By the end of Mary, viewers may realise that, apart from the key Gospel scenes of the infancy narratives, just how much inventiveness there is in this storytelling. Source: Australian Catholics.
Mary is the work of screenwriter Timothy Michael Hayes, who is credited in the Internet Movie Database note as responsible for “inventive biopics”.
This is certainly the case here (and we might agree with the familiar declaration during the final credits that, while based on actual characters, characters and events have been reworked for dramatic purposes).
It was only in the second and third centuries that Christians wanted to know more about the biblical characters, creating alternative narratives and different Gospels, and giving names to characters who are not even mentioned in the Gospels, especially Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne.
The screenwriter has drawn on some of these apocryphal Gospels, especially the proto-evangelion of James, as well as the visions of mystics such as Maria of Agreda and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, the latter one of the inspirations for Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.
With the focus on the young Mary, the film might well be described as a Young Adult interpretation of Mary.
The film might have been open to younger children’s audiences, but the Mary stories are interwoven with the dramatic history of Herod the Great (Hopkins). There are some very bloodthirsty sequences, including torture of the high priest, and the expected Massacre of the Innocents.
One of the difficulties of the screenplay is the frequent appearance of Gabriel, always in blue, sinister rather than angelic. Satan also with taunts and offers temptations for Mary.
There will be a variety of responses to this film. Biblical scholars will probably not be enthusiastic. Viewers unfamiliar with Gospel details and literary forms may enjoy it at the Young Adult level, mixed with a swords and sandals atmosphere.
Mary: Starring Noa Cohen, Anthony Hopkins, Ido Tako, Hilla Vidor, Ori Pfeffer. Directed by DJ Caruso. 115 minutes. Rated M. Released on Netflix, December 6.
FULL REVIEW
Mary (Australian Catholics)
