The Nativity Story, previously titled Nativity, is a 2006 film starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, the Oscar-nominated actress of The Whale Rider and Shohreh Aghdashloo, the Oscar-nominated supporting actress of House of Sand and Fog. Filming began on May 1, 2006 in Matera, Italy and in Morocco. New Line Cinema released it on December 1, 2006 in the United States and one week later on December 8 in the European Union. The film made history as being the first film ever to stage its world premiere in the Vatican City.
The film follows the life of the Virgin Mary and Joseph from the time of the Annunciation in Nazareth to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Thus the film shows, among other things, the Visitation (Mary's visit to Elizabeth, who at a high age is pregnant of John the Baptist), and the journey of Mary and Jozef from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the journey of the Magi, the Star of Bethlehem, and the vengeful rage of King Herod.
Mike Rich, screenwriter of The Rookie and The Nativity Story has drawn heavily from the Christian Gospels. A number of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish theologians have also been consulted. When Rich first told his pastor about the project he was undertaking, Rich said the pastor responded by saying "that's a project!" and then immediately put him on the church's prayer chain.
Nevertheless, several differences from Scripture can be observed in the film.
The angel Gabriel is described in the Gospel of Luke as "standing on the right side of the altar of incense." In the film, it is mostly a whispering voice and changes in the smoke from the incense.
It is held that Mary delivered the Magnificat at her meeting with Elizabeth. In the film, she delivers it voiced-over as a sort of epilogue.
According to the Gospels, the angel that announced the birth of the Christ child to the shepherds was joined by a heavenly host praising God. In the film, he makes the announcement and disappears.
In the film, the Magi visit the nativity scene itself, on the night Jesus was born. (The Magi likely visited the Christ child twelve days after he was born, on the Feast of the Three Kings -- hence the second 12 days of Christmas. Or, alternately, the wise men visited when he was a [one-year old] toddler as surmised from Matt. 2:16 (KJV) "Then Herod,... slew all the children that were in Bethlehem,... from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men." Herod wanted to make sure he killed the rival King who had been born not a few days, but many months before.)
The Gospel of Luke records that Joseph and Mary presented Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem on the eight day after his birth, and records the meeting with Simeon and Anna. This is not shown in the film. The film adheres to the Gospel of Matthew, in which the holy family flees to Egypt after the Nativity, in order to avoid the persection of Herod.
Additions:
The film also made additions to the story which are neither confirmed nor denied by Biblical accounts.
In the film Mary is reluctant to marry Joseph. This, however, speaks of the cultural demands put upon Mary and Joseph. Arranged marriages were customary. Extra-biblical accounts say that Joseph was older than Mary, a distant relative in some cases, and unknown.
The Magi are portrayed as the traditional three Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, of whom one is reluctant at first to join the search for the Christ child. Though the three gifts are specifically mentioned in the Biblical account, the exact number of Magi is unknown.
The star that heralds the birth of Christ is portrayed as an alignment of two planets and a star, seen progressing all through the film. (The Bible never elaborates on the nature of the star.) It is important to note, however, that the nature of the star as presented is one of the theories that NASA has put forth in the past few years.
The film opened to a modest first weekend box office of 8 million USD.
Reviews were mixed, with negative reactions outnumbering positive ones.
The film is rated PG in America for some violent content. |
