Hail, Mary!
Mary, now streaming on Netflix, is stirring the cauldron of faith, while also firing up admiration for facets of Mary that shone in the movie.
The movie tells the story of Mary, one of the Bible’s most significant people, from the time she was conceived till the time she gave birth to Jesus Christ. Some 2.4 billion people on this planet, including this writer, believe in Jesus Christ. And He was brought forth to this earth by a human named “Mary.”
When I visited the site of the Annunciation in Nazareth during a pilgrimage in 2018, I asked the pilgrimage’s spiritual director Fr. Dave Concepcion how important the Annunciation was.
“Aba, eh ‘di iba sana ang naging kasaysayan ng mundo,” Fr. Dave said, if Mary had not said “Yes” to be the mother of God. That “Yes” changed the world. Still does, as more and more each day become Christians, not just by birth but by choice.
Mary is venerated by Catholics, and last week, we celebrated two feasts in which she is the central figure: the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8) and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12).
The movie Mary is told from the viewpoint of director D.J. Caruso and writer Timothy Michael Hayes. According to online sources, both are Catholics. But in making the movie, they reportedly also consulted with resource persons of other faiths as well.
Despite questions about the accuracy of locations, timelines and character portrayals in the movie, Mary reaffirmed my admiration for the Mother of Christ. Mary knew the consequences of her saying “Yes” to be the mother of Christ, and she was faithful, till the end to that promise. Having a child before marriage still elicits raised eyebrows from some sectors now, imagine how it was looked upon then? In the movie, Mary acutely felt the repercussions.
In the opening scene, Mary tells the audience, “I was chosen to deliver a gift to the world. The greatest gift it has ever known.”
She also knows being the mother of Jesus will someday pierce her heart, but she still says “Yes.”
“Love will cost you dearly; it will pierce your heart,” Mary says in the movie. “But in the end, love will save the world.”
If only for those two assertions: that Mary knew she would be delivering the greatest gift the world has ever known; and that love would save the world, the movie touched me. It is the story of salvation despite the many creative and dramatic licenses, and purported inaccuracies, in the movie.
There are many scenes in the movie that I didn’t learn about in Catholic school. And the location of the final scenes (where did Joseph, Mary and Joseph really flee to after Bethlehem?)—definitely not what I have always thought to be the case.
Israeli actress Noa Cohen portrays Mary, Israeli actor Ido Tako plays her husband, Joseph, and Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins appears as Herod the Great, who ordered the killing of the Messiah and all other male infants born on the day prophesied to be the birth of the Savior.
My former teacher Mrs. Bing Yogore, who taught Religion and English to high school students at the Assumption Convent, has this to say about Mary.
“The film Mary is so far from the romanticized Mary that we grew up with. We only knew Mary as the woman brave enough to say ‘Yes’ to God’s plan; submissive but with inner strength. In the film, Mary is more assertive. Was she really promised to be a Temple lady? This part of her life is unknown. It may or may not be true. I see her (in the film) as more humane and realistic as a woman. Many modern women can identify with her.”
But Mrs. Yogore concedes that the film depicts a very different Mary, “and this can distress the very traditional and conservative Christian.”
Fr. Dave says, “Movies are meant to entertain. If you know your mother, you would not be worried about it.”
Gigi Blanch O’Brien, nurtured in a Catholic school, says, “I give Mary a thumbs-up for several reasons. One, it depicts Mary as human. Her unwavering faith in God led her bravely to her soul’s path. Two, finally, a story of Mary’s foundations that we can all relate to as mothers.”
For Fr. Flavie Villanueva, the movie is too “progressive” and the portrayal of Mary in the movie is “too human bordering on the radical.”
For the final word, I share part of a review from the National Catholic Register.
“For all of its invented events that can leave viewers unclear about all the real facts, Mary does strive to treat Mary with reverence in presenting her early life—and hopefully will prompt people to want to learn more about the real Mary,” says the review written by Joseph Pronechen.
I say, “Amen” to that.
