Mary and Joseph: The Beginning
"Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith" is a speculative account of the lives and relationship between Mary and Joseph before their marriage and the birth of Jesus. It shows that they were normal young people dealing with the politics and law of the time as well as the traditions. And then it shows how things start to go awry after Mary's vision which she tells Joseph about much to his disbelief.
I may not know the Bible inside out but I do know that it doesn't go in to depth into the backgrounds of Mary and Joseph and it is why I used the words speculative in conjunction with "Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith" which is sometimes called "Mary and Joseph: A Story of Love". But in being speculative the writers have come up with an interesting idea as to the lives of Mary and Joseph as we get the things which the Bible mentions with ideas built around the politics of the time and the reign of Herod and then on to typical emotions. It is why "Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith" comes in at a surprising two and a half hours as it fills it up with these ideas.
Now I am not going to go in to a lot of depth as to what happens in "Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith" but point out the good and the bad. The good are some of the ideas such as when Mary tells Joseph of her vision it begins to drive a wedge between them as Joseph questions her sanity and considers it as a reason to call things off. Then there are some interesting ideas such as some knowing writing and foreseen drama as certain events and dialogue in the lives of Mary and Joseph mirror those which appear in the Bible surrounding Jesus' life such as a scene when Mary's father is killed on the cross.
But then there is also the bad, and "Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith" is another movie which whilst going for historical accuracy does go the Western route and so we have people whose skin and hair is inconsistent for the time. Of course this will probably only annoy those who are looking for historical accuracy and in truth Blanche Baker and Jeff East are quite entertaining as Mary and Joseph, in fact they are quite likeable which is very important to involve the audience in the drama.
What this all boils down to is that "Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith" is an interesting movie with some nice ideas and some ingenuity in what might have been when it comes to Mary and Joseph. But it does have inconsistencies and at times drags which means despite filling every one of its 152 minutes with detail it still feels long.
Tags: Christmas Movies
