A Review of Mary by Olszyk
Distribution Service: Netflix
FCC Rating, TV-14
USCCB Rating, Not rated at the time of this review
Reel Rating, One and a Half Reels
I first heard of Mary from The Babylon Bee: Joel Osteen is making a movie about the Mother of God. Yikes. Yet as the release date approached, I became more optimistic. It was directed by DJ Caruso, whose 2022 film Shut In was the ninth best of that year. It was also filmed in the Holy Land with a largely Israeli cast including Sir Anthony Hopkins as King Herod. As the release date approached, the firestorm got more intense. Conservatives wondered if it would deny the Immaculate Conception or Perpetual Virginity. Progressives had a problem with a Jewish woman portraying…a Jewish woman? As it turns out, the film is indeed bad, though not in the way many expected.
The fantastic first scene should be in a much better film. Joachim (Ori Pfeffer), old and childless, goes into the desert to fast and pray. He meets the archangel Gabriel (Dudley O'Shaughnessy) who tells him that he will have a child. He then reunites with Anne (Hilla Vidor), and they celebrate God’s intervention in their lives. Mary (Noa Cohen) is born and immediately dedicated to God as a worker in the temple, like the young Samuel in the Old Testament. Throughout her childhood, she delights her superiors with her dedication but frustrates them with her independence and sharp wit. Led by Gabriel, Joseph (Ido Tako) finds Mary washing clothes by a river and immediately falls in love with her. Assuming this is God’s will (he correctly described Gabriel’s outfit), Mary’s parents insist she wed this man she just met, breaking her vow in the process.
Of course, Mary’s nuptials are complicated by the return of Gabriel who announces she will give birth to the Messiah. Strangely enough, not only does everyone in Nazareth discover she is pregnant, but several vying factions come to believe that this unborn child is indeed the future King of Israel. Herod (Sir Anthony Hopkins), who murders his wife in his first scene, not only gives the order to massacre the innocents but to “bring the Son of Mary to me alive.” This begins the final act where Mary, Joseph, and a Navy Seal style team of zealots make a bloody retreat to Egypt, always under the threat of imminent attack.
Mary is a classic example of script by committee. In its marketing, the producers proudly announced that they “consulted many experts including Christians, Muslims, and Jews.” Apparently, they didn’t leave anything on the cutting room floor, because this movie is filled with weird concepts. The priests wear bizarre hats, and there certainly wasn’t a female religious order devoted to temple cleaning. Also strange is everyone – seemingly all Judea – knows Jesus is the future Messiah, answering Michael English’s age old question. There’s no mention of a census, the Roman Empire is completely absent, and Herod appears on screen more than any other character. Oh, I almost forgot. Satan also attempts to seduce and kill Mary but is stopped in a face-off with Gabriel.
The biggest question Catholics on social media pondered was whether anything would violate basic doctrines about Mary. Fortunately, there is nothing that goes against the fundamental beliefs about the Blessed Mother (virginity, original sin, etc). Yet there is also little in the way of theological speculation or social commentary. One could interpret Herod’s bloodlust for infants as a pro-life, but it’s unfocused. Oddly enough, the film’s greatest moral significance came from an attempted boycott from left-wing radicals because the lead actress was Israeli. As Caruso pointed out in an interview, people are still attacking Mary for geo-political reasons that have nothing to do with her. This is yet another sorrow that she bears for the world.
Mary has its heart in the right place. Cohen portrays the Madonna as a brave and loyal mother who would do anything to protect her child and the future of the world. Caruso does his best to make the narrative exciting. Yet the story is so strange, haphazard, and poorly written that any potential meaning is easily lost. There are already better movies about Mary on Netflix right now. Of course, there is also Anthony Hopkins, who alone makes any film watchable. It is a little better than Transformers 5.
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