Customer Reviews

Mary Mother of Jesus [VHS]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This may very well be my favorite Jesus movie ever. I think this movie has not been given the full attention nor credit that it deserves. The movie starts off showing how Mary was kind, wise and brave in spirit and thus why she was chosen to to give birth to and raise to manhood the Son of God. Nice too is the fact that Jesus while Savior to world is so very down to earth. Mary is respectful to Jesus because she knows he is savior to the world and yet Jesus is respectful to her because she is his earthly mother and the movie that great friendship as mother and son between them. What I like about this Jesus movie it that it is true to Scriptues, noting that Jesus was/is the Savior and Son of God..but ever so tactfully avoiding the the trinitarian vs. the unitarian issue. This is a great movie and I would highly recommend it.

I've been a bible believing christian most of my life, but lately I've been going through a dry spot in my faith. I've felt uninspired and unmoved by my church life and walk with God, and mostly discouraged by my own fear and failures. I asked God a couple of days ago to please 'flip my switch'...touch me...I need a touch from you. After working all day today, I sat down and flipped the channels and on the TBN network, this movie was showing. After watching it for about 10 minutes, I knew this was God's answer to my prayer. This movie to me is 10 times better than The Passion of the Christ because it shows the Lord's stature growing in each successive scene. Jesus's sufferings started from day 1...not just the last 12 hours of His blessed life on earth. It showed how each important step in His life, he growed in grace in majesty. As He went on, He felt the weight of the world's sin more and more. He bore that weight with grace and without sinning Himself. And it depicted His dear mother as sharing in His suffering (the greatest of honor according to others such as Paul the apostle). The artistic license if forgivable. There is nothing in the heart of this movie but pure love, presence of the Holy Spirit, and the eternal, yet misunderstood, love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I weeped serveral times throughout this movie. Thanks for 'flipping my switch' God!

This short, budgety film was produced by the Schriver/Kennedy family and it certainly will find an audience. It isn't bad at all, and it certainly is earnest.

In less than two hours however, we are whisked through the early womanhood and life of Mary, as well as Jesus's 33 years. It's a whirlwind tour, but not an unpleasant one. Christian Bale is a rather young Jesus, but, like everyone else involved here, very sincere.

The film takes licenses that some may object to, but certainly make their point. Mary is shown as a stronger influence on her son's life than is normally depicted, but I believe these are nice, realistic touches that add much depth to a beloved but not entirely understood figure, whether historical, religious or of fantasy. This Mary witnesses a stoning, and later is herself almost stoned for her unwed pregnancy, foreshadowing Jesus' saving of a woman stoned for adultery. The child Jesus listens to bedtime stories that would later become his parables, etc.

It's nicely done, providing the requisite emotional wallop at the end.

The reason I found this film so inspiring is because unfortunately, Mary and I share something in common. We both had to watch our child take their last breath. Before seeing this flim, I hadn't thought much about the heart renching things that Mary had to endure, and through it all, she never doubted God plan for her life. She had complete trust in Him to see her through. Cherish your children each day, introduce them to Jesus Christ, tomorrow you may not have that opportunity.

I have seen other movies about Jesus. This version helped me see Jesus as a real person living life. I made a connection of the reality of Jesus's life. Until I saw this movie, I did not know how much God worked through Mary and how much she suffered knowing what she had to do and let happen because of her son. I love to watch this movie many times because it makes Jesus real to me, helps me to have courage, and helps me to practice and grow in my faith.

This was by far the best movie I have seen on the Blessed Mother.
To see in so much detail how she felt, and what she went through while Her Son was being crucified .I saw it 5 times so far,and I just love it.

Historically speaking, we know very little about Mary, the Mother of Jesus. With only a few minor mentions in scripture, Mary has remained a stoic symbol of the greatest of maternal love. In this reverent and sincere version produced by Eunice Shriver and her son Bobby, MARY's story is filled in plausibly and benefits from a marvelous performance from Pernilla August as the adult Mary. Interesting suppositions include the stories told to a young Jesus that eventually end up being the parables He teaches his followers in his later years. Christian Bale makes an austere and handsome Christ, but since the story is focusing on Mary, Christ's passion is dealt with almost surreptitiously, serving only as a background to how his Mother must face this devastating loss. In a time when commercialized Christmas films like CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS and SURVIVING CHRISTMAS flood the market, it's nice to see a movie in which the true meaning of Christmas is brought to front.

Implementing an admirably brisk pace, and sporting some exciting crowd and chase scenes, 'Mary, Mother of Jesus' has an instant appeal. Keeping close to scripture in key portions of Mary's and Jesus' lives, the film, nevertheless, may bring controversy with some of the fill-in interpretational moments. With good performances all around, especially Pernilla August in the title role and Christian Bale as the grown Jesus, the movie, however, presents a Mary that's a little more outspoken and fiesty than we're accustomed to. (Sometimes I had to wince when Mary teaches Jesus the "Good Samaritan" story and her protest against a stoning of an adulterer before Jesus is born. Yet, the Bible does state that Jesus "increased in wisdom and in stature..." He did learn things.) Also, John the Baptist seems fiery and folksy enough to bring a genuine translation (one of the best performances in memory of him), and Judy Cornwell as the Innkeeper's wife (Judy Cornwell) provides some comic relief with her robust performance. The details are also worthy. The scenery provides a simple beauty that never brings a stage presence to the film.

Just as 'The Robe' surmises the Jesus story from the point-of-view of a convert after the repurcussions of Jesus's ordeal, 'Mary,...' provides another portrait of the gospel as witnessed by a key participant in Jesus's life.

It must be a very daunting task to try and flesh out a part on somebody who played such a major part in mankind's salvation with her humble assent to be the mother of the Messiah when her scriptural refrences are so few other than during the Nativity and early childhood of Jesus. So many times the writers get in the way of the story rather than let it play out in it's natural order. I feel the writers in this movie really tried to be true to the scripture that inspired it, but it can be so easy to stray from the spirit of what needs to be told when trying to flesh out characters, storylines, etc. The salavation story of Jesus and the part Mary played in it is so huge that trying to compress it into the short time required by this movie is almost impossible. Even the best movie ever done on Christ, "Jesus of Nazareth" was a 6 hour movie and it couldn't encompass everything either. That said, I did enjoy most of this film's attempt at widening our filmic knowledge of our Blessed Mother and, shortcomings aside, I'd still rather watch this than 90% of the drudge coming out of Hollywood today.

After watching this beautiful movie for the first time during the Easter season, have used clips several times in our Women's Study class to illustrate the humanity, joys, and pains Mary may have experienced in being the mother of Jesus. One member thought it should be mandatory watching for new converts, others noted "it was the best they had ever seen'>