MovieChat Forums > Mary Magdalene (2018) Discussion > How did Mary look like?

How did Mary look like?

posted 9 years ago by godteri-95
6 replies | jump to latest

She was jewish middle east or something like that? But middle east rase comes in many different types, especially over 2000 years ago. She probably didn't look like Rooney Mara, but could she have been white?

[–] NeedysBoy 9 years ago

In art, Mary usually has red hair.

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[–] Madcap2112 8 years ago

She would have been from the city of Magda (Commoners didn't tend to have last names back then), so she would have been a first century Jew. Probably would have looked like an Arab woman.

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[–] csebesta 8 years ago

Mary was Jewish, and my guess is that the Jewish gene pool may not have changed much or not as much as some others. So why not Natalie Portman who was born in Israel to Jewish parents, so someone like Natalie maybe. Certainly not a Muslim or Arab looking complexion, my goodness wars have been fought over less than a Muslim playing a Jew!

Charles

[–] kyzasoze2003 8 years ago

So why not Natalie Portman who was born in Israel to Jewish parents

Portman probably wouldn't take the role as since becoming a mother she's become more of a practicing Jew. I read something like her son not allowed to have action figures because she considers them idols and her husband now has to now convert to Judaism. I don't think she'd play a role so closely linked to Christianity. And since Catholics and Orthodox at least have images when they pray she, it goes againt her beliefs. By the way Portman's mother was an American Jew of Russian and Austrian ancestry.

Certainly not a Muslim or Arab looking complexion, my goodness wars have been fought over less than a Muslim playing a Jew!

But the Jews of Palentine back in those days certainly had that complexion, so why not? The film actually has a Muslim actor playing a Jew. Tahar Rahim (from A Prophet)plays Judas. Actually come to think of it Rahim's wife, the actress Leila Bekhti would look much closer to what Mary would've looked like than the White European-mixed Jews of Hollywood. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Le%C3%AFla_Bekhti_Cannes_2011.jpg

Rooney Mara is a good actress, no doubt, but doesn't look anything like a Palestinian-Jew around 2000-years ago. She is pale-complexioned as opposed to the Mediterranean Brown that would be a better match. She's largly of Irish descent, not Middle-Eastern.

[–] chipbolton-76904 8 years ago

The Jewish gene pool at that time was not as diverse and mixed as it is now given that people did not in general travel very far from their villages.

[–] BlimeyCharlie 8 years ago

If she existed at all (which is actually doubtful), she wouldn't have looked like Rooney Mara. Chances are, she would essentially have looked - at least by today's standards - at least something like the woman in this photograph:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinians#/media/File:Bedouinwomanb.jpg

In other words, not a whole lot like a 21st-century American woman from Bedford, New York.