I thought the trailer for the new film about the life of Mary the mother of Jesus looked really promising. The film is sadly a bit of a muddle.

Things it does well are the production values, a few good actors, for example, Anthony Hopkins, elevating this with his turn as Herod (managing to squeeze a good character out of a weak script) and the portrayal of Gabriel I enjoyed (although I was very confused by the fact he had weird, non-kosher, tattoos on his hands).

Things it doesn’t do so well is in creating a bit of a fantasy back story to Mary’s life in which she becomes a servant in the Temple under the tutelage of Anna the prophetess (it’s a charming idea but didn’t quite work for me) and I found the film’s editing poor, the transition to different scenes and especially when we move from the child Mary to the older teen, it wasn’t clear it was still Mary!

You can see the influence of the excellent drama about the life of Jesus, The Chosen, on this film but it doesn’t quite have as good direction and focus.

I found that, like the film Mary Magdalene, they created unnecessary drama when the biblical account is dramatic enough. The annunciation and visitation are underwhelming when they should be the focal points for the film. The wise men’s visit to Herod seems to come before the birth which is confusing along with the shepherds telling Herod about Jesus’ birth!

I wish they had relied more on the source material (the Bible) than make up a load of stuff which is less compelling than the original story. I’m as disappointed as I was at the film Mary Magdalene.

It’s also quite a violent film, unfortunately not one to watch with children under 12. There’s some unnecessary violence towards the end of the film as Mary and Joseph are hunted by Herod’s men. I don’t know what the film’s certificate is but I would guess it’s around a 12A.

Sadly more miss than hit, 5/10.

Mary is available to watch on Netflix.

Some more knowledgeable friends than me have pointed out that much of the storyline is taken from the proto evangelium of James and other apocryphal sources, it wasn’t just made up. However, I still maintain that in the actual biblical account there is plenty to go on that was left out of the film or at least not given the attention it deserved like the annunciation.