DAVID ADAMS watches DJ Caruso’s take on the story of Jesus’ birth…
Mary (AU – M/UK – 15)
In a word: Woolly
Noa Cohen as Mary. PICTURE: Christopher Raphael/Netflix/ © 2024 MM FILM LLC.
Mary warns us in a voiceover at the start of this film that if we think we know her story, we may be in store for a surprise. And, indeed, while this has most of the basic elements of the Gospel account of Christ’s birth, there is much here that draws on other traditions as well as some not inconsiderable imaginative filling-in of the blanks.
“If you’re expecting a traditional retelling of the Biblical account of Jesus’s birth, this isn’t it…Unfortunately, though, the move toward the action genre doesn’t make for a better film. Just one that seems a little confused about what exactly it’s trying to be.”
Already having sparked some controversy over casting choices, this film – directed by DJ Caruso and penned by Timothy Michael Hayes – opens with Mary parents, Joachim (Ori Pfeffer) and Anne (Hilla Vidor). Desperate to have a child, Joachim spends 40 days in the desert before they told they are being granted that privilege by the blue robed angel Gabriel (Dudley O’Shaughnessy) in the first of many appearances he makes in this tale (as does Lucifer, played by Eamon Farren).
That child is, of course, Mary (largely played by Noa Cohen) and we soon find out that thanks to the promises made at her miraculous birth, she’s taken to the Temple in Jerusalem where will she serve and live a rather cloistered life under the supervision of the prophetess Anna (played by Susan Brown; Anna does make an appearance in the Gospel accounts but not until after Jesus’ birth). Not that that stops her handing out bread to the poor in a rather incongruous scene designed to show her caring side.
Herod (played by Anthony Hopkins), meanwhile, is a tyrannical king who goes increasingly mad as the film progresses. Desperate to hold on to power, he’s willing to do anything to ensure he does, and his attention soon turns to rumours that a new King of the Jews is being born.
Mary, meanwhile, finds her life overturned when Joseph (Ido Tako) is led by the angel Gabriel and spies her across a river. After exchanging just a few words, heads to her parents to ask for her hand in marriage. Her parents, initially resistant, agree but Mary remains at the Temple for the time being. That all changes when Gabriel visits her, in a reimagined scene from the Bible, and tells her that she will bear a son whom she is to name Jesus. She is quickly cast out of the Temple and it’s then that she goes to spend some time with her cousin Elizabeth.
We rely on our readers to fund Sight's work - become a financial supporter today!
For more information, head to our Subscriber's page.
Much of the rest of the film turns into something of an action adventure with Joseph having to fend off villagers who want to stone the pregnant Mary and then, after Jesus is born, Herod’s minions as they seek out the child who is prophesied to be the King of the Jews.
Hopkins lends some star power with a bombastic portrayal of an increasingly unhinged Herod but we don’t really see much in the way of character development – after all, there’s little time, particularly in the second half as the actors find themselves responding to a cascading series of events. The film is backed by a haunting musical score and the costumes and CGI rendering of the ancient world, while good, are at times more reminiscent of a sci-fi film.
If you’re expecting a traditional retelling of the Biblical account of Jesus’s birth, this isn’t it. To be fair, Mary did warn us that was the case. Unfortunately, though, the imaginative reworkings and the move toward the action genre doesn’t make for a better film. Just one that seems a little confused about what exactly it’s trying to be.
‘Mary’ is released on Netflix.