Marie de Nazareth (Mary of Nazareth)

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  September 20, 2008

  jfvirey

  Having read the worst about this film, I decided to give it a chance because I am a big fan of Delannoy's two-part biopic on Bernadette Soubirous, about which reviewers have also said the worst. I thought that a man who had been so honest and fresh in his portrayal of a modern sa...( read more)int might have a unique perspective on the mother of Christ, who was the model of all the saints.
  
  Unfortunately, even though the film is decently shot and its North African setting does look good, about everything else is unsatisfactory. First, it is supposed to be a film about Mary, but as the Gospels tell us so little about her, and Delannoy appears to have been reluctant to rely on Church traditions (wasting a perfect opportunity to make an Egyptian statue crumble, for instance), much of the focus is on Jesus, with Mary more or less inserted into scenes where the Gospels make no mention of her - a mere spectator most of the time, with no real presence and no strong outlook colouring the scene. Moreover, there is nothing about Mary's youth or about her life after the Resurrection, so that you get the feeling that this is actually a Jesus film trying to differentiate itself by pretending to be about Mary.
  
  This is made worse by the fact that Delannoy's Mary (Myriam Muller, who didn't have much of a career afterwards), while striving for the necessary innocence and purity, falls into outright silliness and vapidity. As a Jewish woman who must have been raised on the Torah and the Prophets, it is completely absurd to have her ask Joseph who are the strange half-man half-beast creatures portrayed in Egyptian religious art. As for her conversations with the female disciples, they lack depth and sound like the small talk of a bunch of housemaids at the Laundromat.
  
  Lalanne's Joseph lacks maturity and authority (compare with the very convincing Joseph Anne Rice depicts in "Christ the Lord"), Pilate and Herod look like comical villains from a French parody of Italian swords and sandals films, Jesus is too focused on his perfect diction and (to borrow a French phrase) is so stiff he seems to have swallowed an umbrella, the disciples have so little to do they are virtually non-existent, and John the Baptist looks like a handsome prehistoric man from an American serial of the 1950s.
  
  Because of the poor script and bad acting, the film has the feel of a school play, and however indulgent I was willing to be with it, my patience grew thinner and thinner as it went on and I finally had to admit my disappointment. The only moment that managed to move me in the whole film was when Mary, being asked what Joseph had said when he had found her pregnant, answered "Will you deign to enter my house?", as if she had charitably forgotten the anxiety he had gone through before the angel talked to him.
  
  With Kevin Connor's "Mary mother of Jesus" being even worse, it is high time a screenwriter with some knowledge of mariology gave the Mother a God the cinematic treatment she deserves.

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  August 30, 2008

  nasgdgjmj

  I would recommend this movie to people of all walks of life. This is the story of the life of the Virgin of Nazareth whom God picked to be the Mother of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Being a young girl, the choice to do God's will in her life must not be easy. She was engage...( read more)d to a good and just man, Joseph and had a good future laid out for her. Yet, when the angel Gabriel approached her calling her, "Full of Grace-God's favorite one" inviting her to cooperate with God's plan of salvation for all mankind, and abandon her own, she was troubled for she has planned to remain a virgin forever for God. She was not sure how to respond to such a greeting and proposal. It was her humility, simplicity, faith and love for God that helped her to say "Yes-her great fiat" to the supernatural invitation from heaven. At that moment, man's salvation was in her very hands-to bring the Redeemer into the world. God was counting on her to help Him with His plan to safe the world. Everything stood still that very moment. Angels in heaven watched to see how the Virgin would respond to God's invitation. The Blessed Virgin is just as human as all of us, however, she was created by God without the original sin, for God prepared her to be the Mother of His Son-to be the channel of His grace (Jesus Christ) into the world, to be the bridge that connects heaven and earth, the tabernacle of the New Covenant. To read about the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, you must read and ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand the 3rd book of Genesis-the story of the fall of Man, especially the words of God to the serpent who caused Adam and Eve to fall. (Genesis 3:15)
  
  Inspired by the faith, humility, and love of the Virgin Mary of Nazareth, for God and for all mankind, may we follow her example of faith in divine providence and always say, "Yes" to God when He invites us to help Him carry out a certain mission in the Church on earth for the sake of mankind-to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. God bless you all.

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