On the Screen: Far from a traditional nativity film, ‘Mary’ lacks clarity




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.