User reviews

This was a good idea, but I had problems with the execution. I felt this movie sacrificed more than it gained. Because it limited itself to what Mary experienced firsthand, it omitted huge chunks of the story of Jesus (like, for example, the Last Supper). If it had really developed Mary's character, that would have been a decent trade, but she comes a cross as a stock character whose words and actions are predictable and unremarkable.

This could have been a good movie, but they didn't take the trouble to do it right.

In a movie full of bad directing, costumes, makeup, sound, effects, and acting, I must say that Christian Bale gives one of his best performances of his career as Jesus. He made the successful transformation from child actor to respectable adult actor, making his role as Jesus of Nazareth one of his most touching and emotional roles of his brilliant acting career. It is safe to say that in an otherwise bad movie, Christian Bale is the shining star.

I found this a refreshing and thought-provoking interpretation of how Mary lived and what kind of a person she was. It was great to break the mold of the mousey, demure, glowing, silent waif. This Mary was a feisty activist without being harsh or stepping over the line.

Also, it is feasible that she taught Jesus some of the stories he later told, so thinking about her shaping role as his mother was also intriguing.

Of course, Jesus did have a mind of his own - God's mind - which Mary only shared in part, and I would have liked to have seen him stand more firmly on his own two feet and take more authority, during the picture. I also wonder about the healthiness of this very intimate, mutually-dependent mother-son relationship. It is not impossible that Mary was there at Jesus' baptism.... Lots to think about, from her perspective and the silence of the Bible on such matters. All in all, not a bad version of Christ's life, through Mary's eyes. Just wish Jesus and his disciples were stronger, as I feel the Gospels represent them.

I was truly blessed by this movie...and applaud the network and producers of the show for creating a wonderful truth. The characters were instructed and did a wonderful job with their roles. Then as I followed the movie I could mark in my Bible the events as they took place. Perfect! I want to see more.

This is quite simply, a movie that never should have been made. At the onset it states "While dramatic license has been taken, we believe this film reflects the spirit and historical significance of the biblical story of Mary and Jesus." In actuality, the story's version of the historical Mary could best be categorized as a cross between of St. Joan of Arc and Helen Reddy, more closely favoring the latter. Herein we are treated to scenes of Mary verbally confronting Roman Soldiers on one occasion, confronting Pharisees stoning an adulterous woman in another; questioning why God would allow suffering, among other examples unbecoming of a woman of faith; giving orders to Joseph and the apostles; among numerous other anachronisms that left my wife and I exhausted from incredulous laughter. (Speaking of Joseph, he is portrayed as questioning Mary "Are you insane?!", and admitting that he had been full of hatred).

Rather than continuing the litany of outrages, one can summarize the problem with this movie as a serious portrayal of Mary by one example. Can you imagine a biography of Abraham Lincoln without mention or recitation of the Gettysburg Address, for example? Yet, with all of the made up orations of Mary (out of character with her portrayal in the Gospel) in this film, there is not an excerpt or reference to her central statement of faith, the Magnificat?! (Luke 1:46-55). Such an "oversight" gives clear insight into the motives of those who through this piece determined to make Mary in their own image, irrespective of historical fact.

One may wish to envision Mary as a bold, brash, outspoken, leader of her Jewish tribe, but any objective reader of the Gospel would clearly have to recognize such an idea as pure fantasy, and promote this movie as such. The Executive Producer, Eunice Kennedy-Shriver (God rest her soul), admitted that her niece Maria Shriver, as well as none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger himself, had a part in writing the script! (Theologians not, are they). Also, as the trivia section here on IMDb indicates, the perverse entertainer who dares to name herself after the Mother of God was originally cast to play the title role! By all reasonable appearances, this movie did not miss the mark with a few extended liberties with the biblical events by the writer, but was in fact a conscious attempt to re-fashion a central character in Christianity into a more appealing modern type, devoid of reality. Anyone approaching this movie as a devotional tool, or as a rendering of the Gospel story, will be sorely disappointed to say the least. Please, do not waste any expense or time on this piece of artistic garbage. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

This TV-movie is well-intentioned but mechanical. I knew from the opening that there was a problem with the production when the opening narrative was printed on the screen and read at the same time with a voice that sounded like the station-break announcer.

The film just goes through the motions and gives us every cliche of second-rate Biblical movies including Jesus as a fair-skinned Anglo-Saxon. Christian Bale does what he can with the material but is terribly mis-cast. His mother is presented as a politically-correct feminist who apparently is responsible for Jesus' teachings and parables which were, according to the plot, the bedtime stories she told Jesus when he was a child.

The sets and costumes are good, but the performances are flat and perfunctory. What we get here is a shallowness reminiscent of school plays. The Gospels are condensed into a 2 hour TV movie that has the profundity of a Readers' Digest version of the Bible.

Mary, Mother of Jesus was interesting, but as a Christian I just couldn't stomach more than an hour. In the movie when Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, Joseph replied, "you are dead to me". That just sounded inappropriate. Soon after there was a scene with Jesus as a boy. Of course little is known about Jesus as a child, so I wasn't surprised when artistic liberties were taken for that period of Christ's life. During this time of the movie a boy began to bully the young character of Jesus. The larger boy said something such as "You think you are so much better than everyone else", and then punched 'Jesus' in the nose. His face was bloody. That too, was inappropriate. In the Bible it is written about Jesus, "He shall give His Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone". If God would protect Jesus even from tripping over a rock, then most certainly He would have protected Jesus from getting punched by some little punk. Jesus suffered as God ordained it so (scourging, crucifixion). I have a problem with films that try to portray Christ and just make a mess of doing so, always adding in something distasteful. Any movie that would attempt to punch the face of God... is definitely not worth watching.

This film is incredible in its awfulness!! I am watching it still as I type. Whatever possessed the actors to take part in it? I guess they never know how it will turn out until it is edited and, what the hell, it's work!! It is badly written, badly dubbed and the fictional scenes just never ring true.It is a sanitised version of Nazareth we see in the early scenes and it is hard to believe that he people would have gone around in pristine clothing the whole time!! There is no hint of their ethnicity and it is like watching a school production with studio production values. Rather clichéd scenes just make the viewer laugh and although I have only got as far as the manger scene I cannot wait to see what Christian Bale does with his part as Jesus. I will watch it until the end but I cannot see how it can improve from such a weak start.

Let me start by saying I agree this movie has some inaccuracies. But I think it was more an attempt at some theatrical liberties. And the only part of the film I would say they do that, would be towards the end of the film. As to the other reviews I have read where people are complaining about this movie not delving more into the life of Jesus and that they recommend Jesus of Nazareth instead; all I have to say to that is READ THE TITLE!!!!! This movie is not about Jesus! It is not called Jesus and Mary. It is called Mary, Mother of Jesus. And that is exactly what it's about! MARY!! If you want to see a movie about the life of Jesus, then yes, I highly recommend you see Jesus Of Nazareth instead. But I think this is the first movie that comes close to saying what the Mother of Jesus must have been like. It is not perfect, but it is pretty darn close. I am a Catholic, and very devout of our Blessed Mother, and I feel this movie does a good job. Could it have been better? Sure, it could have. Should it have been longer? Definitely! I feel this should have been a miniseries. But with what they had to work with, I think they did very well.

This is not Jesus of Nazareth or The Passion of the Christ level, but I still really enjoyed this movie.

This takes the parts of the Gospels that Mary the mother witnesses-Jesus's birth, Jesus in the temple, Him turning water into wine, His crucifixion and death, etc.

That's what many people will undoubtedly love about this made for TV movie.

However, I should note that since Mary is barely mentioned in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there are some fictional liberties taken with the movie. (This is forewarned before the movie starts in a similar way that The Last Temptation of Christ and The Prince of Egypt does.)

Many of these inaccuracies are used to introduce actual Gospel-based information. Jesus in one scene asks Mary to tell him a bedtime story(He is a young boy) and she tells Him the parable of The Good Samaritan. Bibically speaking,this story was given to Him from God.

When Jesus is grown(played-believe it or not-by Christian Bale) and is about to go on his 3 year journey to preach the Good News, He tells Mary that He will use such stories to teach others about God's love.

In another scene, Jesus is being beaten up by another boy. While this happens Jesus does nothing, and He allows Himself to get a bloodied nose. His parents stop the fight and they ask Him why He did not defend Himself.

Jesus says(this is a paraphrase): "The Law says we should fight an eye for an eye. But I don't think we should. I think we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us."

This is obviously a reference to what He will teach others in Matthew 5, in particular verses 43 and 44.

However, for the most part, this is fairly accurate. I recommend this to any Christian, though those who want a full-on Gospel account will most likely like it a little less then I do.

Either way, I highly suggest seeing this movie. Give it a try. If it's not for you, that's only 88 minutes of your day that you did not care for. (Oh, and that reminds me-the movie goes by quite quickly as well.) But I stand by my statement that this is one of my favorite Jesus movies.

When I watched it, I was filled with expectancy of a well-written and well-acted movie. The movie was well acted. The actors and actresses did a good job, especially Christian Bale. But the movie itself struck an ill-placed chord in me. The producers and directors made this movie the Hollywood way. There were many things that wasn't right, that didn't come from the scriptures. They could've followed the biblical story of Jesus and Mary and Joseph better. That's just my opinion.

I was very surprised that there were such negative reviews! The movie is called "Mary, Mother of Jesus". It was Her Faith that propelled her husband St. Joseph, to be a Protector and basically live a nomadic life. It was her steadfast faith and teaching that shaped Our Lord. It was indeed a perspective of the Blessed Mother. All of the Principal Actors were outstanding! I can not imagine anyone else emoting the Holiness of Jesus with the excellence of Christian Bale. He was amazing! I loved both the young and adult Jesus, as well as the young and adult Mary. The movie stated that it was an artistic perspective. Geraldine Chaplin's agonized expression at the loss of her son, "John the Baptist" is haunting. We walked with Mary and St. Joseph as the challenges presented themselves, yet always learning. I felt closer to The Blessed Mother at the end of the movie, and I think that was the point.

1999's low-budget "Mary, Mother of Jesus" is, to my mind, the most moving film adaption of the Christmas story, particularly the first third of the 90-minute film.

The first 30-minutes or so comprise the Christmas story: Mary's encounter with an angel, her miraculous pregnancy, Joseph's initial decision to end their betrothal and changing his mind after a God-given dream, Jesus' birth in a Bethlehem stable, the 3 wise men and their gifts, Herod's murderous decision to kill all infants in the area, Joseph & Mary's escape, etc.

Even though this is a low-budget picture, the filmmakers successfully create a powerfully affecting ambiance of reverence and beauty. It's hard to explain, but the film will move you to tears multiple times in the first half hour alone!

At the halfway point we meet Jesus at 30-years of age, played by Christian Bale (renown for the modern Batman pictures). To be expected, the rest of the movie details Jesus' baptism, anointing, ministry, capture, torture, death and resurrection. Since there are only about 45-minutes to show all this there's not a lot of detail and the film loses the potent appeal of the first half, but it's not bad at all, it's just that the story passes by so briskly, which isn't a bad thing if you're in the mood for a fast-moving account of the story.

Other films may have captured Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection better, like "The Passion of the Christ", but no other film captures the Christmas story as well as "Mary, Mother of Jesus," despite the low-budget. This includes the more recent "The Nativity Story," which has far better production values.

This can be attributed to a handful of factors: Good actors in the main roles, e.g. Pernilla August as Mary and David Threlfall as Joseph, both outstanding; a quality score; and convincing sets, costumes and locations. (As far as locations go, IMDb states that the film was shot in Budapest, Hungary, but there are a lot of desert-like locations that clearly indicate that it was shot somewhere in the general area of Israel and the Middle East, so I don't know what to tell ya).

FINAL WORD: "Mary, the Mother of Jesus" is worth checking out for its depiction of the Christmas story alone. The last hour, involving Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection, is solid but it lacks the detail of other cinematic accounts. Regardless, the first half hour or so is so moving it's worth the price of admission.

"Mary, Mother of Jesus" is a TV-attempt that features actors so sincere and so powerfully moving that you almost wish that the movie would just get out of their way and let them act in the way they all know they can!

Telling the life of Jesus (Christian Bale) through the eyes of Mary (played by Anakin Skywalker's mom in "Episode One," by the way), the film in itself is very fast-moving and very paper-thin. Unless the viewer is familiar with the biblical depiction of Christ, he or she will be unutterably lost in this account, since the scenes move so fast and it never leaves the watcher any time to really grasp what's going on. Jesus doesn't even begin his ministry until the last hour, and then, we barely get a look at his disciples and miracles before he is arrested and crucified. And his resurrection is so underplayed, it could have easily been straight from a bad episode of "Touched By An Angel." I don't know....As a Christian, I just feel thst my Savior deserves more than this.... The idea of the emphasis switching to Mary is nice, but couldn't they have stretched this out to a miniseries to make it a little more coherent?

The film effectiveness, however, lies in the cast. Christian Bale is convincing as Christ, bravely presenting him as a Divine figure with love for everyone. He also presents a human side as well, emphasizing on his need to talk to God and his desire to be with his mother even though he knows he cannot. Bale has always been an underrated actor in my book, and his performance here is very nice, though rather underplayed, since he has little to work with. It would have been nicer to see more emphasis on Jesus in this....but nay, it isn't to be: This is a movie about Mary.

Ah, Mary. Pernilla August is very nice as Mary as well, though a little innacurate. Due to the status of women back in the days of Christ, I doubt that she was such a daring revolutionary, and if she was, she wouldn't have strutted the fact around so much. I think she was just a normal, common girl who didn't seem worthy of God's selection....In this film, her assertiveness makes her the perfect, most likely choice. I would have rather seen played it the other way....It would have made a more interesting movie with her doubting herself, and then Jesus filling her, his own mother, with hope and he filled others with hope. But, once again, not enough time to establish this, and the lack of characterization bogs the film down....especially with an actress so promising for the part.

Is it worth watching? For the performances, yes. However, as far as true emotion and power of the story goes, the viewer is better-off watching "Jesus of Nazareth."

**1/2 out of ****

The best movie about Jesus. His mission, his sacrifice are not the fruits of a gorgeous planning but the result of relations with others. Jesus is God but he is man, in same measure. He is actor of his life and just this fact is insignificant in many interpretations of Crist activity.

Mary is his mother but she is more. The friendship between mum and son is present in each society and it is the basis of the child education. For first time, Jesus is not a victim, master or victim, The Resurrection is not his great gesture. He is the son and Christian Bale builds a touching character. The tales, the dialogs, the joy and the fear are parts of his presence and means to define him. It is normal if Mary is the most important source and witness of the miracle of his son's work.

But the trump of film is the Geraldine Chaplin's interpretation. A powerful presence in a exciting role. Elisabeth is not a flat character, a secondary person but the one of sacrifices who offers the strong essence of a religion.

The end, with icons from every cultural space suggests not only the Christian spiritual power but the personal image about believe.

Mary is a symbol.Like mother, witness and saint. Like Teothokos and Madonna. Like model and purity ideal. But his image is present in any woman (mother, wife, sister, nun). The image of same Annunciation. And this movie is, for me, a messenger of this truth.

This movie was brilliantly made and delivered a profound message. I thought Pernilla August did a wonderful job of displaying emotions and being able to get an audience to empathize with her. Christian Bale's representation of Jesus was passionate and compelling. He did an excellent job of portraying Jesus in His later years and helping give viewers insight on what He went through. I enjoyed the idea of this movie putting emphasis on the relationship of Mary and Jesus, showing that even the most powerful person of all time remembers His mother and to love and care for her the way she did from the moment He was born. This movie was definitely unique and I hope to see more that are as great as this.

Recently, I caught a boat over to Australia. I was caught trying to illegally immigrate into Australia, so I was sent to Christmas Island, along with my brotherin. Whilst there, the only thing we had to pass the time was playing COD Zombies (the sickest) and, of course, watching Mary, Mother of Jesus. And how do I put it...GREASTER MOVIE EVER! Before watching this, I was one of Kony's children, but this has helped me pass that, and become a devout Christian. I now hope to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, and become the savior of our land! Now, I may not be a typical Aussie lad, however I think I have the heart to make a real difference in the world!

Now regarding the movie, Christian Bale portrays Jesus TO THE MAX! I mean, what a stunning performance! I know he was in Batman and all, but this is an Oscar-Winning Performance!

Now, I embrace God in my arms! I embrace Jesus inside of me!

Thank you Mary, Mother of Jesus! You've saved my life!

Signed, Steven Mc'Mootris (the sickest)

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