Comparing Mary In King Of Kings, And Rosallini's

In Adele Reinhartz’ Jesus of Hollywood, many biblical characters are discussed, along with the different gospels that the stories stem from, and how these characters are depicted in several films. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is one character in which Reinhartz analyzes in the works of many films. The depiction and portrayal of Mary can be closely analyzed in three films, Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Mattew, DeMille’s The King of Kings, and Rosallini’s The Messiah. Each film depicts Mary in a different way, and gathers information from different gospels to tell her story. Furthermore, Mary can be critically analyzed by her character portrayal, so that it may become clear as to why she is depicted a certain way in each film. Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew is unsurprisingly a cinematic rendition of Jesus Christ’s story according to the Gospel of Saint Matthew. Although Mary does not play as active of a role in the Gospel of Matthew, as she does in Luke and John, the infancy of Christ is emphasized in Matthew (Reinhartz, 74). Matthew accounts the story of the pregnant Mary, and how Joseph discovers Mary’s pregnancy. The anger and betrayal felt towards Mary by Joseph is soon after depleted when the angel of God visits Joseph to set things straight. Matthew is also the only Gospel to share the story of Mary, Joseph and …show more content…
According to Matthew's Gospel, Mary may be considered by some to be "the ideal woman" as she never speaks and therefore she never complains