Commentary: Mary Magdalene doesn't need a makeover
Just in time for Easter, Universal Pictures' Focus Films released "Mary Magdalene," starring Rooney Mara as Jesus of Nazareth's most famous female follower, and Joaquin Phoenix (Mara's current love interest) as Jesus himself. The United States was supposed to be on the distribution list, but the distributor was Weinstein Co., currently in bankruptcy, so the release here is on indefinite hold.
The film, which presents Magdalene as a young woman who flees an arranged marriage, is part of a feminist effort to "refute," in the
