Magdalena: Through Her Eyes
DVD
The Latest from: The Jesus Film Project!
What a Wonderful Film, A Must See!
Is God's transforming power still available today?
A woman caught in the shameful act of adultery; a social outcast ignored
because of her loose lifestyle; a recluse shunned in society for 12 years
because of a despicable illness; a widow mourning the loss of her only son.
An ugly thread of shame, sorrow and hopelessness painfully weaves its way
through each of these women's lives.
After spending three years following Jesus, Mary Magdalene has seen it all
- lives changed, miracles performed, the sorrow of death and yet the
triumph of life. Mary has watched in amazement as Jesus taught a whole new
way of looking at life and at people. Jesus radically transformed her own
life when he healed her from demon possession, so much so that she became
His follower.
Fast forward to A.D. 40. Although Jesus no longer remains on earth, Mary
Magdalene still lives a changed life. Despite His miraculous works and His
surprising compassion, not everyone bought into the teachings of this man,
Jesus. Skeptical about this supposed Savior, Mary's friend questions her,
"The God who created all of this? I doubt He even sees me, much less knows
me."
In response, Mary Magdalene passionately retells the details of Jesus' life
- from birth, to death, and eventually to resurrection - and how His life
continues on in the lives of those who follow Him....
Watch movie trailers
You can watch some of the best scenes from the movie - in multiple
languages - at
www.MagdalenaMovie.com
Resources:
Both women and men all over the globe are being deeply touched by Magdalena: Released From Shame . They are saying that they have
never viewed a film so powerful in communicating that Christ values women.
To make the connection with women's hearts so strongly, we had women write,
direct and produce the film.
Magdalena : Released From Shame is a
fresh look at what we believe the women of Christ's time would have
experienced when personally encountering His compassion and healing. Now,
pastors and woman's ministry leaders who have seen it cannot wait to use it
in their ministries. As a tool for evangelism, it is encouraging women to
step out in faith to reach the women in their sphere of influence in a new
way.
Potential Ministry Uses
-
Ask the Lord for His leading in reaching the women in your area.
-
Small group home showing with neighbors; afterwards meet regularly to
teach them basic Christian growth principles.
-
Plan a church-wide Christmas (or Easter) outreach for women.
-
Reach out to women's groups and leadership in your city.
-
Humanitarian projects for women: Single moms; Homeless; Women's
prisons; Crisis pregnancy centers.
Running Time:
82 minutes.
Languages:
English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Korean, Arabic, Portuguese and Russian
languages.
Subtitles:
English.
Format:
NTSC only.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Magdalena - Released From Shame - Review
My friend in
Morocco
was given a DVD of this film at a conference recently, although she
couldn't remember which one. A quick search on Google, however, reveals
that this has happened in a few places, and that the film has been
screened at other conferences. I've got a fair bit to say about this
film's use of material from The
Jesus
Film which I'll save for another post. For now, here's my review
The
Jesus
Film was finished 28 years ago, and in the intervening period it has gone
on to become the most watched film of all time. Yet whilst missionaries all
over the world continue to value it as an evangelistic tool others clearly
seem to be aware that their beloved movie is starting to appear dated. As a
result, the last few years have seen a number of different versions of the
film be released, including a version made for children and a longer
edition of the film featuring a brief introduction from Genesis.

Magdalena - Released From Shame is the latest, and most radical development in this tradition. In addition to incorporating its own extra-biblical scenes, it has also incorporated a number of additional stories from the gospel that were not included in the original production. Brian Deacon has reprised the role of Jesus from the original - vocally at least, but in order to avoid the inevitable continuity errors that would result from the passing of almost 3 decades, Jesus' face is not shown in these scenes - it may even be a younger actor. Close listening, however, reveals a slight difference in Deacon's voice: it is richer and more noble than it was in 1979.
This leads to a couple of interesting moments, when we see a more intimate
conversation between Jesus and one of his audiences. We see their face in
close up with part of the back of Jesus' head in the foreground. But the
expected, and usual, reverse shot (showing us Jesus' face and the back of
the other person's head) never materializes. It's a little off putting, but
it does focus the attention on the response of those who originally
listened to Jesus, and recollects all those 50s Bible epics which were so
reverent they didn't even show his face.
As well as inserting extra scenes / shots, it has also added extra
flourished to the original. So the original angels were white men with 70's
fros and a white bed sheet, Here they are more indistinct CGI figures. We
also see the occasional piece of symbolism, most notably the snake who
slithers amongst a pile of ropes during Jesus trial, but is seen dead
shortly after Magdalene sees the resurrected Jesus.
The film also jumbles the chronology. We start in 40AD with Mary Magdalene telling a group of her friends about Jesus. She goes right back to the stories of creation and Abraham before jumping to the events of the Nativity and Jesus' baptism and onto her encounter with Jesus. At this point the film returns briefly to Mary and friends before proceeding with the story of Jesus' ministry and execution in a more linear fashion. From then, up until Jesus' ascension we occasionally return to AD40, but it's the Jesus story that by far predominates.

Essentially then this film seeks to tell the story of Jesus in from the
perspective of Mary Magdalene - the message of Jesus is mediated to the
audience by her. In addition to the scenes from 40AD and those from Jesus'
ministry that feature Magdalene, she also provides the occasional bit of
narration. Unfortunately, the actress playing Mary Magdalene herself
(Rebecca Ritz) is one of the film's greatest weakness. She is far too
earnest and, as a result, comes across as somewhat patronizing. Worse
still, there's no real passion in her account of this supposedly
life-changing encounter.

The film's intended audience is also made fairly clear. Mary is primarily telling the story to a woman who has not heard about Jesus, and who rather conveniently feeds Mary the exact questions she needs to move her monologue on to the next part in the narrative. Unfortunately, it's as forced and awkward as it sounds, and it's not helped by a wooden, unconvincing performance by Shira Lane as the would-be believer.
The other major key to the production's intended audience is the selection
of episodes it includes. Nearly every scene from Jesus' ministry - whether
from the original film, or more recent footage - has a woman as one of the
crucial characters. The promotional material for the film is clear that in
addition to Mary Magdalene the film also covers the stories of the Widow of
Nain, the woman caught in adultery, and the hemophiliac who touches Jesus'
robe.
In addition to selecting these stories it also inserts shots of Mary and
the other woman around Jesus' ministry. So when he delivers his Gospel
manifesto to a packed synagogue in Luke 4 we see Mary and a friend in the
women's enclosure at the back. Likewise when an adulteress is brought
before Jesus for Judgment, it is Mary who observes that the man should also
be present.

So this is very much a film made for women, who perhaps find the usual male-dominated Bible films alienate them. As such it could have been a worthy project, but sadly, it's been poorly executed.
So this is very much a film made for women, who perhaps find the usual
male-dominated Bible films alienate them. As such it could have been a
worthy project, but sadly, it's been poorly executed.
Despite its popularity with missionaries abroad The Jesus film has
always been unpopular with film critics. Not only is it a not particularly
well made film, but it's rubbed salt in the wound by going on to become the
art form's most widely seen specimen. It's unfortunate, then, that the
parts of Magdalena which stand out as being the most well crafted are those
which have been cut and pasted from that original Jesus film.
A MUST SEE FOR ALL WOMEN, MEN TOO.
Bruce Brightman - Founder - LifeSource Vitamins
Every eight seconds, somewhere in the world, another person indicates a
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are like many people, you may have never even heard of it.
Called by some “one of the best-kept secrets in Christian missions,” a
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It is the power of the Word of God in their heart language.
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The sole basis of our beliefs is the Bible, God's infallible written Word,
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1. There is one true God, eternally existing in three persons -- Father,
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of Deity and the characteristics of personality.
2. Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through His
miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. Hence, He is
perfect Deity and true humanity united in one person forever.
3. He lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by
dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and
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all mankind under divine condemnation.
7. Man's nature is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God.
Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
8. The salvation of man is wholly a work of God's free grace and is not the
work, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious
ceremony. God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in
Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justified them in His sight.
9. It is the privilege of all who are born again of the Spirit to be
assured of their salvation from the very moment in which they trust Christ
as their Savior. This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit,
but is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who confirms in the
believer the testimony of God in His written word.
10. The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ
and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws
sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually indwells them from
the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption.
His fullness, power and control are appropriated in the believer's life by
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11. Every believer is called to live so in the power of the indwelling
Spirit that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh but will bear fruit
to the glory of God.
12. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, His Body, which is composed of
all men, living and dead, who have been joined to Him through saving faith.
13. God admonishes His people to assemble together regularly for worship,
for participation in ordinances, for edification through the Scriptures and
for mutual encouragement.
14. At physical death the believer enters immediately into eternal,
conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body
to everlasting glory and blessing.
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to everlasting judgment and condemnation.
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bodily -- to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.
17. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the Gospel
throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation. The fulfillment
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for us.
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