Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Saints: Mary’ Is Reverent But Ultimately Unremarkable
(REVIEW) Mary has always been an important figure in Christianity. Both Catholics and Protestants give her the title “Mother of God” as the honored matriarch who gave birth to Jesus. She’s also been the center of much historical Christian controversy.
While Protestants historically revere Mary, Catholics have several doctrines connected to her that other Christians historically don’t agree with. Such as her bodily assumption into heaven and being born sinless (what is known as the Immaculate Conception). Despite this, she remains a beloved figure in both traditions.
As such, it’s no surprise that there have been many movies focused on her, particularly in recent years. “The Nativity” told the story with emphasis on how her family reacted to the scandal of her pregnancy. “Journey to Bethlehem” was her story as a musical comedy. “Mary” treated Mary as a coming-of-age adventure heroine. The Chosen retold the Nativity story, focusing on how the nativity connected with the end of her life. The retelling of the nativity story. The upcoming “Zero AD” treats her escape to Bethlehem as a thriller.
So now Martin Scorsese presents Mary as the latest in his “The Saints” series. Each episode of “The Saints” follows the life of a sainted figure in Christian history. They all begin with an intro by Scorsese and end with a short round table discussion with his co-hosts Father James Martin (author of “My Life with the Saints”), Paul Elie (senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs) and Mary Karr (a professor and poet). In between are fairly straightforward retellings of their story with Scorsese’s narration.
READ: Amazon’s ‘The House of David’ Gets Power Right In A Larger Culture That Doesn’t
What will the legendary filmmaker Scorsese add to these depictions of Mary that we haven’t seen before? Frankly, not much.
There’s little remarkable or objectionable in this retelling of Jesus’ life through Mary’s eyes. Like previous episodes of “The Saints,” this movie pretty much tells the story with no frills. We start with Mary being visited by the angel, we then go through the nativity, the escape to Egypt, losing Jesus in the Temple, Mary at the wedding miracle, Mary watching Jesus in his ministry, his death, seeing his resurrected self and being assumed to heaven.
Unlike the episodes of “The Saints,” though, everyone is familiar with the story of Mary. So much of the film seems like it’s sleepwalking through stuff we already know. Moments that historically get less attention — like Mary following Jesus’ ministry while being publicly dissed by him or her assumption — are sped through.
Likewise, moments that could have benefited from zeroing in on Mary’s perspective — such as Jesus turning water into wine — are pretty much just told straight. Scorsese and friends are very impressed with how they portray Mary’s birth scene as a “real” and painful birth, not overly holy. But it was like every Nativity scene I’ve seen (certainly that was how it was in the Chosen adaptation).
The filmmakers had the time to explore the Nativity scenes further, but they used it on other aspects of the story, like following the Magi’s full interactions with Herod and a lengthy shot showing the sacrifice in the temple (a shot that is — I admit — probably the coolest visual part of the film). They definitely could have spent more time on parts of the story we were most familiar with, or given more focus to seeing moments through Mary’s eyes.
The one scene where they do this potentially well is when Mary breaks down and cries after they find Jesus at the temple, and she admits she got flashbacks to when he was threatened by Herod. It’s a moment that centers Mary’s experiences and is welcome because of that, but it is so out of place with the rest of the film that it feels more jarring than emotional.
The movie also makes some creative changes from scripture that show up in almost every Hollywood adaptation. For some reason, people keep wanting to have the Magi independently decide that Herod is evil (I’m looking at you, “Nativity”) and warn Joseph, when the Scriptures consistently say that dreams warn the Magi (Matthew 2:12) and an angel warns Joseph in a dream (2:13).
Scorsese is Catholic. As such, he plays straight the Catholic doctrine about Mary. He opens by saying — without qualification — that Mary was “born without sin.” The film ends with Mary being taken into heaven in a visual and poetic scene, which may render fewer complaints from Protestants.
Still, it’s nice to see Scorsese’s committed Catholicism take center stage. If he was going to go this far anyway, emphasizing the Catholic interpretation of Mary even more might have made the story even better.
Scorsese is doing good work by bringing to light the lives of saints in Christian history that many of us are less familiar with. Unfortunately, with someone we’re all familiar with like Mary, he simply has far less to say that we don’t know. Completionists may enjoy Scorsese’s take on the life of the Mother of God, but most others will find plenty of other sources to remind them why she’s worthy of her fame.
“Martin Scorsese presents: The Saints” is available to stream on Fox Nation now.
Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at josephholmesstudios.com.