Mary in other cultures

Mary is the highest saint in Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, but she is also esteemed in Islam.

 

the Iranian film can be viewed on youtube.


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I usually dislike "religious" films because the characters tend to have the wide eyed fanatic stares of the true believers.

but a couple of films with not quite orthodox backgrounds can give us better understanding of Jesus and Mary, even if they are not strictly true to "biblical" traditions.

The movie The Young Messiah, based on an Anne Rice's novel, was based on the non biblical "gospels". The film shows a humble and loving Mary, and has a wonderful portrayal of St. Joseph, who is often left out of these movies.




and although a lot of folks get their knickers in a knot about the secular "Nativity story", again it shows a sympathetic and real Mary. The actress, who was 16 at the time, was also pregnant (out of wedlock"... when some snotty reporter told this to a Vatican official, he merely smiled and said: Yes, and that is why she appears so glowing in the movie.




then there is this older Mary, in the Passion of the Christ: played by a Jewish actress who was not familiar with the story, nor sympathetic to it. Gibson told her to play it as a mother who has lost a child, and she did...and much of his screenplay is not strictly Biblical, but from Catholic devotions like the Stations of the Cross, or the writings of mystic Catherine Emmerich.




and of course, Joey Velasco sees Mary as an ordinary Filipino girl...the girl behind the painting worked as a caddie at a local golfcourse.

JoeyVelasco

Myths and story telling can tell aspects of the truth better than can cold facts. Nor do these story tellers have to be believers to do this, as long as they are inspired by love and beauty. As Tolkien's poem points out:

The heart of man is not compound of lies,

but draws some wisdom from the only Wise,

and still recalls him. Though now long estranged,

man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed.