[SXSW Review] HAIL MARY - Nightmarish Conjurings

HAIL MARY is an allegorical story of immigration that is very well done. It’s the cinematic version of the rebuke against xenophobes who oppose immigration from Central and South America, namely that they are so hateful they would deny Mary and Joseph at the border. I had heard that some people might be offended by the film or think it’s blasphemous. I find it to be a respectful and accurate version of the story that uses the words of the Gospel compassionately and still has a fair amount of violence and gore.

Just like the Bible.

It’s all in the synopsis, so I’m not spoiling anything: Maria, a 17-year-old girl from Belize, finds herself mysteriously pregnant. We find her walking, following the north star to safety across the US/Mexican border. She’s escaping a deadly virus and being chased by the right-hand man of the devil.

Director Rosemary Rodriguez has made a faith-based film before, with Acts Of Worship, a Sundance feature film nominated for an Indie Spirit Award, and has directed episodes of “The Walking Dead,” “Peacemaker,” “Home Before Dark,” and “Jessica Jones,” among others. It was written by Knate Lee, who has written episodes of “The Stand (2021)” and concepts for the Jackass films, so the film has a knowing sense of humor about itself.

The film stars Natalia del Riego as Maria, Benny Emmanuel as Jose, Angela Sarafyan as Gabrielle, and Jack Huston as Baal. Yes, Baal. The film’s best assets are the two lead female performances. Both actresses are wonderfully cast in their roles. Rosemary Rodriguez has chosen to feature their faces in wordless shots focusing on their expressive eyes and beautiful and seraphic faces. Those shots are worth the price of admission alone to watch actors communicate such feelings wordlessly. Sarafyan’s Gabrielle works like Tilda Swinton’s Gabriel in Constantine. She really seems like she could be an angel. Benny Emmanuel is a sympathetic and solid presence in the film. Jose/Joseph is the supporting character, but he’s the bedrock from which the other performances soar. Without his work as a solid and occasionally comical base, it wouldn’t work as well as it does.

Jack Huston seems to be doing a riff on Javier Bardem’s iconic character Anton Chigurh, and honestly, it’s pretty good. Chigurh seems otherworldly in No Country For Old Men, so it’s not far from being an actual demon. What’s different about Huston’s performance is Baal’s glee at being in human form. For instance, he has no idea that he has to eat as a human and is constantly looking around curiously and with some amusement. His powers, however, are particularly horrifying and range from touching someone and giving them a disease instantly to turning into a tornado and making people rot just by looking at them.

The film has strong horror elements and some gore related to Baal’s destructive powers and the evildoers in the cartels. As a film set mainly in Mexico and dealing with immigration, cartel members and the Border patrol are secondary villains to Baal, which is not a coincidence. It is similar to Terminator: Dark Fate which had strong themes of sympathy for immigrants. After all, the new savior of the human race is a Mexican woman, and that’s exactly what is happening in HAIL MARY. The second coming of the savior is here, and they’re Belizian. The subplot puts the action in motion that a virus called Herod is killing babies as they are born, so they’ve really covered all the bases with the basic story beats in the film and the story of Mary and Joseph. What people will probably object to is making the mother of God on Earth and the savior Latinos, but haters gotta hate, and that’s really the whole point.

As the Bible says, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” – Matthew 19:23-26, King James Version.

If I have to state it, baldly, I’m pretty sure God is not Team Billionaire.

The cinematography is by Carlos Hidalgo, who has done second-unit work on films like A Clear And Present Danger and Amores Perros. His work on the film is outstanding; in particular, there is an excellent shot inside of a church where the entire frame is upside down for a few minutes, and it works very well cinematically and thematically. Victor Hernandez Stumpfhauser gives the film a very fitting and musically pleasing score.

Within the film, I seem to detect that Baal, the demon that is an agent of Satan, is still doing the work of God inadvertently. The idea is that if God created everything, including the antagonist, all of God’s creations work towards his unknowable purpose, whether they realize it or not. HAIL MARY is superior to many alleged faith-based films, usually thinly disguised conservative polemics, because it is concerned with actual theology, giving dignity to the oppressed, and is critical of the institutions and their agents who have abandoned the word of their Lord. Looking right at the Catholic Church when I type that sentence.

HAIL MARY is a thoughtful and artfully made horror film that tackles theology and politics with empathy, humility, and a fair amount of violence. It gives you something to think about and some gore simultaneously. While parts are reminiscent of other films, they do add their own flair or take the ideas in different directions, which works for me. I really appreciate the ideas that it tackles and has sympathy for.

HAIL MARY had its world premiere at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival.

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Dolores Quintana

Dolores Quintana is an actor and writer living in Los Angeles. She has written for blogs as diverse as Buddyhead, Pocho.com, and The Theatre @ Boston Court. She works as an actor in independent film and both immersive and traditional theatre with Alone: an Existential Haunting, Screenshot Productions, and Native Voices at The Autry.

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