Posted on 12/01/2006 5:42:28 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
Are you ready for “The Passion of the Christ: The Prequel”?
The self-explanatory “The Nativity Story” arrives at local theaters in time for the holidays, and it’s a sweet, live-action version of an elementary-school Christmas pageant.
The big story behind the scenes is that Australian Keisha Castle-Hughes, this film’s Blessed Virgin, is pregnant in real life at age 16, which is the kind of publicity money can’t buy. As Mary, she is young, strong and vulnerable, but her performance is a bit of a blank slate.
The action begins with a paranoid Herod ordering the murder of all Hebrew first-born male children to thwart a prophecy that a king will be born to take his place.
In flashbacks, Mary’s Aunt Elizabeth conceives a child at an advanced age, a child who will become Christ’s forerunner, John the Baptist, and Mary is visited by the semitransparent, wingless angel Gabriel Joseph, the industrious and handsome young carpenter, lives conveniently across the way from Mary.
Meanwhile, back in Persia, the three Magi - Melchior, Balthasar, and Shemp, I mean, Gaspar) - seem more like the THREE STOOGES than WISE MEN. They’re watching three heavenly bodies align and bickering over whether to mount a camel-borne expedition to the East.
The film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke has less in common with Pier Paolo Pasolini’s neorealistic landmark “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” (1964), Martin Scorsese’s controversial “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988) and Mel Gibson’s gore-splattered “The Passion of the Christ” (2004) than with the blandly earnest Hollywood biblical epics of the 1950s and ’60s. Screenwriter Mike Rich followed the leads provided in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
For her part, Hardwicke - who shot in southern Italy, where both Pasolini and Gibson preceded her - brings a refreshingly enlightened view of women’s roles and details the lives of her biblical characters. Mary’s mother, Anna, for example, makes and sells designer goat cheese, which she rolls in thyme, in the village.
The dialogue is in English and Hebrew and advances the plot, but does not reveal much about characters’ inner selves. The film’s climax relies too heavily on canned, choral music. The first of the expected offspring of “The Passion,” “The Nativity Story” is an after-Sunday-school special.
I hope Christians take the time to support this movie over the weekend when the media will be monitoring the turnout. I'm taking my mother to see it tomorrow.
The empty stridency of this review increases my interest in the movie.
I feel the same way. Hopefully, it will make money.
Ping
Here's hoping that we all live lives valuable enough to be condemned by the media for their "bland earnestness."
When was the last time an elementary school put on a Christmas pageant? If this were in schools today, Joseph would be gay, and Mary would be muslim.
Ping
exactly
How true!
26% Rotton Tomatoes rating.
Ping
Why?
Ping
I thought the previews looked very beautiful and compelling. They sure got me excited to see it, which is saying something.
It is probably aimed at family audiences, which is why the 'critic' (who I've never heard of) perceived it to be like films of the 50s and 60s. Not necessarily a bad thing.
I also think we need to be careful not to get so wrapped up in a frenzy over this movie that, if it is a poorly made film, we don't get sucked into advertising mania and reward a filmmaker for making bad art. Christians should support films like this, but they shouldn't be manipulated into seeing flms because of marketing.
I am going this evening to see it.
LOL, I love it!
I agree. It's great to have a family movie to see at this time of year.
Great! Are you getting your ticket in advance? It might be busy.
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