First, white dudes played Jesus of Palestine, now an Israeli's his mom!
Mariam a.k.a. Mary, the mother of Jesus, unexpectedly burst on to my Instagram feed this fortnight. The occasion was the release of the trailer for the epic Biblical film, Mary.
The trailer has provoked anger over the casting of Israeli actors to play Mary and other central roles, while 'erasing the characters' Palestinian roots', as the London-based Middle East Eye put it. The sentiment was further explained by a social media user quoted on the website as saying: 'There is something profoundly offensive about having an Israeli actor play Mary, the mother of Jesus, while Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, killing some of the oldest Christian communities in the world and erasing their heritage sites.'
Earlier, Mary director DJ Caruso told Entertainment Weekly, 'It was important to us that Mary, along with most of our primary cast, be selected from Israel to ensure authenticity.' Caruso's comment is designed to confuse cinephiles who have not studied West Asia, and therefore, understandably, do not know the difference between the ancient Israel mentioned in the Bible versus the modern-day country known as the State of Israel, or the historic region of Palestine versus the present-day State of Palestine.
If you're getting lost in this sea of information, set it aside for a moment, and remember the long-running global discussion about the representation of gender, race, and ethnicity in cinema. Viewed solely within this context, Caruso's claim of 'authenticity' is at odds with his principal cast's
