A Biblical-Theological Review of Netflix's Mary

Recently Netflix released a film called “Mary” which tells the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Is it good? Bad? Ugly? Heretical? Honestly, from a biblical and theological perspective it’s a little hard to say.

Here’s the issue for me in evaluating this film: the story of Mary as recorded in the New Testament is pretty sparse on details. Even Luke’s account doesn’t give us a whole lot of information on her and her story. Like most events and people in the New Testament they are only recorded insofar as they relate to Jesus. That is after all the point of the New Testament: to point you to Jesus and explain the significance of His works, resurrection, and ascension and why you should believe in Him.

Mary of course has a part in this, a significant part for that matter, but it is only a part. The other things that we know about her (or think we know) come from Christian Tradition and/or sources outside the Bible like the Protoevangelium of James.¹ That doesn’t mean these sources are necessarily wrong, but it does mean that they come from less trusted sources (from a Christian perspective) than the Bible.

Now to be fair the film itself does not claim to be telling a historically accurate story. There is a lot in it that is historically accurate, but there is also a lot that I think falls into the realm of speculation and some that is probably not true and some that is for certain flat out inaccurate.

The Characters

Mary’s Parents

Christian Tradition holds that the names of Mary’s parents are indeed Joachim and Anna (the film calls her Anne, but if she was Hebrew then her name was probably חַנָּה (ḥannâ) which would be transliterated to Hannah or Anna). In fact, in the Liturgy of John Chrysostom they are specifically mentioned in one of the closing prayers:

May He Who rose from the dead, Christ our true God through the prayers of His most pure Mother; of the holy, glorious, and all-laudable apostles; … of the holy and righteous ancestors of God, Joachim and Anna; and of all the saints: have mercy on us and save us for He is good and loves mankind.

I think it is likely then that these names, Joachim and Anna are accurate.

Joseph

Joseph is rather interesting. The film follows part of the Protoevangelium of James (PJ) in its depiction of Joachim and Anna praying and fasting for a child, but it doesn’t adhere at all to what it says about Joseph. In PJ Joseph is an old man who already has his own family and is appointed to be a caretaker of Mary, something he initially refuses but eventually agrees to. This is also used as an explanation (one of several) as to why Joseph is not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible while Mary is.

In the film however Joseph is a young man about Mary’s age. He also has no qualms or fears about making her his wife. As soon as he meets her he is immediately smitten and asks her father for her hand in marriage.

In the end it is hard to be certain about how accurate the depiction of Joseph is. The film’s depiction could absolutely be historically accurate, but it could also be totally and completely wrong. In any case though, in both PJ and the film he is more of a caretaker husband than a love interest in my opinion.

Mary

Now for the focus of the film. The film ends with Jesus being dedicated in the temple, so anything that takes place after that is not commented on by the film. This means things like her perpetual virginity or her assumption are not mentioned.

In both PJ and the film Anna’s child is dedicated to the service of God in the temple. In the film the angel Gabriel says that the child will be a girl and that she must dedicated to the service of God and live in the temple. In PJ however, the gender of the child is not specified and seems to be dedicated to temple service as an expression of Anna’s thankfulness to God for giving her a child, not because it was a condition of the gift.

Also, in both PJ and the film Mary serves in the temple and it is during her time serving in the temple that Gabriel comes and announces to her that she will give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. However, in PJ Mary leaves the temple at a certain point to return home (to Nazareth) to spin purple yarn to be used as part of a new veil for the temple. This is important because Luke 1.26 says that Gabriel was sent to Nazareth to tell Mary she would give birth to the Messiah. PJ and the Bible agree on this point.

In the film though Mary is praying in the temple when Gabriel announces to her that she will become pregnant and give birth to Jesus. This of course gets her cast out of the temple and she returns home disgraced. She is sent by her mother to live with Elizabeth in order to hide her condition from her father (the Bible just says that she went without giving the reason why).

The effect this has is that it creates an internal family conflict that allows for development of the love theme (more on that later). Joachim struggles to love his daughter who by all appearances committed a great sin by sleeping with a man before she was married. Anna understands what is going on and is sympathetic towards Mary, but Joachim will have none of this conceived by the Spirit stuff which he thinks is nonsense. Whatever his personal beliefs happen to be concerning Mary’s pregnancy Joachim is eventually able to find a way to love his daughter again.

I don’t like this choice. I don’t think it is necessary. I think it is quite possible to harmonize PJ and Luke and still have Joachim struggle with Mary’s pregnancy. What’s more is that in the film Joseph doesn’t appear to struggle at all with Mary’s pregnancy, something that he was evidently doing in Matthew 1.19. Instead, Joachim is the male authority figure struggling with the pregnancy, leaving Joseph to play the role of the supportive husband.

The Love Theme

There are several themes in the film, but I think the one that the creators intend to be the most prominent is love and how powerful it can be. Both Joachim and Anna appear to love God even if they are puzzled and upset that they don’t have a child. It is this love that motivates both of them to keep Mary safe once she is pregnant, although in different ways. Anna hides Mary away, presumably to avoid Joachim’s anger. Eventually Joachim is killed defending his family (John 15.13).

Mary herself also loves God and loves the service she does in the temple. In fact, she seems to love God more than the temple because she accepts His will which eventually leads to her being expelled from the temple.

It is unclear how much Joseph loves God, but it is clear that he loves Mary. It is his love for her that motivates him to risk his life multiple times to ensure her safety and the safety of her child.

It is the love of these people, expressed in various ways and various purposes, that ultimately leads to the birth of the Jesus, the Messiah, the true King of Israel. The chief characters all seem to have a higher loyalty than to earthly politics and status. Mary and all her family seem to be in agreement that Herod is not the true King of Israel. While the film makes it obvious that Jesus is the true King of Israel it is not clear what the characters think about this.

The Traditional Teaching About Mary

It may come as a shock to many of my fellow Protestants, but there actually have been things taught concerning Mary throughout Church history. Primarily this teaching has been that she is the model for all Christians to follow. She literally had Christ formed in her and we are to follow that example spiritually and have Christ spiritually formed in us.

There is a tendency, I think, to overlook how significant it is that Mary was chosen to be the Theotokos, the mother of Jesus. At least among Protestants. I think the chief thing that needs to be realized is the significance of Gabriel’s greeting to her in Luke 1.28, “Greetings, O favored one…” The only other place in Scripture that I can find where someone is greeted by an angel in a similar manner to Mary is in Daniel 9.23, “At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.” It is not a common greeting and seems reserved for people that are, to put it bluntly, actually holier and closer to God than others. Daniel’s faithfulness and obedience are quite evident and I think we are to see the same, or greater, level of faithfulness and obedience in Mary.

This isn’t to say that things like the Immaculate Conception or her perpetual virginity or other teachings are valid. Nor is it to declare them invalid. It is to say that Mary was not just some random Israelite girl that God picked at random. Bringing the Messiah into the world was a major thing and she had proven worthy of that blessing.

The Verdict

So how well does this film do from a biblical and theological perspective? Overall, the major theme of the film is love. In Scripture the major theme around Mary is obedience. Are these compatible? Possibly. Love for God is essential to being obedient and following His commandments. And it is by being obedient to God and His commands that we demonstrate our love for Him. They go hand-in-hand.

In the film love is primarily directed towards other characters and especially between Mary and her family, not towards God. This isn’t necessarily bad. Mary and her family seem to be solidly against King Herod, which seems to carry the implication they are looking for a better king, who presumably is Jesus. If we are meant to make this connection then what is happening between Mary and her family is essentially (future) Christians loving other (future) Christians, which is absolutely compatible with Scripture.

However, this does not seem to be the case. Consider the final quote from Mary in the film: “Love will cost you dearly; it will pierce your heart. But in the end, love will save the world.” Director D.J, Caruso says, “Ultimately, her love will be the force that saves the world … I hope audiences come to see her as a friend, a go-to mother, and the greatest heroine ever to grace the screen.” ²

Now, I am not going to sit here and doubt Mary’s love for God, her child, her family, or anyone else either in the film or in actuality. But it was not her love for any of these that saved the world, it was God’s love that saved the world:

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16–17 (CSB)

Also, remember the final line from the prayer above:

“For He (God) is good and loves mankind.”

So, I conclude then that I think this film puts Mary on too high of a pedestal. It over emphasizes her role and downplays the role of God when it comes to saving mankind and changing the world. It was Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension that redeemed humanity from the power of death and saved the world, not Mary’s love.

Should You Watch?

I enjoyed watching the film, even if I didn’t enjoy the overall message. As someone who is used to reading the story of Mary as presented in Scripture I liked seeing it played out and seeing all the emotions that the characters likely went through. Anthony Hopkins proves why he is one of the best actors of all time. The conflict between Gabriel and Lucifer is nice, but not played up enough in my opinion.

If you’re already familiar with the story of Mary from Scripture and the theology surrounding it I think you will enjoy the film, even if you don’t agree with the message. If you’re not then I suspect you won’t. This story doesn’t stand by itself; it requires the viewer to place it in the proper context. If you can’t put it in that context you will not understand what all is going on.

In the end the film is a good way to experience the story of Mary in a different way. It is not a good way to learn about it for the first time.