship
Summary: 4 Stars
I love this movie. Both actors for Mary( one plays Mary at Jesus birth and the other( Pernilla August, plays the mother in Starwars)plays Jesus after he is 12 years old, are doing a great job. Mary is portait as a strong gentle woman full of faith. Even that I'm not catholic I still love this movie(except one scene after John the Baptist is killed they show his body w/o his head. They really could have left that one out.) It also shows Marys close and good realtionship w/ Jesus( Christian Bale, who also plays in Little Women) He is portrait as a powerful, but loving gentle man who smiles often( not like in some other Jesus movies where Jesus never smiles)Movie Review: mother of all
Summary: 4 Stars
This story is simply told and therein lies its strength.It'snot an epic film like "King of Kings" but does what it was meant to do inspire faith.It is unfortunate that some self righteous Christians never get enough of bashing Roman Catholicism and its beliefs and they call themselves Christians.
Movie Review: Cathy
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked the movie, however, I like another "Mary" movie better. Still this is a good movie.Movie Review: Fervent yet flawed study of a human-divine relationship
Summary: 3 Stars
In 1999, it just so happened that two of the major networks aired versions of the Jesus story the same month. "Jesus," which I review elsewhere, was one; the other was "Mary, Mother of Jesus." Of the two, "Jesus" emerged as original and likeable, with MMOJ coming in a distant second.
MMOJ, bankrolled by the very Catholic Shriver Foundation, seeks to highlight the special relationship between Mary and Jesus. Yet it is a queer composite of a movie. On one hand, it seeks to humanize Mary. She is shown as a headstrong (though virtuous) teenage girl who stands up to the Romans and her hotheaded male townsmen. Uncharacteristically for the time period, she runs around without male escort or head covering. She asks no permission of her betrothed, Joseph, to travel to the Judaean hill country to visit her cousin Elizabeth. She is vocal about denouncing fellow male Jews who stone a woman to death for adultery.
On the other hand, the film could easily function as a brief for the defense of the idea of Mary as Co-Redemptrix. This Marian title is being pushed by conservative Catholics (including the late Pope John Paul II) and asks us to accept the idea that Mary was so intimately and necessarily associated with salvation wrought by Christ, a claim rejected by nearly all but the most conservative of Roman Catholics. To this end, we are shown Mary as the source of Jesus's parables; she tells the Good Samaritan as a bedtime story. When Christ is suffering on the cross and about to give in to despair, she bolsters his spirit--by reciting the Lord's Prayer--and helps him to endure until the end. She is graced with a non-biblical post-Resurrection appearance. She single-handedly rallies the downhearted disciples to continue her Son's mission.
The movie is problematic on many fronts. First, it is too short to accommodate the subject matter -- and commercial breaks. Criminals are no sooner crucified than their corpses are hauled down from their crosses. And there is the problem of the aging of Mary. Teenage Mary is played adequately (if uni-dimensionally) by Melinda Kinnaman. When we next see Mary a scant 12 years later, Kinnamon has been replaced by Pernilla August, whose easily looks thirty years than the acrtress she replaced. Though she is an actress of far greater range and subtlety, reserving Pernilla for the end of the film, hen Jesus as a grown man, would have flowed better. Architecturally, the film's depiction of Jerusalem, with odd pointed towers, is completely wrong. And other period films have done a far better job of accurately depicting Roman battle gear.
Theologically, Mary is given a role and influence that the gospels reserve for Jesus alone. Mary and Jesus decide together when it is time to start his mission. They are baptized together by John the Baptist, and Mary accompanies Jesus on much of his mission, rather than occasionally as indicated by Scripture. While this may enthrall the co-redemptrix supporters, it may baffle or even anger others. The movie's message too is devoid of theological import. Mary urges us to love as Jesus loved, something that could be said about any good person. His role as redeeming Son of God is muted, not unexpected in a mass marketed TV movie.
As a Sunday school teacher, the movie has limited utility, though there it has a few nice features. The annunciation scene, with its shimmering, mirage-like angelic messenger, is visually other-worldly and plausible. Elizabeth seems appropriately too old to be pregnant. And Joseph, played wonderfully by David Threlfall, is plausible as the older spouse of a younger woman. The human love story of Mary and Joseph is beautiful to watch. The real star of the film is the relationship between Jesus and his mother. Christian Bale (in a predecessor to his marvelous role in this year's "Batman Begins") plays Jesus as second fiddle to his mother. Though a scene in which he gives a sculpted toy pony to a retarded girl is touching.
"Mary, Mother of Jesus" often strays far from the gospels, but does so with a good heart. Catch the movie as a meditation on the relationship between Mary and Jesus, but supplement it with "Jesus" for a better drama and "Jesus of Nazareth" for scriptural accuracy.