Mary, Mother of Jesus (1999)

The Worst Film Ever

So much average

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

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.

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.

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.

"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 ****