“Mary”: Netflix’s Israeli reading of the Bible

TEHRAN-In mid-October of this year, the news of the removal of a significant number of films about life under occupation for the Palestinian people caught the world’s attention. This shocking news was surprising to many, but such an action was not unexpected from a platform that had produced the series “The Messiah” in Christmas 2020. The series presented substantial distortions regarding the situation of the Palestinian people and, on the other hand, praised the Israeli Security Agency.

Netflix’s streak of surprises did not end there. Recently, the platform announced that it will release a feature film about Mary, the mother of Jesus, on December 6 of this year. Titled “Mary”, the film, which was shot in Morocco, focuses on the period before the birth of Jesus Christ, his birth, and King Herod’s (played by Anthony Hopkins) efforts to find Jesus and his mother.

Christ under siege by Zionists

A controversial aspect of this film led people worldwide to call for its boycott, highlighting the perceived influential role of Zionists in the project: the portrayal of Mary by a 21-year-old Israeli actress Noa Cohen.

The casting of this Zionist actress in such a role sparked significant negative reactions from opponents of genocide and critics of Israeli crimes. They believed that Netflix, under Israeli influence, intended to erase the Palestinian historical roots of the story’s characters through this move.

According to IMDB, the cast also includes several other Israeli actors, such as Ido Tako, Ori Pfeffer, Mili Avital, Keren Tzur and Hilla Vidor.

Genocidal authenticity

In an interview with the American magazine “Entertainment Weekly”, D. J. Caruso, the director of “Mary”, introduced the film as the story of a smart and determined young woman who faces immense challenges. In support of casting Israeli actors for the movie, he stated: “It was important to us that Mary, along with most of our primary cast, be selected from Israel to ensure authenticity.”

Caruso further mentioned they auditioned around 75 young women, and somewhere in the middle of that process, Noa stood out.

The director spoke of “authenticity,” even as Israel had been bombing women and children for over a year—people who were considered the true compatriots of Christ and Mary. By attacking churches such as the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza, the Zionist regime proved that it makes no distinction between Muslim and Christian people in its genocide.

The false “authenticity” mentioned by Caruso sparked sharp opinions from social media users regarding the film “Mary”. “”Israel” has destroyed three churches in Gaza over the past year, and killed at least three percent of Gaza’s Christian population meanwhile the director of this film believed the main cast including the lead role of Mary should be “Israeli” to “ensure authenticity,”” tweeted one account.

 “Netflix thought it was a good idea to cast an Israeli to place Mother Mary like Israelis aren’t bombing the homeland of Jesus himself as well as all the churches,” one user wrote.

Some social media users also considered the choice of an Israeli actress for the role of Mary blasphemous: “There is something deeply blasphemous about casting an Israeli to play the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, while Israel is carrying out a genocide against Palestinians, killing some of the oldest Christian populations in the area and destroying their heritage sites.”

Distorting Zionists

“Mary” is not the first film about prophets imbued with a Zionist narrative. “Exodus: Gods and Kings” was a 2014 film by Ridley Scott that told the story of the prophet Moses. 

Gaber Asfour, who was the Egypt’s Culture Minister at the time, said the film was rife with mistakes, including an apparent claim that “Moses and the Jews built the pyramids”.

“This totally contradicts proven historical facts,” he stated.

“It is a Zionist film,” Asfour mentioned. “It gives a Zionist view of history and contains historical inaccuracies and that’s why we have decided to ban it.”
 
As a result of these historical inaccuracies, “Exodus: Gods and Kings” was banned in countries such as Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Moving pictures as a weapon

Zionism has never neglected the capabilities of the silver screen. As historians Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman mention in their book “Hollywood and Israel: A History”, “Theodore Herzl, the Austro-Hungarian journalist who founded the Zionist movement, saw moving pictures as central to furthering his cause.”

Many Hollywood films across the years—from “Exodus” (1960) to “Munich” (2005)—have been guided by explicitly Zionist politics, normalizing and often glorifying the colonization of Palestine.

The relationship between Hollywood and Israel during the pre- and early statehood years reflected Zionist leaders’ recognition of the potential of cinema to build cultural and financial bridges. 

In “Casting a Giant Shadow: The Transnational Shaping of Israeli Cinema”, Harris and co-editor Chyutin discuss this relationship:

 “The Israeli government’s support for Hollywood projects such as Otto Preminger’s “Exodus” (1960) reflects the significant Zionist involvement in shaping narratives in American cinema. These productions often drew on Zionist themes, portraying Israel as an idealized democratic society free from the stigma of socialist or communist affiliations.”

From comic pages to the pages of the Bible

The high-profile presence of Israeli actors on the silver screen can be said to have begun with the casting of Israeli actress and soldier Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. The move was highly controversial from the start, but it provided an opportunity for global audiences to gain a distorted and more positive view of the inhabitants of the occupied territories. This made Gadot one of the most famous Zionist faces.

As the Jerusalem Post argued, Gadot’s relatability to western audiences helped humanize the widespread trope of the brutal Israeli soldier.

The trend of casting Israeli actors in superhero roles has continued. Following Gal Gadot’s repeated performances as Wonder Woman, the spotlight has now shifted to Shira Haas. This time, reports emerged that an Israeli actress would portray an Israeli superhero named “Sabra” in the new Captain America movie. The timing of this news coinciding with the escalation of the genocide in Gaza has led to strong global reactions against the film, with calls for a boycott gaining momentum.
 
Netflix, however, has demonstrated with the production of the film “Mary” that Zionism has now entered a new phase, moving beyond the quick-yielding superhero genre. The film’s director, by casting Israeli actors in key roles in the story of Mary’s life, has attempted to challenge the historical and Palestinian roots of Christ even before narrating the story.

Such a change reflects the Zionist regime’s determination to make more deliberate use of its cinematic forces for the purpose of fabricating a false civilization—a move that will come at the cost of distorting true history.

In addition to highlighting the collaboration between companies and platforms such as Disney and Netflix, the impact of grassroots boycott movements should not be overlooked. In many cases, these boycotts have compelled targeted companies to backtrack on their decisions. For instance, the boycotts against the new Captain America film prompted Marvel to announce plans to approach this superhero with a fresh perspective. Subsequently, the company released the first trailer for the film, which made no mention of the superhero’s Israeli background.

AH/SAB