Feast of St. Mary Magdalene -- two excellent recent portrayals of her in film


Hi folks, 

Two recent movie portrayals of St. Mary Magdalene which I believe got it right.  Resisting the temptation to sexualize her -- either as some sort of a "recovering slut" (perhaps the most famous person to be "slut shamed" in early history) or conversely as, "nudge, nudge Jesus' wife" or "girlfriend" -- both focused on her as simply a committed and trusted disciple of Jesus, who (in the second movie) as a woman, did, in fact, have an insight into him that the men around him did not:

The Roma Downey (of Touched by an Angel [1994-2003] TV series fame) produced movie Son of God [2014] on Amazon Prime Video

The Rooney Mara (of The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo [2011] fame) starring movie Mary Magdalene [2018] on Showtime but also available (to buy) on Amazon Prime Video (a little expensive, for a streaming item, but IMHO worth it ... if you went to the movies, you'd certainly pay more...).


I think of SO MANY WOMEN in our Parishes and Diocesan Pastoral Centers across the world and across time, who are/were exactly this -- committed, trusted and supremely competent followers of Jesus -- and think YEA, these are FINALLY intelligent portrayals of this woman who St. John Paul II called "the Apostle to the Apostles" (Mulieris Dignitatem #16)  as she was the one who Jesus sent to inform the Apostles that he is Risen.

-- Fr. Dennis


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