Thank you for putting this into words--not for the Mary film, specifically (which I haven't seen) but for the general lack of "spiritual sense" and spiritual sensitivity in film and fiction both. It strikes me as a tendency to pull saints and other people of high spiritual caliber down to the level of ordinary people (with the excuse, as you say, of making them "relatable") as opposed to inspiring people upwards toward the level of saints. Our spiritual figureheads should provide an example for us to emulate rather than being depicted in a way that essentially says, "Well, it's OK that you have all these flaws because, see, Mary has these flaws too."
The dearth of spiritual sense in fiction is what's inspired my own newsletter, Deus in Fabula, which I subtitled "A quest for spiritual, devotional, and mystical realism in fiction." That "realism" corresponds to your idea of "spiritual sense." I, too, have been disappointed with, say, a novel that has the potential to express something of this sense but falls short. One recent historical novel had a scene in which a saint endured torture, and I hoped that the chapter would be told from the point of view of the saint and depict his inner reliance on God's presence to overcome his suffering. But the author instead told that scene from the POV of the torturer and had the saint do nothing more than quote scripture. Like I said, disappointing.
My favorite book and movie that does succeed in this spiritual sense if Franz Werfel's The Song of Bernadette and the 1946 film of the same name. I also like Lloyd Douglas' The Robe (but not the movie). I often use these as examples in my posts on Deus in Fabula.
Naturalism.
The world is being conditioned to not believe in the supernatural. Another deception of the Evil One.
Thank you for putting this into words--not for the Mary film, specifically (which I haven't seen) but for the general lack of "spiritual sense" and spiritual sensitivity in film and fiction both. It strikes me as a tendency to pull saints and other people of high spiritual caliber down to the level of ordinary people (with the excuse, as you say, of making them "relatable") as opposed to inspiring people upwards toward the level of saints. Our spiritual figureheads should provide an example for us to emulate rather than being depicted in a way that essentially says, "Well, it's OK that you have all these flaws because, see, Mary has these flaws too."
The dearth of spiritual sense in fiction is what's inspired my own newsletter, Deus in Fabula, which I subtitled "A quest for spiritual, devotional, and mystical realism in fiction." That "realism" corresponds to your idea of "spiritual sense." I, too, have been disappointed with, say, a novel that has the potential to express something of this sense but falls short. One recent historical novel had a scene in which a saint endured torture, and I hoped that the chapter would be told from the point of view of the saint and depict his inner reliance on God's presence to overcome his suffering. But the author instead told that scene from the POV of the torturer and had the saint do nothing more than quote scripture. Like I said, disappointing.
My favorite book and movie that does succeed in this spiritual sense if Franz Werfel's The Song of Bernadette and the 1946 film of the same name. I also like Lloyd Douglas' The Robe (but not the movie). I often use these as examples in my posts on Deus in Fabula.
In any case, do share more like this!