Mary Magdalene (2018) [Movie Review]


Dir: Garth Davis
Starring: Rooney Mara
Dur: 2 hrs
Genre: Biblical Drama
Rating: 2/10

Mary Magdalene is a significant figure in the life of Jesus. But it is in the legend of Jesus that she really blossoms. Lots of speculation has gone around regarding the real relationship between Jesus and Mary with some even saying that she is the one who leans on the chest of Jesus in the Last Supper painting of Leonardo Da Vinci. This film attempts to explore the story of Mary of Magdalene and I must say it gave an interesting background to it.

The film isn’t really good. At the end of its two hour duration it had me questioning the point of spending precious time watching it when I could just as easily have spent that same time catching an afternoon siesta. Frankly, I do regret not catching that siesta because I really feel that would have been the better choice.

The film is set in 33 A.D. and starts of by showing who Mary was before she met Jesus and subsequently tracing her path of discipleship. The facts shown here are non-biblical clearly and the producers go so far as showing in a pre-credit shot that it was Pope Gregory who spread the false belief that Mary was a prostitute. How far this claim is true or false remains to be seen. The film tries its level best to portray Mary in incredibly positive light even at the cost of favouring her against the apostles. While there is no way of checking the veracity of the claims, I appreciate the boldness of the writers. Women are given a huge boost in the film with Jesus, at several moments, expressly showing preferential love for women and giving them unnatural attention (for that time). There are a few scenes, particularly the beginning and ending scenes which though matching have vague connections to the overall plot.

I do feel bad for wasting a perfectly good Sunday afternoon watching this tame film but then again today is the feast of Mary Magdalene and maybe the makers have a point: she may not be as bad a person as she is made out to be after all. She is the first witness of the risen Christ, a point that was clearly put across, with added emphasis in the pre-credits and she definitely held an important place in the life and mission of Jesus but I think a little too much energy was spent redeeming a name that didn’t really need redemption since Jesus had taken care of that bit.

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