In the Bible there are, of course, two nativity stories, one told by Matthew and one by Luke. (Neither Mark nor John mentions the nativity). Matthew gives us the story of Joseph's dream, of the visit of the Magi, of King Herod and the Massacre of the Innocents and of the Flight into Egypt. Luke tells us about the birth of John the Baptist, the visit of the angel to Mary, the census, the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the birth in the stable "because there was no room at the inn" and the Adoration of the Shepherds. What we today think of as the "nativity story" is a conflation of these two accounts, together with a few details added by later writers, such as the ox and ass in the stable. On one point, in fact, the two evangelists appear to disagree; Matthew implies, even if he does not state in so many words, that Joseph and Mary were originally from Bethlehem and only settled in Nazareth after their return from Egypt for political reasons. The traditional story, however, has always preferred Luke's explicit statement that they were natives of Nazareth.
"The Nativity Story" is the only film I am aware of based specifically on these events, although they are of course touched upon in films dealing more generally with the life of Jesus. The film opens with a violent recreation of the Massacre of the Innocents and then tells the rest of the familiar story in flashback, starting with the angel's annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah. Besides the tyranny of Herod, one theme much dwelt upon in the film is the idea that Mary's unexplained pregnancy might have put her in considerable physical danger, given that unchastity was punishable with stoning to death under the Mosaic Law.
A lot of nonsense has been talked about how the film has tried to get away from the Eurocentric idea of a blonde, blue-eyed Mary and Jesus. In the first place, blonde hair and blue eyes are by no means unknown in the Levant, not only in Israel but also in Syria and Jordan and among Palestinian Arabs, so such depictions of Biblical characters are not necessarily inaccurate. In the second place, there have been plenty of brunette Marys and dark-haired Christs in European art. And in the third place, most of the major characters in this film are not actually from that part of the world. Keisha Castle-Hughes (Mary) is of Maori descent. Oscar Isaac (Joseph) is a native of Guatemala. Shohreh Aghdashloo (Elizabeth) is Iranian, Ciarán Hinds (Herod) is Irish and Alessandro Giuggioli (Herod's son) Italian. If there was any theological point behind this casting of actors from all round the world it was to emphasise the universality of Christianity, not to give a racially accurate picture of first-century Palestine. Similarly, Balthasar is played as a black African not because of any belief that there was a significant black African community in ancient Persia but out of respect to an earlier tradition which saw the Magi not as Persian astronomers but as three kings from different regions of the world.
The film may have been inspired by the success of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" which had come out two years before. Although that film was controversial because of its levels of violence, it was successful at the box office and indicated that there was still a market for movies with a Christian theme. "The Nativity Story", however, was no more than a modest box-office success; it was nowhere near as controversial as "The Passion", but garnered no more than a lukewarm critical response.
I think that the difference is that "The Passion", precisely because of the level of violence depicted, shocked cinema audiences, including Christian ones, out of a certain complacency about the Easter message. We all knew that the Easter story involves a death, but in recent years the holiday has been sentimentalised into a celebration of bunny rabbits, chocolate eggs, fluffy chicks and spring flowers. Gibson, by concentrating on the shocking violence at its heart, succeeds in de- sentimentalising the whole affair.
"The Nativity Story", by contrast, does little more than tell the old, old story the way it has always been told. It is a low-key production, with few if any bright colours and an emphasis on the hardships of life in the Holy Land under Roman occupation. Even Herod is not so much a mighty ruler as a minor provincial princeling, dependent upon the goodwill of an occupying power, and his court is a correspondingly modest affair. This focus upon Christ's poverty and humble origins, however, is no more than the standard subject-matter of the sermons preached from a million pulpits every 25th December. Perhaps Christmas has become so over-familiar that it is difficult to say something new about it even when we concentrate upon its religious meaning rather than upon flying reindeer and an elderly gentleman in a red suit. 7/10
"The Nativity Story" is the only film I am aware of based specifically on these events, although they are of course touched upon in films dealing more generally with the life of Jesus. The film opens with a violent recreation of the Massacre of the Innocents and then tells the rest of the familiar story in flashback, starting with the angel's annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zechariah. Besides the tyranny of Herod, one theme much dwelt upon in the film is the idea that Mary's unexplained pregnancy might have put her in considerable physical danger, given that unchastity was punishable with stoning to death under the Mosaic Law.
A lot of nonsense has been talked about how the film has tried to get away from the Eurocentric idea of a blonde, blue-eyed Mary and Jesus. In the first place, blonde hair and blue eyes are by no means unknown in the Levant, not only in Israel but also in Syria and Jordan and among Palestinian Arabs, so such depictions of Biblical characters are not necessarily inaccurate. In the second place, there have been plenty of brunette Marys and dark-haired Christs in European art. And in the third place, most of the major characters in this film are not actually from that part of the world. Keisha Castle-Hughes (Mary) is of Maori descent. Oscar Isaac (Joseph) is a native of Guatemala. Shohreh Aghdashloo (Elizabeth) is Iranian, Ciarán Hinds (Herod) is Irish and Alessandro Giuggioli (Herod's son) Italian. If there was any theological point behind this casting of actors from all round the world it was to emphasise the universality of Christianity, not to give a racially accurate picture of first-century Palestine. Similarly, Balthasar is played as a black African not because of any belief that there was a significant black African community in ancient Persia but out of respect to an earlier tradition which saw the Magi not as Persian astronomers but as three kings from different regions of the world.
The film may have been inspired by the success of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" which had come out two years before. Although that film was controversial because of its levels of violence, it was successful at the box office and indicated that there was still a market for movies with a Christian theme. "The Nativity Story", however, was no more than a modest box-office success; it was nowhere near as controversial as "The Passion", but garnered no more than a lukewarm critical response.
I think that the difference is that "The Passion", precisely because of the level of violence depicted, shocked cinema audiences, including Christian ones, out of a certain complacency about the Easter message. We all knew that the Easter story involves a death, but in recent years the holiday has been sentimentalised into a celebration of bunny rabbits, chocolate eggs, fluffy chicks and spring flowers. Gibson, by concentrating on the shocking violence at its heart, succeeds in de- sentimentalising the whole affair.
"The Nativity Story", by contrast, does little more than tell the old, old story the way it has always been told. It is a low-key production, with few if any bright colours and an emphasis on the hardships of life in the Holy Land under Roman occupation. Even Herod is not so much a mighty ruler as a minor provincial princeling, dependent upon the goodwill of an occupying power, and his court is a correspondingly modest affair. This focus upon Christ's poverty and humble origins, however, is no more than the standard subject-matter of the sermons preached from a million pulpits every 25th December. Perhaps Christmas has become so over-familiar that it is difficult to say something new about it even when we concentrate upon its religious meaning rather than upon flying reindeer and an elderly gentleman in a red suit. 7/10