I love this Nativity Movie, I watched it several times! It's a great movie and very informative! None are exactly as stated in the word! But it's close and a great learning experience for the family! We enjoyed it! Thanks!
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Fortunately, the strong acting by Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) and especially Oscar Isaac in their respective leading roles as Mary and Joseph propel this film. I was pleasantly surprised by Isaac, whose subtleties brought heaps of humility to a challenging role. Watch as he tiptoes around Mary’s response with such fragility after asking her parent’s permission for marriage: glancing worriedly at them, and hopefully back at Mary, and back again to her parents. His face conveys much more age than Mary’s but his sensitivities compliment her youth and naiveté nicely. Director Catherine Hardwick seems an unlikely candidate for such a historical “epic” as The Nativity Story aims to be, especially with her only real directing experience being two emotionally-intense, teenage docudramas, yet she handles the film well. Yet the general pacing of the film is slow, with hiccups of action that seem to have made the final cut thanks to studio script notes, not naturally accompanying the plot. Unsurprisingly, the film is also not without its clichés. The color timing is the chosen “grey/brown and bleached” as we have come to expect from this genre. The three wise Magi bring the film’s only real comic relief, thankfully countering every other characters’ moping. The music by Mychael Danna runs seemingly wall-to-wall, piping up during every scene and often misplaced in tone (note the scene where pregnant Mary finally returns home and Joseph and her father square off at the surprise. We chuckled at their “whodunnit” confusion while the music pounded away intensely, pushing for conflict.) The Nativity Story won’t be the next Passion, although the comparisons will abound, but it will still probably make a ton of money just because of its theme, release date, and more family-friendly target audience. It’s not as well done as The Passion but, again, it is better to see a good and moral story coming out of a Hollywood studio than no film at all.Read full review
Well, this movie is a must-see, because the birth of Christ is the most important reason for celebrating Christmas. This movie puts that message into prospective beautifully. Of course, we know that historically, the Wise Men or kings, were not present at Jesus’ birth, but that is not the fault of movie’s producers. The Visit of the Magi has been combined with the birth of Christ for eons now. All in all, this movie captures the true essence of what Christ’s birth means for humanity. It means that from the time of his birth, we were saved, so that we can be restored to God’s kingdom ultimately. Wow, what a gift! This movie brings that home. Best Advent/Christmas present you can give yourself and your family, in my opinion.
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This is a decent honest attempt to tell the Christmas Story, even though there is some artisstic license taken with the plot. For example, the treatment of the wisemen is off the mark from the biblical account. There is not dream, warning the wisemen to not go back to Herod in the film. Also, the wisemen show up when Jesus is in the stable, rather than in a house as a toddler, which is in accordance to the Scripture. Also, Joseph sees a day vision rather than being warned in a dream. With these not to significant variations aside, the film does depict a refreshing view of Mary as an average devout peasant girl with doubts about her arranged marriage. Traditionally, girls were married off in their teens to older men, who could care for them. It is likely that Mary would have had such doubts. Also, the film shows the scorn that the couple would have faced due to the "baby out of wedlock" issue in a small community very well. Finally, the itegrity of Joseph comes out of the film quite clearly, especially, in Mary's pronouncement of Joseph being a good man and predicting him to be a good father.Read full review
This is the BEST movie of the subject that I have ever seen! I saw it on TV and ran right over to Ebay to buy my own copy. The story is well told, and all the elements from costumes to scenery are accurate. The Characters were treated in a very believable way. The details were well plotted out and perfectly in character to the Bible story---many things you never thought about...like Mary's father after it's obvious that she is now pregnant asking "Was it a Roman?" In those days and times it was certainly a concern/fear that a Roman might have forced himself on his daughter. I especially loved how Joseph and Mary united over her pregnancy. I can't recommend this film more highly. You really feel like you are there!
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