Hail Mary DVD release

When I noted at the start of last month what a busy month it was going to be for bible films, I only knew the half of it. I guess October is the prime release month for the Christmas market, and thankfully there still seems to be some association between Christmas and Christianity, so perhaps I should have looked more thoroughly. In any case, in addition to the DVD releases Mary and Jesus of Nazareth, and the release of ABC's The Ten Commandments in September, I've just found out that Godard's controversial updating of the nativity story - Je Vous Salue, Mary (Hail Mary) was released on DVD on the 10th October. There are a number of extras including a promotional funding video which culminates with a plea from Godard himself for money. Like the earlier VHS release, this DVD also includes the film Book of Mary as part of the main feature.

I've discussed this film briefly on two occasions online, (here and here), though I am yet to give it the full treatment. Jamie S. Rich has written a good piece on both the film, and the DVD presentation at DVD talk, which looks at the film more in the context of Godard's other work, than that of other films covering similar material. It's well worth reading the whole piece, but here are a couple of pieces that I thought were worth quoting:

Eventually, Joseph comes to trust what Mary is telling him, but not before he whines a lot about not getting any loving. He's not the most compassionate person that could have been charged with the paternity of the Christ child.

[snip]

Yet, the professor's lectures tie in with Mary's quandary, a variation on the chicken or egg conundrum: does the soul exist to animate the body, or does the body exist to house the soul? Her body is what she feels is under assault. It's what Joseph wants to get his hands on, it's what God has used to plant his seed. Her soul is ultimately her own, and it's tied directly to her virtue. The greatest pain the Supreme Being has caused her is making people doubt that she has maintained self-control, that she hasn't given her soul over to lust. Despite the anger this causes her, Mary perseveres.

In the end, though, it's hard for Mary to tell if the price she has paid was worth it. Her son Jésus (Malachi Jara Kohan) has turned out to be a brat, and her husband has gone from adolescent sex fiend to resentful father.

I have two comments on this review. Firstly the character of Joseph is one of the more interesting of the film. Matthew's gospel simply calls Joseph righteous, although notes how it was only God's intervention that prevented him from calling off the marriage (1:19). It's a vague term in this context, but the text suggests that it was actually because he was a "righteous" man that he wanted to call the marriage off. I guess that some would see the Joseph of the film as incompatible with this "righteous" Joseph. However, Godard's re-contextualising emphasises how both Josephs, prior to their own revelations, are torn between acceptable social norms, and their relationship with Mary. Joseph of Nazareth was righteous, but in a culture where that was the expected norm, even if it led to divorcing your wife for her impropriety. Godard's Joseph is lustful and irresponsible, in a culture where that is acceptable - encouraged even - and here it is propriety that is considered grounds for breaking up a relationship. So the way Godard plays this one is as much a comment on the differences between the two societies, as it is a comment on Joseph himself.

Secondly, I don't recall thinking that the Jesus of the film was "a brat". Sure he is headstrong and confident, but then he is meant to be God made flesh. One scene that Rich may be thinking of is the one where he gathers a few followers and proceeds to change their names. I tend to think this is more Godard's joke than a serious comment.

Finally, I find the packaging for this DVD rather strange as the front cover is emblazoned, not with the comment of some film critic praising it, but, with a comment from Pope John Paul 2 saying how hurtful and offensive it is to people. This seems a rather strange move. Whilst many films have used their controversy to improve their marketability, this is usually done by suggesting the film is in some way heroic as if it is fighting censorial injustice or something. I can't think of another case where the marketing does this by gleefully wallowing in the hurt the film caused.

Nativity Movies

With Catherine Harwicke's The Nativity Story coming soon, I've been thinking of looking at portrayals of that story over the years and a conversation with a friend recently spurred me into action.

Whilst I think that, overall, films about Jesus's life have got the balance between his birth and the rest of his life about right, I'm surprised at how little the story has been filmed as a self-contained story. All films form the bible are stories within a big story, and this gives film-makers unusual liberty as to when and where to begin and end their narratives. For example, the recent One Night With the King starts with an event outside the story it is portraying, but this works because it's all part of a broader narrative. The story of Jesus's life is in fact a number of self-contained stories, hence why Mel Gibson can film the story of his death, just on its own. In fact Gibson adds on the story of the resurrection, so he too ends the film with part of a different story.

Of course, in this sense the nativity story is a story in its own right as well as a part of the story of the life of Jesus, and the bible story as a whole. Given the huge significance of this story to our wider culture - it's the basis for our society's largest festival/celebration - it's surprising, that the story has been filmed so infrequently in it's own right, rather than as the prologue to the story of Jesus's life. This hasn't always been the case as the list below demonstrates:

1908 - Edison - The star of Bethlehem - 10 mins - B/W
1909 - France - The Birth of Jesus - short - hand tinted colour
1910 - France - La Nativité - short - B&W
1910 - France - Gaumont - Herod and the Newborn King - B&W
1912 - US-Thanhouser - The Star of Bethlehem - 3 reeler - B&W
1913 - US-Selig - The Three Wise Men - 1000 ft - B&W
1914 - US - Edison - The Birth of our Saviour - 1000ft - B&W
1921 - Germany - Der Stern von Bethlehem - B&W
1950 - US-NBC TV - A Child is Born - 30 mins - B/W
1956 - GB - The Star of Bethlehem - 90 mins (remake of the above)
1960 - Italy - Herod the Great - 93 mins - colour
1969 - Czechoslovakia - Hvezda Betlemska (The Star of Bethlehem) - 10 mins - animated colour.
1978 - US-short - The Small One - 20 mins - colour
1978 - US-TV - The Nativity - 98 mins - colour
1979 - Ca-TV - Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith - 152 mins - colour
1982 - Italy - Cammina, Cammina (Keep on Walking) - 171 mins - colour
1985 - France - Je Vous Salue, Marie (Hail Mary) - 97 mins - colour
1989 - Italy-TV - Un Bambino di nome Gesù (A Child Called) Jesus - colour
2001 - Italy-TV - Close to Jesus: Joseph of Nazareth - 90 mins - colour

This list excludes recent cartoon treatments, and also films where the nativity story is only a part of the main story. I was tempted to include Mary, The Mother of Jesus, but whilst about half of that film includes the nativity, really it's a film about Mary's life, rather than just the nativity. For the record it was made in the USA in 1999, and was 88 minutes long.

So all in all there are 18 films about the nativity. Incredibly, seven of those appear in as many years, in the mid-silent period (1908 to 1914). Since the advent of sound at least half of the remaining films have been made for TV, and only 2 have been made in the US, 1 in Canada, and the rest have come from Europe.

I have actually seen precious few of these films, partly because they are usually so full of Christmas card tradition it's hard to take all the gloss and piety seriously. The sole exception is Jean Luc Goddard's Hail Mary. I do own a copy of Joseph of Nazareth and so I will be reviewing that within the next month or so. The one I would most like to see is Ermmano Olmi's Cammina, Cammina. I very much enjoyed his version of Genesis, and so would be keen to see his treatment of this one as well. (Edit: Now I have)

I wrote a few more comments on a selection of these films back when I first heard the news about The Nativity Story.

A New Film on the Nativity in the Works?

Jeffrey Overstreet just alerted me to this script sale at DoneDeal

"Nativity" centers on the two-year period of Mary and Joseph's life, culminating in their leaving Nazareth and journeying 100 miles to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. Key characters and events such as King Herod, John the Baptist's parents (Zachariah and Elizabeth), the shepherds who were witness to Jesus' birth; and the arrival of the three kings from the Orient will be fleshed out.

Writer: Mike Rich
Agent: Charles Ferraro of UTA
Buyer: New Line Cinema
Price: n/a
Genre: Drama
Logged: 1/25/06
More: Spec. Pre-emptive purchase. No producers are attached as yet.

Looks like it could be interesting, although I've become a little suspicious of new bible films being made ever since the success of the Passion. On the one hand it's good to see more being made, but on the other I can't help wondering if this is studios trying to cash in on the Passion bandwagon.

I've actually never seen a feature length film on the nativity story, unless you count Jean-Luc Godard's modern re-contextualising Je vous salue, Marie (Hail Mary). I have seen two shorter films that solely focus on the nativity, a 5 minute short produced by the Church of the Latter Day Saints, and a 45 minute film made by the same company that did Dogtanian, both of which were simply called "The Nativity". The latter is one of a myriad of cartoon versions of the story, most of which focus on minor characters. The former was sans dialogue, but did contain some effective sound effects like flies buzzing as Mary and Joseph enter the stable.

But other fuller length films have been made of the story. Most notably two films at the end of the seventies went head to head. Madeline Stowe starred opposite John Shea in the , yet again, imaginatively titled The Nativity in 1978. This film also starred a pre-Indiana Jones/Lord of the Rings John Rhys Davies, and possibly the oldest character ever to play Salome, Kate O'Mara - a native of my adopted county of Leicestershire - who was pushing 40 at the time.

A year later there was Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith, starring no-one particularly interesting (unless you count Marilla from Anne of Green Gables), and lasting for over two and a half hours. There was also a film called Mary and Joseph made in 1972, and another film called The Nativity made in 1952. There are a few pictured from that film at buyoutfootage.com

I haven't seen any of these last four, and to be honest I find to difficult to work up any enthusiam about them. Most of the longer Jesus epics manage to wring as much screen time out of those few chapters as possible, and few of the nativity films have much in the way of innovation. That is probably why I appreciate what Godard was trying to do, although it's still a strange and over-long film.

The most affecting portrayal of the birth of Jesus I have seen was actually from a BBC documentary Mary, which dared to show Mary as a young girl (as she apparently would have been), and a more realistic depiction of the birth - strikingly different from both the tranquil stable of the Christmas cards and the TV depictions of modern day births.

Sadly though it appears that the new film will go down the traditional route. The mention of three kings (opposed to Matthew's unspecified number of "Magi") in the blurb above, and the mention of a journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem (as in Luke) opposed to the whole story seemingly taking place in Bethlehem (as in Matthew). This reinforces my worry that this film is seeking to cash in on the devout. Nothing in the blurb above suggests that the script takes a more historical, or challenging approach to the story - just what is needed in my opinion.

Matt