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Nov 12, 2019TheMysticReader rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I really wanted to like this film but it was hard going, with lots of rewinding. Also, I kept falling asleep due to the "beige" color palette and beautiful but hypnotic score blurring out the dialogue. Watch it if you have a great deal of patience -- and if you can get the subtitles track to work. The subtitles track would not play on the free VCL Media Player that I use. Joaquin Phoenix (Jesus) mumbles his dialogue for the entire film and his beard and acting choices make it impossible to lip read him, even in close-ups. Rooney Mara and others did better but director, Garth Davis and sound designer Robert Mackenzie, buried what enunciation the actors had under a beautiful but too loud score in many key scenes. This is a story that needs telling but this script & director seem to be trying to tell it without offending orthodoxy too much so those who have not already studied The Gospel of Mary may not even get what is being said, it is so subtle...and mumbled. (Though I can roll with the director perhaps trying to pull a VERY META twist on "Those who have ears, let them hear." Or NOT...in several ways as I mentioned above. I have not read such theories about Garth’s intent but it crossed my mind as I tried to debrief my frustrations with the film.) The last few minutes of the film were thrilling and uplifting. These moments beautifully imply that early Christian women stepped up to support Mary Magdalene, to hold the truth about the peaceable kingdom being within, while Peter ran off with his stubborn misinterpretations and the male disciples, thus, mucking things up for Christian humankind for many centuries. A final "ahhh" but hard won. ++cj