The Midwife: a Review of “Mary Magdalene”

Brad Miner | May 21, 2019

Like Judas leaving the Last Supper but in reverse, Mary Magdalene, the newish film by Garth Davis, skulked into American theaters in April.

This is Mr. Davis’ second feature after 2016’s Lion, the story of a lost boy in India who eventually finds his way home. It was a very fine film. Mary Magdalene is not. It gets lost. And stays lost.

I say newish because Mr. Davis actually shot the film in 2016, and it had its English premiere in March of 2018. So why did it take more than a year for it to open in the United States? Begin with the fact that it was a Harvey Weinstein project, and enough said about that. Then there’s its treatment of the Gospel story, which, by definition, must be its basis. The movie’s take on Jesus and Magdalene is not exactly traditional.

To wit: Mr. Davis has made a neo-feminist film about the way the men in Jesus’ entourage rejected his closest follower, Mary of Magdala (played by Rooney Mara), who was (allegedly) the only one among the followers of Jesus who really understood him.

Click here to read the rest of Mr. Miner’s review at The Catholic Thing . . .

 

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