Last year, when I first saw ads for “The Nativity Story,” I was concerned that Hollywood had taken this most sacred of events and commercialized it. However, I was impressed and surprised. The story was beautiful and well-done, and I highly recommend it.
We get the story from a couple of different angles. We see King Herod and understand more about his position, why the coming of the Christ-child was such a threat to him that he would murder so many babies in order to keep Christ from taking over his throne. Not that Christ would have done such a thing – King Herod didn’t understand the difference between the spiritual and the temporal. We also see the three wise men as they chart the course of the star, and their preparations to make the long, difficult journey through the desert to arrive in Bethlehem when they did.
We all know the story, so I won’t worry about a plot synopsis. Rather, I’ll tell you what I enjoyed and didn’t enjoy about the film. I appreciated the fact that they used such a young actress. Some movies about the nativity would depict Mary as being in her early twenties, with Joseph close to her own age, but according to the traditions of the Israelites, Mary would have been very young, with Joseph older than herself. I think they got the age difference just right. I also loved the care Joseph took of Mary throughout the film. He was so tender with her.
My favorite scene of all is when the baby is born. We never hear if Mary delivered on her own, or if there was a midwife present, or if angels came to attend. In this version, Joseph delivers the baby, and it’s an incredibly touching scene. He’s terrified, as of course he would be, but he handles the situation with care, and when the baby comes forth, he raises the child up into the light of the star, which is shining into the stable. It’s a powerful, magnificent visual.
I didn’t care for the visitation of the Angel Gabriel toward the beginning of the film. He kept walking in circles around Mary, making the poor girl spin in order to look at him. That was really distracting from the message he brought. I also wished Mary had shown a little more personality. We know that the mother of Jesus was an exceptional young woman, to have been chosen for that calling, but we don’t see why she’s exceptional until later in the film. Her relationship with Joseph does grow on their journey to Bethlehem, and I liked seeing them get to know each other and appreciate each other.
This movie does have some moments of violence, as the story does, with Herod chasing down the babies. The birth scene may be bewildering to young children as well. But I don’t hesitate to recommend it for your children ages 10 and up. It’s a beautiful recounting and I feel I learned a lot from seeing it, even though I was already very familiar with the account.
This film was rated PG.
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