Mary Magdalene — Film Review
Starring Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix.
Mary Magdalene, as the title suggests is a film about a woman who according to the bible followed Jesus during the time he was teaching up until his crucifixion. She was the one who washed his feet, witnessed his death, and rising. The film seeks to undo the portrayal of her being a prostitute as is often told in many churches because a Pope in 500AD suggested it to be so. The film also goes beyond that and gives a good suggestion of how people interpret things differently from what is being said, either because of their own ideas and needs, or because they’re just simply not listening properly.
Seeing Mary’s life at the beginning showed the role women were meant to take within the home life and wanting to be something other than that brought shame upon the family. As Mary was told when she decided to leave and follow the healer. Even the men following Jesus worried that she would cause them trouble because of her being with them. Rooney does well as a strong willed woman who understands her own connection to God and seeks to strengthen that in her own way without being told when or where she can pray.
Although at times I felt Joaquin’s voice a little grating he gave a good sense of someone who was spiritual and trying to give a message of love and peace that differed from the want for vengeance and war. Which, with the Romans causing the starvation of so many people during that time, must have been quite difficult to accept.
The film is shot very artistically with several moments of quiet during the acting. For a two hour film it has a fairly limited script but it never seemed to drag out and you could see why there were times words weren’t necessary. The film was meant to be spiritual rather than religious and I feel it gave this sense quite well within those moments of quiet.
Recently the portrayal of women in history has become an important factor and this film fits quite neatly into that. A woman who’s previously been portrayed as something she wasn’t and left to the will of those who wanted to continue to limit the choices of women.