Magdalena—released from shame--movie

Movie review—Magdalena, Released from Shame

One of the members at Zeandale Community Church received a letter about a new movie that was coming out—Magdalena, Released from Shame. The letter came into my hands and I shared it with our music director. We decided that we would like to use the video for Good Friday services if we felt comfortable with it. Melissa Boutz checked with the producers of the video and they said we could use it as long as we did not charge admission. Melissa had a copy of the movie. We both watched it and agreed that it was scripturally sound and had an excellent message.

The video is a follow-up to an older movie entitled "Jesus." The "Jesus" movie was translated into numerous languages and shown all over the world to present the story of the Messiah. World Vision and Campus Crusade among others made use of this film for evangelistic purposes.

The movie has several agendas which are aimed primarily at the Muslim world and women. Throughout the movie, which is narrated by Mary Magdalene, women in need are presented as being helped by Jesus. Mary Magdalene is delivered from demon possession and other stories of deliverance found in the scriptures.

The movie is careful to refer to Jesus as "Prophet" and "Teacher" as well as Messiah. The term Christ is never used. When Abraham is called upon to sacrifice his son, the name of the son is not given.

The production already has it in eight languages which means that it is intended for a broad audience. We can assume that other languages will be added.

I can recommend the movie for being scripturally faithful. In no sense is Mary Magdalene pictured as the lover or paramour of Jesus as is suggested by the Gnostics (both ancient and modern) and the DaVinci code gang. The production is so well done it is like a fifth gospel, simply told from the viewpoint of Mary Magdalene.

For more information on this production go to http://www.magdalenamovie.com/en/index.html