Let’s Talk about Mary
When I saw that Netflix was promoting a film about Mary, I thought, Oh no. Will they do to The Bible what they did to The Witcher?
But then I thought, that’s not fair. Give Netflix a chance. It’s Christmas. Maybe they sincerely wanted to make a movie about the mother of Jesus that wouldn’t be some 21st-century screed about female empowerment and the evil patriarchy.
Wrong.
I’m not even going to complain (too much) about all the liberties the filmmakers took with Mary’s backstory. Like how they borrowed material from a 2nd-century apocryphal gospel that even the Catholic church has rejected as false. When you’re making a two-hour film from a couple of chapters of the Bible, you’re going to make stuff up. I’m a fiction writer. I get that.
What I really object to is how the film tries to make Mary, not Jesus, the true savior of the world. This movie is about creating a new mythology around Mary (based largely on Catholic doctrine), turning her from a grace and faith-filled young woman into a sort of biblical superhero, the real reason for the season.
This is part of the Woman Hero mythos that has taken over Hollywood. Only women, apparently, can save the world these days. Men are not only useless, they are superfluous. More often than not, they are in the way. Mary, who had a baby all by herself (don’t need no man to conceive), is apparently the epitome of this mythos.
I will give Mary credit on a few counts. It looks pretty. The music is effective. And Noa Cohen, who plays Mary, is perfect for the part. The acting is, overall, pretty good.
That’s about it.
Here are a few of my issues with this movie. Trigger warning: there will be spoilers.
From the beginning, Mary is portrayed as a special revelation, almost as divine as Jesus. Her father is told by the angel Gabriel (who is dressed in blue—where in the Bible is an angel ever wearing blue?) that he will have a very special daughter, and she must be dedicated to temple service. This stems from the Catholic dogma that Mary, like Jesus, was conceived without sin (the Immaculate Conception) and that she remained a virgin her whole life (so where did Jesus’ brothers and sisters come from? The tooth fairy?)
Mary’s birth is portrayed as a miracle, borrowing aspects of Samuel’s and Samson’s birth stories as well as Jesus’. When she’s born, her mother says, “Be strong… Mary.” And she is! As a child, Movie Mary is faster than the boys. She’s so special that butterflies follow her wherever she goes.
Movie Mary goes to live at the temple as a young girl. There’s no evidence that anyone, let alone women, lived in the temple ever, but this gives Mary a “saintly” cast and establishes her bona fides as a sinless, perfect, perpetual virgin.
In the temple, Movie Mary gathers bread from the lunch table and distributes it to the poor. Apparently, Movie Mary is the only one in the temple who does anything for the poor.
In a scene where Movie Herod encounters Movie Mary (how could this happen? Don’t ask), Herod is so disturbed by her presence that his bodyguard accosts her and demands to know her “power.” This is repeated a lot—hints that Movie Mary has supernatural power, even over the king. He starts having visions of her that make him go crazy.
When Gabriel tells Movie Mary she’s going to have a baby, she doesn’t say, “How can this be, because I am a virgin?” as Bible Mary does. Instead, she says, “That’s not possible. I can’t have a child.” Why this change? Makes no sense. Movie Gabriel’s speech leaves out any mention of Jesus being the Son of God. In fact, Jesus seems to be an afterthought. The angel’s last words are, “You are blessed among women,” something Bible Gabriel never says.
Gabriel doesn’t tell Movie Mary to visit Elizabeth, her relative who is pregnant in her old age. Instead, it’s her mother who tells her to go. But Mary is in Jerusalem; isn’t her family in Nazareth? No, they’re in Jerusalem, too. For some reason. Don’t ask.
In the Bible, as soon as Elizabeth sees Mary, she knows that Mary is pregnant with the Savior because the baby in her womb (John the Baptist) leapt at her greeting. “Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” This confirms to Bible Mary that the angel had spoken the truth. But Movie Elizabeth doesn’t realize Movie Mary is pregnant until a few minutes into their conversation. She calls Mary “the revelation” but doesn’t explain what that means. For Movie Elizabeth, it’s Mary that’s special, not her baby.
Movie Mary does not sing the Magnificat, as Bible Mary does, a sign that she feels blessed and grateful to God for the favor He has bestowed upon her. (By the way, what happened to Zechariah? His story, as well as John the Baptist’s birth, is virtually ignored.)
Before Movie Mary leaves, Movie Elizabeth tells her to “trust the strength inside you,” a very 21st-century feminist ideal that is wholly contrary to what the Bible teaches.
Poor Movie Joseph. He’s made to seem like an utter fool. He falls for Mary (literally—he falls into a river). He’s the last to know that she’s pregnant—the whole town knows before him. Gabriel, who’s all over the place telling everyone what to do, never comes to him in a dream to tell him that Mary is carrying the Savior of the World. He’s left in the dark. Still, he stands by Mary anyway because… feelings. Never mind that this is not what a 1st-century Jewish man would do. Movie Joseph is a 21st-century man to the bone.
The movie soon becomes an action thriller, or a “survival thriller” as the director calls it. Everyone is out to get Movie Mary. The Jews, the Romans, Herod… she’s constantly hunted, about to be murdered every time she turns around. None of this happens in the Bible.
After one such attack, Joseph takes Mary to Bethlehem, not because of the census, but because “his family is from there.” When they arrive in Bethlehem (with a horse and wagon instead of a donkey—this is a guy who is so poor he can only afford a temple offering of two doves, but he can afford a horse?) When Joseph inquires why so many people are in town, he’s told, “They are here because the Messiah is coming.” So apparently, in this movie, everyone already knows the Messiah is about to be born in Bethlehem. They all know about the star, too, even though in the Bible, only the Wise Men believe it points to a king being born.
Movie Joseph doesn’t try to contact his family in Bethlehem. After being rejected at several inns (poor Joseph can’t do anything right), Mary gives birth in a barn. At least there are some women around to help her. (Catholic tradition says Mary felt no pain in giving birth because she was sinless. I wonder why the Catholic director portrayed her this way—maybe for dramatic effect?)
When Jesus is born, Joseph asks Mary what she will name him. In the Bible, Joseph named Jesus (again, Gabriel forgot to tell him in the dream). Movie Joseph has no agency whatsoever. He’s just Mary’s little helper and not even very good at that.
When Jesus is born, Movie Mary tells him, “You chose me, and I choose you.” That’s just weird. Who would say that to a baby? Especially the Son of God?
No angels declare Jesus’ birth to shepherds. I guess the angels weren’t required because everyone already knew the Messiah was coming. But a shepherd goes to Jerusalem to report the birth directly to Herod. Yes, you heard that right. A shepherd told Herod.
As soon as Movie Herod gets word that the Messiah is born (on the same night it happens—it’s like they had TikTok or something), he gives orders to start murdering babies. Now, despite the fact that everyone knows the Messiah was born in Bethlehem, and it would be very easy to figure out which baby it was, the soldiers still can’t find baby Jesus. These are some pretty dumb soldiers.
Movie Mary and Joseph are already on the road when they have to make yet another harrowing escape from the soldiers with newborn Jesus (on a horse, of course), sacrificing an entire family in the process. Movie Mary jumps off a roof heroically. Of course, none of this actually happened. Bible Joseph was warned in a dream to take Mary to Egypt before Herod started his killing spree, which probably didn’t occur until about two years after Jesus’ birth. But again, Movie Joseph never got his dream.
Instead of killing the newborns, soldiers round them up and bring them to Herod so he can “interrogate” them. “Are you the Messiah?” It’s so weird. I guess they needed to give Anthony Hopkins a final Mad King scene.
After their intrepid escape, instead of going straight to Egypt (how did they know to go to Egypt, since Joseph never got the dream?), Movie Mary and Joseph decide to go to Jerusalem, where Herod lives, to dedicate the baby Jesus at the temple. Great plan.
Mary enters the temple’s inner sanctum as if she were a queen, with all the priests watching solemnly as if they had been waiting for her to show up all day long. It’s all very dramatic but completely wrong. Mary and Joseph would not have been allowed inside the inner court, a place reserved for priests. They would have remained in the outer courts where the purification rituals took place. Moreover, there would have been many other people there as well—the temple was a very busy place. And Movie Joseph never even makes his offering of two doves.
Miraculously, however, no one tells Herod that Mary is in town, not even that spying shepherd.
Movie Mary’s last words are, “Love will save the world.” The director, D.J. Caruso, said this means, “Ultimately, her (Mary’s) love will be the force that saves the world.” No, sorry, Mr. Caruso. Mary’s love, however great, won’t save the world. Jesus will save the world.
This is the main problem with Mary. It’s not about the birth of Jesus. It’s not about God coming into the world to save people from their sins. Other than a few mentions of “Messiah,” there is virtually nothing about Jesus or his mission. Anna the Prophetess, who has a more significant role in this movie than in the Bible (my guess is the filmmakers wanted to expand roles for women), says nothing about redemption. Simeon’s speech leaves out any mention of salvation.
The film was produced by Joel Osteen, not known for his biblical prowess. The filmmakers consulted Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders in the making of the film. Muslims? Can you imagine filmmakers consulting Christian theologians on a film about Mohammed? Social media has erupted with Pro-Palestinians complaining that Mary was being played by—gasp—an Israeli woman, even though Islam wasn’t invented until six hundred years after the birth of Christ.
In the movie’s first few minutes, we hear Movie Mary say, “If you think you know my story, trust me, you don’t.” So, I guess the filmmakers believe their depiction of Mary is more accurate than the Bible. God help them.
If you want to know the real story, Read Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2.