Aubrey Malone
The depiction of Our Lady in films has usually been in a secondary capacity to that of Jesus for obvious reasons but there have been a few where she has indeed occupied centre stage, as it were. This was most apparent in The Song of Bernadette (1943) which featured Linda Darnell as the Virgin Mary.
This is a much-loved film chronicling the Lourdes vision of Bernadette Soubirous and the manner in which Bernadette's credibility, despite some initial questionings by the local populace, grows with time.
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952) occupies an equally affectionate perch in the pantheon of celluloid Marian lore, charting as it does the events of the summer of 1917 where three shepherd children had a vision of ëthe lovely lady in the cloudsí outside the famous Portuguese village.
As was the case with The Song of Bernadette, much of the film revolves around early scepticism concerning the vision, and the children's stout defence of their claims to representatives of an anti-clerical government before a climactic miracle silences everyone.
The lesser-known Mary, Mother of Jesus was a TV movie made in 1999. It was notable in that it had two actresses playing Mary, Melinda Kinnaman as the younger Mary and Pernilla August as the adult one. This is a more energetic portrayal of Our Lady than we were vouchsafed in the earlier movies above but no less devout on that account.
A more recent TV movie, Mary of Nazareth (2012), was a joint German/Italian production with Alissa Jung giving us a very sweet, pastoral Mary. Some viewers complained that she didn't appear to age in the film but this was a small caveat in a simple yet profound re-telling of the life of a woman who 'surrendered her will to change the world forever'. It was a particular favourite of Pope Benedict.
There have, of course, been less detailed treatments of Our Lady in a raft of other Biblically-themed films, all the way from Ben-Hur to The Passion. There have also been sacrilegious manifestations of her in Jean Luc-Godard's Hail Mary (1997) and The Butcher Boy (1997), the latter courtesy of an unlikely Sinead O'Connor.
Hollywood has often had a lazy attitude to Our Lady, imagining that if the mood appears devotional enough it will 'preach to the converted', even in a perfunctory fashion. This is a patronising view on the part of directors chasing the dollar.
Films which touch the heart best are those which have a genuine mix of the divine and human, or even humorous. The Song of Bernadette arguably achieved it most stridently. This is probably why it has cast such a long shadow, traversing various continents.
All these films are available to buy on Amazon.
