ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Rooney Mara

Mary Magdalene: Empowering the Powerless

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““If there’s a demon in me, it’s always been there. I wish there was a demon…” – Rooney Mara, Mary Magdalene

In the first century, free-spirited Mary Magdalene (Rooney Mara) flees the marriage her family has arranged for her, finding refuge and a sense of purpose in a radical new movement led by the charismatic, rabble-rousing preacher named Jesus (Joaquin Phoenix). The sole woman among his band of disciples, Mary defies the prejudices of a patriarchal society as she undergoes a profound spiritual awakening and finds herself at the center of an Earth-shaking historical moment.

While there have been many retellings of the Crucifixion of Christ over the decades, this film sets itself apart due to the perspective from which the story is being told. Directed by Oscar-nominated director Garth Davis (Lion) and written by Helen Edmondson and Philippa Goslet, Mary Magdalenetells the story of the Jesus Christ through the eyes of one of the more famous women in his life. Mary Magdalene, who receives her ‘last name’ due to the Magdala region in which she lives, is known as one of the central figures in the life of Christ due to her commitment to him throughout his darkest hour. Often a side character in other Christ narratives, she is front and centre in this version as a woman of courage and mercy in the midst of oppression.

Having been taught her entire life that she is secondary to her husband and unfit for her own active faith, Mary feels trapped by a culture that doesn’t value her as a person. “I’m not as I’m supposed to be,” she aches, searching for hope. However, through her relationship with Jesus, she begins to experience what it means to be empowered with equality and grace, despite how others choose to view her. Bringing an inner strength to her character, Mara gives reverence to the film and anchors it emotionally.

While people have suggested for centuries that some form of romantic relationship may have occurred between Mary and Jesus, Mary Magdalenereveals the nature of that love to be one rooted in mutual respect and admiration. Though some depictions of Jesus have emphasized his kindness or rebellious teaching, Mary Magdaleneportrays him as one who seeks to empower those who lack hope, especially women. There is an equality inherent to his character in this film that challenges social and political boundaries in a masculine-dominated culture (even amidst his own disciples). He teaches a Kingdom that isn’t built upon power and control but redemption and forgiveness. (“The Kingdom is not something we can see with our eyes… It is within us…,” Mary beams.)

However, as the title suggests, the real focus of this film is Mary herself. As one of the disciples, she also becomes one who best exemplifies the teachings of Christ to the others (Peter, in particular). In the end, although Jesus is the light of the story, Mary is the one who reflects that light onto others.

Mary Magdalene tells her side of the story in theatres on Friday, April 12th.   

Lion – A Story of Being Lost and Found

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In Lion a child faces perhaps the most frightening of all prosepects—being separated from his family and far from home. That he manages to find a new family in a faraway land may seem like a rescue (and it is), but what of the family he lost?

The film is divided into two approximately equal halves. Five year old Saroo (Sunny Pawar) lives with his mother, older brother, and younger sister in India. They live mostly by scavenging—sometimes dangerously. When his brother Guddu heads off one night to look for work in another city, Saroo demands to come along. After a train ride, Saroo is asleep. Guddu leaves him on a bench in the station to go get his bearings. When Saroo wakes up the station is completely empty. He searches for Guddu, but cannot find him. In time he finds a spot in a train to go to sleep, but while he sleeps the train leaves. By the time Saroo can get off he is about 1000 miles from home in the big city of Kolkata. There he falls in with other homeless street children until he ends up in an orphanage. Because he doesn’t know the basic information such as where he is from, he can’t be returned to his family. In time he is adopted by a couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham) from Australia and flies away to live in Tasmania.

Nicole Kidman and star in LION

The film leaps ahead twenty years for the second half. Saroo (Dev Patel) is now grown and getting ready to head to the Australian mainland for a course in hotel management. There he meets Lucy (Rooney Mara), an American student, and others from around the world. He tells them his story and he begins to have brief glimpses of memories. He wonders what became of the rest of his family, but has no way of knowing where to look. Someone suggest approximating a search area and using Google Earth to find places he remembers. This becomes an obsession. How can he find anything in such a vast land as India? And what would he do if he actually found what he was looking for?

Dev Patel stars in LION

Family is obviously one of the central themes of the film. Saroo’s family in India was impoverished, but the bonds of love are very obvious. When he is cut off from his family, he is in great danger. That he managed to survive the streets for as long as he did is miraculous. Even in the orphanage, things are only marginally better. When he is sent to his Australian parents he finds a new life—one of comfort and possibilities for happiness. Here is another family with bonds of love—even though there is a side plot dealing with another Indian adopted by the family who brings emotional issues with him, even as an adult.

But family isn’t just about parents who love him. He also must come to consider what it means to be a son and a brother. To truly understand that he must try to better understand the family of his birth and the love that he found and strives to remember in that setting. The storyline with the adopted brother wasn’t really developed enough see how Saroo had to come to terms with his feelings both for that brother and the one he lost as a child.

Another key theme is what it means to be lost and found. In Christian thought, salvation is often described as being found. Saroo understands being lost: alone in a strange city, knowing no one, unable to speak the language. He has nowhere to turn. Yet, through various circumstances, he manages to be “found” and saved by strangers who take him in and make him their own son. But Saroo also comes to realize that the trauma of being lost applies to his birth family as well. He knows that they must have been devastated and searched for him. His obsession with finding them is as much to bring them closure as it is a search for his roots. But in his obsession he runs the risk of cutting himself off from those who love him and ending up lost in an emotional sense. His salvation is not limited to being sent to a loving family, but also in finding himself as he seeks to reconnect with his other family.

Pan: What’s In A Name?

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peterpan2

Peter Pan (Levi Miller) is the kid who wants to find his mother before he’s the boy who never grew up. That is, before he never grew up, he was just an orphaned, little boy missing his mother. Imprisoned in an orphanage with the ominously hoarding Mother Barnabas (Kathy Burke), Peter leads a mini-rebellion and is sold into pirate slavery under the deliciously evil Captain Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman, channelling his inner Johnny Depp) in Neverland. Now, we’re getting somewhere: the legend has begun.

Jason Fuchs’ script was on the Hollywood “Blacklist” of most desirable scripts (he’s scheduled to pen Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman for 2017) but somewhere along the way, director Joe Wright got lost in the eyes of most critics. To be fair, the film is not great – certainly not as good as Robin Williams’ Hook – but the story of searching, seeking, and longing for something lost is still pretty compelling. It’s a little spooky, like a Tim Burton film, but it’s not as abysmal as some have painted it to be.

Of course, this is a prequel, and as such, Peter makes friends with his future enemy, Hook (Garrett Hedlund, who overacts his way starboard), and Hook’s accomplice, Smee (Adeel Akhtar). There are giant crocodiles, mermaids, and an Indian princess named Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara), but this isn’t your grandfather’s (or Disney’s) Peter Pan. This is more complicated, more realistic (!), more emotionally charged, as Peter begins to understand where he came from, and the power in his own name.

peterpan1Now, we’re well-versed in names this year, are we not? There’s Max’s name in George Miller’s dystopian thriller and Adonis’ surname in Creed. These are people searching for purpose and meaning, wondering who they are and what it means to be themselves. In Pan, this pressure has been placed inside the youthful heart of Peter, who wants to be someone – someone loved, respected, and related. It’s the cry of his heart, and one that many of us, orphaned or not, can relate to.

Over and over in the Bible, we are reminded that human beings were created in the image of God (imago dei, Genesis 1:27), adopted by God (Ephesians 1:5), called the children of God (John 1:12), and given new names (Revelations 2:17). Peter’s search of self-discovery isn’t really to discover himself but to connect and understand the bigger picture and the greater context. That is our quest as well, is it not?

The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack sports several in-depth looks at the film, from the way that Fuchs’ expanded on J.M. Barrie’s classic world of Neverland, the search that resulted in Miller’s being chosen to play Peter, Jackman’s work to ‘flesh out’ Blackbeard, and trip through the world of Neverland itself.