Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
Sabah Hensley
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
Isbel
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Desertman84
Mary,Mother Of Jesus is a TV movie that doesn't venture far from biblical accounts to dramatize the life of the Virgin Mary.It stars Melinda Kinnaman as young Mary, Perrilla August as the older Mary, David Threlfall as Joseph, and Toby Bailiff and Christian Bale as, respectively, the younger and adult Jesus.The TV movie gets off to a promising start by showing Mary to be a resourceful and brave teenager, as she stands up to Roman soldiers who come thundering on horseback into her village. Then it proceeds chronologically, and the major events of Mary's life, and the life of Jesus, are played out in dramatic fashion. Mary is portrayed as having to face a series of struggles and tests of faith, from the time when she is terrified to meet the messenger of God who foretells the birth of the Messiah to her witnessing the brutal scene of her son's crucifixion.It isn't bad at all, and it certainly is earnest.In less than two hours however, we are whisked through the early womanhood and life of Mary, as well as Jesus's 33 years. It's a whirlwind tour, but not an unpleasant one. Christian Bale is a rather young Jesus, but, like everyone else involved here, very sincere.As it deals with material that will, of course, be familiar to most viewers, an unavoidable problem is that there are few surprises as it takes some artistic license to the script as it attempts to fill in some nuances of Mary's life.Unfortunately,it seems forced and somewhat incoherent.But overall,it will remain a decent film especially with Christians who are looking for a material about the Virgin Mary.
Wuchak
1999's low-budget "Mary, Mother of Jesus" is, to my mind, the most moving film adaption of the Christmas story, particularly the first third of the 90-minute film.The first 30-minutes or so comprise the Christmas story: Mary's encounter with an angel, her miraculous pregnancy, Joseph's initial decision to end their betrothal and changing his mind after a God-given dream, Jesus' birth in a Bethlehem stable, the 3 wise men and their gifts, Herod's murderous decision to kill all infants in the area, Joseph & Mary's escape, etc.Even though this is a low-budget picture, the filmmakers successfully create a powerfully affecting ambiance of reverence and beauty. It's hard to explain, but the film will move you to tears multiple times in the first half hour alone! At the halfway point we meet Jesus at 30-years of age, played by Christian Bale (renown for the modern Batman pictures). To be expected, the rest of the movie details Jesus' baptism, anointing, ministry, capture, torture, death and resurrection. Since there are only about 45-minutes to show all this there's not a lot of detail and the film loses the potent appeal of the first half, but it's not bad at all, it's just that the story passes by so briskly, which isn't a bad thing if you're in the mood for a fast-moving account of the story.Other films may have captured Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection better, like "The Passion of the Christ", but no other film captures the Christmas story as well as "Mary, Mother of Jesus," despite the low-budget. This includes the more recent "The Nativity Story," which has far better production values.This can be attributed to a handful of factors: Good actors in the main roles, e.g. Pernilla August as Mary and David Threlfall as Joseph, both outstanding; a quality score; and convincing sets, costumes and locations. (As far as locations go, IMDb states that the film was shot in Budapest, Hungary, but there are a lot of desert-like locations that clearly indicate that it was shot somewhere in the general area of Israel and the Middle East, so I don't know what to tell ya).FINAL WORD: "Mary, the Mother of Jesus" is worth checking out for its depiction of the Christmas story alone. The last hour, involving Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection, is solid but it lacks the detail of other cinematic accounts. Regardless, the first half hour or so is so moving it's worth the price of admission.
Gregory72
Firstly, this movie is overly-ambitious in the amount of material covered. Cramming Christ's entire life (and Mary and Joseph's relationship beforehand) into a 90 minute movie doesn't do justice to any part of it, and at times it feels like a series of loosely-connected skits. Some fairly important things aren't shown at all such as the scourging of Christ (he just appears before the crowds with a crown of thorns and robe) and his conversation with the thieves who were crucified with him. His trial is quick and simplistic, and the Emperor doesn't seem interested in the outcome all (and Barabas doesn't seem like a very bad guy either).Also, the acting is extremely poor overall. Honestly, it is the worst that I have ever seen in a religious film - a mixture of wooden, bizarre and exaggerated performances. This is the angriest Jesus that I've ever seen - he's in a rage even when he's on his way to be crucified. I guess that's why he only falls down once. Mary has a mean streak too, as evidenced when she calls the disciples "cowards".Then there are the revisions, and misinterpretations.First, we have James as the actual brother of Jesus (because, after all, that's what it says in English). Mary, we learn, is instrumental in Jesus' ministry - she teaches him the story of the Good Samaritan as a child, for instance. This is fairly harmless, and makes for a touching scene (Mary is best as a loving Mother), but then we are shown Mary as the only one who witnesses the Ascension (though in the movie, Jesus simply fades away).We also see Mary state that Jesus told her that woman are fit to lead because they raise our sons. Mary, not surprisingly is also the one who founds the Church (now she might have had some help from the Holy Spirit, but you wouldn't know it from the movie) and she must tell the disciples what to do (they are generally portrayed as useless when they are shown at all). So much for Peter being the rock...With so many great movies about Jesus, I wouldn't waste my time with this movie (although it might make a fun game for a bible study group to see who could pick out the most errors). I recommend "Jesus of Nazareth" as a much more complete movie (at 6 hours, the scenes play out properly) with well-portrayed characters (not surprising, given the cast) and no serious problems.
dust-7
Spoilers!Another Costco special, as it were. Sort of dramatic, literalist CBN/Evangelical type docu-drama, with a particular view of Mary perhaps not shared by everyone, such as Catholics, Muslims, or even the High Anglican? The actress portrays her as petulant, defiant, confused, and so on. It just seems like one of Mary's sisters, rather than Mary. Joseph seems about right, physically tall (Mary was prob. on the tallish side, too), concerned with her welfare more than anything, and so on.The Bible isn't quite consulted so much; surprizing for an evangelical type of film, perhaps. Mary was supposed to shelter in a cave used as a shepherd's stable outside of town, not in a livery. The cousin, Elizabeth, knew when Mary walked up she was pregnant, not afterward when they were in the house. The wise men showing up before the birth, when it's more likely they went to a house that Mary went to after the census crush, and only later she fled to Egypt (and the whole Egypt thing is missing, of course - which might have been very interesting). And things like that.And of course there's the British accent thing - associated with Shakespeare, 'high drama'. It probably sounds like nit-picking, but too much melodrama, in this way, too much silence, too many 'meaningful' gazes, makes everything look and sound too scripted and too forced. It's not a story, but a film about a story. It's self-consciously a collection of scenes, and that's what comes through.Not a movie to recommend. It's slow. It's bad filmmaking. Even the old Biblical quick-cut epics had more character development and plot. People complain of the Hollywood treatment of good stories, and the resulting middling to bad films. But you can give a story a bad religious treatment, too, even if it's not Hollywood. And if you don't have even basic Hollywood screenwriting to fall back on, for what it's worth, it can really wind up - sort of like this film.
