Review: The Nativity Story
The Virgin Mary ties the knot with Joseph and is then visited by the angel Gabriel, who tells her that she will give birth to a savior. Joseph accepts the fact that it isn't his kid and while trying to evade King Herold, the two make the difficult trek to Bethlehem for the birth of the child named Jesus.
Well, it looks like I'm going back to church again…at least for Christmas and Easter. From a Christian perspective, this was a good movie. It's a story that pretty much the entire world is familiar with, but they put a more realistic approach on it, which I liked. The church should actually make this movie mandatory in Sunday schools. I don't think this is the film where non-believers are going to be turned into practicing Christians or anything, but coming from a household where going to church every Sunday was mandatory, a movie like this certainly gives a sense of inspiration to someone who hasn't been a practicing Christian for a while. And I guess...that's a good thing?
Naturally, this movie is going to be compared to THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, but make no mistake, this is not the same kind of film. THE NATIVITY STORY does have just a little "light violence" (nothing a kid couldn't handle) but nowhere near the amount of violence and disturbing images as in the THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. Oh yeah, and thank God the movie wasn't spoken in a dead language!
It's a simple story and probably the most important one ever told from a Christian’s perspective. The film practically used all no-namers for the cast; it seems that you don't really need any star power to move a film like this forward… I guess a nod from the Vatican is enough. All the characters were well portrayed. I like how the chemistry was illustrated between Joseph and Mary. They didn't love each right away, but you see their commitment to each other grow throughout the film. This made their relationship seem more plausible based on the traditions of marriage back then. I even liked the comedy relief of the three wisemen. I wasn't busting a gut or anything, but based on the theme of the movie, they will at least bring a smile to your face.
I really appreciated the production quality in this film as well; it didn't look like a movie of the week. The locations, the CGI locations, the wardrobe and the minor special effects were all good. But the real strength of the film was the realism of the characters’ interaction between each other. Man and women get married. Don't have sex. Women goes away for a bit, comes back pregnant. Realistically speaking, what's a guy going to think or what are your family and friends going to think? The filmmakers did a great job of showing these emotions and reactions in a realistic light.
There's nothing really bad about this film, but I don't foresee it winning any Oscars either. If you're not into religious movies, don't waste your time as church-goers will appreciate this film more. From a non-practicing Christian point of view, I thought it was a good film. I'm even a little re-inspired about my faith! So much so, that I think I'm going to go watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" now. -- by Tim
Goernert Source: JoBlo.com
