Netflix's 'Mary': Catholic Director's Take on the Blessed Virgin Stirs Debate | EWTN News Nightly

The major American subscription streaming network Netflix has released a nearly 90-minute movie on the life of the Blessed Virgin. "Mary" is from Catholic director DJ Caruso. It stars Anthony Hopkins as King Herod and Israeli actress Noa Cohen as Mary. Scriptwriters consulted Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders to make the movie as accurate as possible. A recent story in the National Catholic Register says the movie has every intention of being "reverential". But does it succeed? Staff writer with the National Catholic Register and former teacher of film at a Catholic high school in Connecticut, Joseph Pronechen, joins to share what he was expecting when he heard Netflix was making a movie about the Blessed Virgin Mary and whether he knows about director DJ Caruso. Pronechen discusses what he found reverential about the Blessed Virgin. His article says the movie takes "troubling liberties" with Catholic doctrine. Pronechen tells us more about this. He fills us in on whether he would recommend this movie or not.

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[michelleparmenter]

Mary never said - (paraphrase) this is not possible. Mary always believed God. She said - HOW can this be. She was asking HOW God would work this, not IF He would. It is an ESSENTIAL part of theology & yet I read that there was many theologians consulted on this film. Not sure where they got their training!

[theresarezac]

why did they consut Muslim leaders for accuracy about Jesus mama?
They dont have any authority on the subject at all!!

[clattereffect]

I don't get why Muslims would be consulted for this film, as it took place before Islam?

[KeyboardSourceError]

NONETHELESS, Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you!

[FrancisLCorro]

Never trust Netflix for making a Catholic movie.

[theanonymous]

The best way to know our precious Lady is to pray your rosary and have a true devotion to her. She will reveal herself to you and you will fall in love with her as your Mother. She will hold your hand and put it into the hand of her beloved Son and you will get know him better than you could’ve by yourself. Hail Mary!❤

[martincatalan]

In many episodes, it made me cry to imagine the painful life of Mother Mary and my Lord Jesus Christ .

[jeromevillanueva]

Mary is not afraid of the evil one. It's the other way around.

[RedRiverMan]

"old men don't walk to Egypt" that was the best quote. until then I hadn't thought about this one more connection to St. Joseph the Dreamer of the OT and St. Joseph of Nazareth...they both had to go to Egypt! The Bible is real and the Catholic Church holds its wisdom so deeply over the centuries!

[this_name_is_not_available]

This is made by Hollywood so I never expected accuracy and actual events to be followed.

[pamelahermano]

Okay, I just gave the “Mary” movie a chance. Here’s what I think…

The good: the production value was excellent! The casting was great! This might be the first movie with Mary, that didn’t distract me about the casting of Mary. The actress was perfect for the role. I’m glad that they were respectful with the relationship between Mary and Joseph (they pretty much showed it as a chaste relationship). I liked how Joseph was very heroic in this film. Mary wasn’t a girlboss like I feared they’d make her. Anthony Hopkins as Herod was good fun!

The bad: they had no theological consultants on this movie and it showed! Things about Mary that are outright in the Bible were neglected or changed. I won’t list them here out of respect for spoilers, but there’s a lot. I don’t mind creative license for things not found in scripture, but there’s a ton of things that were in scripture and were changed for no reason. They couldn’t even get the chronology of events right… the Presentation in the Temple came after the slaughtering of the infants by Herod in this film, it was supposed to be the other way around. The Angel Gabriel was creepy! I get that we don’t know how angels looked, but was just disappointed with how the Angel was portrayed. There were also scenes of Mary that were “out of character” so to speak from what we know of her as being the humblest of creatures. There was a scene in which she spoke up to one of the Priests in the temple that didn’t really come across as humble, but I suppose that’s quibbling.

In summary, the movie is definitely worth a view so you can form your own opinion. It’s fine for its entertainment value… but definitely not a religiously accurate portrayal of the events leading up to Christmas. Also, if they’re gonna make a movie about Mary, you can’t end it with Jesus only being 40 days old… like Mary’s biggest trial was at the foot of the cross. I don’t think you can really make a movie about her without that part of her life.

[LindaCEM]

Very disappointing. Here’s my review: I watched Mary on Netflix and had to turn it off before the ending. I know there is creative license when filming, but this was absolutely unbelievably UNBIBLICAL. There were parts that I could see as possible such as her being given to God as an infant. Also, evil was represented very clearly and, after satan, Herod was the worst. However, the Angel Gabriel was creepy and not at all how angels are described in the bible. Furthermore, Mary and Joseph were depicted in a way that made them less following God's will and more as super heroes. It just made my heart hurt. It's thought provoking but I feel people who do not know Mary as our blessed Mother will not know her any better after watching this. What a waste of talent and creativity!

[yrd]

Listen, if you are a true Catholic this movie will not change anything about your faith! It is a great production and there were parts of the movie from the Bible that really moved me. Now, if a young person with no faith at all watches this movie it might picked their curiosity to learn about Jesus and the holy family. So yes I will totally recommend this movie.

[pauldavies]

“It works very well dramatically in a Hollywood sense”. That’s enough reason for me not to watch it.

[jmorra]

We don't even learn Simeon's name. Anna gets lots of airtime, but in the end some old guy walks out and says only a fragment of the great Simeon passage. They even skipped the " now I can die" moment...why did they do this?
And they made Joseph defend Mary's pregnancy because he was loving...no real mention about Gabriel telling him not to divorce her.

The film makers made some weird choices.

[_halogen_]

Mary is a woman of great faith. Seeing her portrayed as distraught doesn’t sit well with me. This might as well just be a movie about Herod. I couldn’t finish it—I had to stop. Also, Joseph and Mary's meeting at the river gave off Romeo and Juliet vibes, lol.

[PP-epsn]

I find it odd that the filmmakers consulted individuals who are antagonistic towards the Blessed Mother instead of referencing Catholic mystics to whom the Blessed Mother actually revealed her life story.

[jmiogo]

He didn't point out where it went wrong.

[drlarryjohnson]

The guest's comments are very vague and not helpful at all. Having watched the movie with my daughter here are our conclusions: The movie is nicely done, cinematically. If you know absolutely nothing about the Christian faith, you can watch this movie and say it's worth the money you might have paid in a movie theater. That is the good part. Now the bad part, if you are a knowledgeable Christian (Means you actually know your Bible -- the true canon accepted by all branches of Christianity -- not just the ones you pick and choose for your sectarian purposes), and you know actual Christian history, not legends. Then you will be horrified by this movie as a complete Christian history disaster. Top of the list that this movie should be watched and recommended with extreme caution, the story is based on the false, non-canonical work called the Protoevenagelium of James. This work has been condemned by the early Church multiple times. It's a late work, composed some time in the late 100s A.D. And it purports to be written by the brother of the Lord, James. But James (The Brother of the Lord) was martyred between 64-67 A.D. Some near 100+ years earlier. The Earliest reference we have to the book from a Church Father, Origen, in the 250s, condemned the book. The Bishop of Rome (Pope Innocent in 405 Anathematized the Book) and Christian councils condemned the book. The Orthodox Church declared the book apocryphal. That said, for some strange reason, some say it has some "useful" things in it, which makes absolutely no sense. To the point that the repeatedly condemned work has wormed its way into certain church theologies and liturgical parts. Bottom line, the movie is not based on the Apostolic Witness. If you want to let your older kids see it (as I did with my daughter), sit down with them and enjoy the movie but you should be able to point out all the timeline errors, outright fabrications, falsehoods and artistic license run amok. I agree with those who condemn the portrayal of the Angel Gabriel -- he looks extremely creepy and not in line with the Apostolic Witness. The movie essentially butchers the nativity story found in the gospel of Luke and Mathew. There is no Magnificat even alluded to by Mary, no shepherds in the field sung to by the angels, nothing but a hint at the Magi from the East, and there's no Gold, Frankincense and Myhr. Even the scene of the presentation of Our Lord in the temple is butchered in word and sequence. Finally, Joseph is a violent man in this movie, not even close to the "righteous" cautious man described by Luke and Mathew.

[immortalwarrior]

No need to ask Muslims or Jews about the Holy Mother unless they Catholic.