The life of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is vividly portrayed in a lavish new production distributed by Netflix during the season of Advent when Christians prepare to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ.  The film boasts high production values and strong acting from a cast that includes Anthony Hopkins in the role of the psychotic homicidal King Herod the Great.

Instead, Mary (a name which in Hebrew means “Beautiful Warror”) is portrayed as just that by actress Noa Cohen.  She is a fleshed out character with emotions but is firmly rooted in her faith in God and her desire to do His will.   Her piety is sincere, accompanied by acts of charity and mystical.  Refreshingly, the film does not insinuate anything that undermines the chastity of the relationship between Mary and Joseph.  Joseph is a strong masculine character – neither the white-haired father-like protector of Mary or the long-suffering man of worries sometimes depicted in art.  Instead, he is almost action-hero material, rescuing Mary and defending her honour, sometimes by force.

Anthony Hopkins gives a tour-de-force performance as the baddie, King Herod, and the depiction of the blue-clad Angel Gabriel and the Devil, swarming with flies, is powerful, as are depictions of Mary’s parents, known through tradition as Joaquim and Anne.

The film takes a deal of licence with the Biblical material (which is not biographical in the modern sense) and opens with Mary’s voice telling the viewer that if you think you know her story, “you do not”.  This might provoke an instant knee-jerk reaction from some Christian (particularly Catholic) viewers worried that we are in for a biopic that dispenses with the supernatural and plays fast and loose with a hotchpotch of apocryphal stories that are at best spurious.  Such has been the case with Mary Magdalene (2018), which use non-Biblical material to point blame at the Church for distorting Mary Magdelene, suppressing her in favour of a male-dominated hierarchy led by Peter the Apostle.  However, Caruso’s film is reverent, respectful of Mary’s status as the Mother of the Saviour, and does not in any way downplay the supernatural; quite the opposite, as butterflies flock around her during childhood.  Discerning viewers will enjoy Mary, in the same way that they might enjoy series such as The Chosen (2017-present), appreciating that good Biblical drama should always draw the viewer to a deeper desire to know the truth of Sacred Scripture and draw closer to God in prayer and in the Sacraments of His Church.

Review by

Stephen Callaghan