Mary of Nazareth (Ignatius Press)

Mary of Nazareth starts off in a startling fashion. A band of marauders with a group of dogs is going through a small town and capturing all the young girls. Anna and Joachim hear them coming and manage to hide Mary from the men. The dogs, however, are sniffing around and miraculously are unable to find Mary. This is the first hint of one of the underlying themes in the movie - Mary is special. What about the captured girls? They are lined up and inspected by a woman, Herod's wife. She is looking for the one who is to give birth to the Messiah, and wants to kill her. This and other scenes, like Mary taken to the Temple to live were inspired by the writings of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. It therefore became clear early on that this movie will be a mixture of Scripture, tradition, and creative license.

Fast forward about a decade, maybe two, and we see Mary back home with her parents. Joseph has come to ask Mary to be his wife. They could have went with one of two traditions regarding Joseph. They could have made him an older widower with children from his first wife (my preference). Or they could have went with Joseph who was slightly older than Mary, never married, and remained a virgin his whole life like Mary. They chose the latter. In the first scenes with Joseph, we see him seek the permission of Joachim to talk to Mary and Joachim blows him off. Anna, however, says to go and talk to Mary. This seems out of place given that time, but it made for a "cute scene."  I'm not entirely sure how I felt about the interaction between Mary and Joseph. It was a bit flirty, and just felt like they reduced it to some superficial love story.

The movie continues on with scenes we are familiar with from the Bible. There is the Annunciation, Mary's visit to Elizabeth, etc. The director takes creative license with the story and embellishes the facts, like Joseph getting FURIOUS with Mary for her pregnancy, and Joseph giving up on Mary for what seems like a long time. It was puzzling to me why Mary's parents refused to believe that Elizabeth was pregnant in her old age or the manner in which Mary became pregnant with Jesus. For starters, Anne and Joachim were supposed to be barren as well, so why should it be puzzling that Elizabeth became pregnant. Secondly, her parents said early on in the movie that Mary was special, so why change that all of a sudden? It doesn't fit with the storyline. I'm sure Mary felt some level of ostracization, as was portrayed in the movie, but she shouldn't have felt judged by her parents.

There are parts of this movie that seemed forced and reaching for an emotional moment, and there are parts that leave you raw after viewing them. The scene of the slaying of the Holy Innocents ripped my heart out, and it caused me to really stop and think about those poor mothers and fathers back then whose children died at the hands of Herod. The rest of the movie is a mixture of Bible, tradition, and creative license. We see Jesus as a child get hurt and bleed, which was nice as it's foolish to think that Jesus never got hurt or bled. We see Jesus as an adult performing miracles, preaching, and ultimately dying on the Cross. The final scene of the movie has Mary telling the Apostles about how Jesus disappeared in the Temple for three days, and how she didn't understand at the time, but did now. Mary Magdalene then comes in to tell them that Jesus is risen, and the Apostles run off to see. The move then ends with one last scene of Mary and Jesus, Mother and Son.

As I expected beforehand, I have very mixed feelings regarding this movie. There were times I wanted to scream at the screen, and say, "That's not accurate!" or, "Joseph would have never acted like that!" There were other times I was in awe of how the scene captured the human experiences Mary endured while on this Earth. I waffled between giving this movie a 3.5 or a 4 and ultimately decided on a 4 for one very important reason - the message of this movie. That message is that Mary, greatest Saint ever, wants none of the attention on her and wants it all on her Son. She is there to lead us to Jesus, not the other way around.

This movie was provided to me for free by Carmel Communications in exchange for an honest review. Be sure to check out the corresponding book, Mary of Nazareth: The Life of Our Lady in Pictures. Also, EXCITING NEWS, the actress who played Mary, Alissa Jung, will be visiting 5 cities in North America starting November 15th to promote the movie and blog. The schedule can be found here. Unfortunately, I don't live near any of the cities, but if you are lucky enough to, stop by and see her!

Mary of Nazareth Blog Tour/Rosary Crawl Day 3

Today, I am pleased to be part of another blog tour, sponsored by Carmel Communications, which you can learn more about here. This one is for a wonderful movie being released (today in fact) by Ignatius Press, entitled Mary of Nazareth. In order to promote this beautiful film and companion book, Mary of Nazareth: The Life of Our Lady in Pictures, we on the blog tour are going to share with you a video clip that corresponds to a mystery of the Rosary, and either an interview, a review, or our own personal thoughts on Mary and the specific mystery. Today, I will be sharing with you my thoughts on The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, which is the Fourth Joyful Mystery. Before I share my reflections, let us first get our minds right by praying this decade of the Rosary. We will then view the clip, and I will provide a brief reflection on it.

Fourth Joyful Mystery: The Presentation in the Temple
"And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, 'Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord') and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, 'a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons"' (Lk 2:21-24).

"Jesus' circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, is the sign of his incorporation into Abraham's descendants, into the people of the covenant. It is the sign of his submission to the Law" (CCC, 527).

Our Father, 10 Hail Marys (contemplating the mystery), Glory be to the Father.



The Presentation in the Temple is a Feast Day that is widely forgotten/ignored in the West, but the East hold it in high regard and consider it one of the twelve Great Feasts. It is celebrated on February 2nd. Why this day? Because this is 40 days after the Nativity, and would have been when Mary's ritual purification was complete. There are some key points to notice in this scene. For starters, we see that Joseph brought two turtledoves for the sacrifice. Turtledoves were the poor family's offering. Had Joseph and Mary been wealthy, they would have brought a lamb for sacrifice. Jesus, the King of Kings, chose to be born into a poor family to show his great humility. If you are familiar with the Old Testament, you will notice that there was no offering to redeem Jesus from service to Yahweh. From this, we understand that Jesus was now in complete service to God. You could also say that He was not redeemed, because he was the One sent to redeem us all from our sins.

I have always loved the figure of Simeon in the Bible. Though, he is in such a brief section, his appearance packs a punch! Here is a man who has been waiting his entire life for the coming of the Messiah.We too should be awaiting this glorious Second Coming and remember we are in this world, but not of this world. If you notice in the video clip above, Simeon also recognized Mary. Some would view this as taking a creative license. However, according to Tradition, Mary was taken by her parents to the Temple as a young girl. She lived there and served as a Temple virgin until she was betrothed to Joseph. We can find this tradition in the Protoevangelion of James. This feast is celebrated on November 21st and unfortunately is largely unknown in the West. I invite you to take the time about both Mary's Presentation and Jesus' Presentation. They reveal small, but key parts of Salvation History that will enrich our understanding of both Jesus and Mary.

Ignatius Press has been releasing many great movies the past several years, and Mary of Nazareth continues that remarkable streak. In this movie, we see an intimate portrayal of the life of the greatest saint Mary. And while it will bring us closer to Mary, she will bring us closer to her Son Jesus. This movie will be a benefit for Catholics and Orthodox, and could even be used as an evangelization and educational tool for reaching Protestants. Be sure to check out my buddy Sarah's site, Snoring Scholar, tomorrow for the next stop on the Rosary Crawl.