Mary
There are many Christmas movies about Santa Claus and his elves, about various magical creatures from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to Frosty the Snowman, to charm and delight us. Plenty of laugh-out-loud Christmas films about families in crisis, from Home Alone to Christmas Vacation. All of these are wonderful films with genuinely heartwarming messages about the true meaning of Christmas.
Of course, Christmas is really about the birth of Jesus Christ, and one of the most important holy days in the Christian faith. There are many films about the birth of Christ as well, though faith-based films have always struggled to reach a wider audience.
The most recent of these was Journey To Bethlehem which released theatrically in November, 2023. You can now watch that movie on Netflix, but be warned: It’s a musical. I personally love musicals, but they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. A faith-based musical will certainly command a more limited audience. Journey To Bethlehem featured newcomer Fiona Palomo as Mary and Antonio Banderas as Herod the Great. It takes a humorous and goofy tone, with bright and lively songs and over-the-top performances.
This year’s faith-based Christmas nativity movie takes a very different approach. Mary dropped on Netflix today and while it tells much the same story as Journey To Bethlehem, it takes a very different approach. Newcomer Noa Cohen stars as Mary, while Anthony Hopkins takes on the role of King Herod. Most of the cast is Israeli, with director D.J. Caruso saying “It was important to us that Mary, along with most of our primary cast, be selected from Israel to ensure authenticity.”
This resulted in some backlash on social media, where the decision to cast Israeli rather than Palestinian actors was seen as politically motivated. Given that Mary and Joseph (Ido Tako) were Jewish, the casting choice makes perfect sense. In an age where this sort of thing is incredibly important to advocates of authentic representation, the controversy seems more than a little silly and contrived. But I digress.
The story follows Mary and her parents Anne and Joachim in Nazareth. Mary is presented at the temple, preparing for her marriage to Joseph. After the immaculate conception, she’s forced into hiding. When Herod the Great orders what becomes known as the Massacre of the Innocents, Mary and a loyal Joseph are forced to flee to Egypt.
Here’s the trailer:
“Love will cost you dearly. It will pierce your heart. But in the end, love will save the world.” I’m generally skeptical of faith-based films, which can be treacly in their messaging and often suffer from low-budgets and overly ambitious plans. But this looks pretty good, and Anthony Hopkins is such a tremendous actor, you can really feel him crushing the role just in this trailer.
It’s easy to get lost in the consumerism of the season. Christmas movies—secular and religious—are a great way to remind us that there’s more to this time of year than shopping deals and presents. Whether Mary will be biblically accurate or not, we’ll have to see.
If you’re looking for a third nativity movie suggestion this Christmas, check out The Nativity Story which stars a young Oscar Isaac before he hit the big time:
Finally, the big hit faith-based movie of the year, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, is set to make its streaming debut on December 10th, though it will cost $24.99 to purchase. No word on when or where it will end up streaming free.
