Posted on 12/04/2006 7:52:47 PM PST by Pyro7480
'The Nativity Story' Movie Problematic for Catholics, "Unsuitable" for Young Children
By John-Henry Westen
NEW YORK, December 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A review of New Line Cinema's The Nativity story by Fr. Angelo Mary Geiger of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in the United States, points out that the film, which opened December 1, misinterprets scripture from a Catholic perspective.
While Fr. Geiger admits that he found the film is "in general, to be a pious and reverential presentation of the Christmas mystery." He adds however, that "not only does the movie get the Virgin Birth wrong, it thoroughly Protestantizes its portrayal of Our Lady."
In Isaiah 7:14 the Bible predicts the coming of the Messiah saying: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." Fr. Geiger, in an video blog post, explains that the Catholic Church has taught for over 2000 years that the referenced Scripture showed that Mary would not only conceive the child miraculously, but would give birth to the child miraculously - keeping her physical virginity intact during the birth.
The film, he suggests, in portraying a natural, painful birth of Christ, thus denies the truth of the virginal and miraculous birth of Christ, which, he notes, the Fathers of the Church compared to light passing through glass without breaking it. Fr. Geiger quoted the fourth century St. Augustine on the matter saying. "That same power which brought the body of the young man through closed doors, brought the body of the infant forth from the inviolate womb of the mother."
Fr. Geiger contrasts The Nativity Story with The Passion of the Christ, noting that with the latter, Catholics and Protestants could agree to support it. He suggests, however, that the latter is "a virtual coup against Catholic Mariology".
The characterization of Mary further debases her as Fr. Geiger relates in his review. "Mary in The Nativity lacks depth and stature, and becomes the subject of a treatment on teenage psychology."
Beyond the non-miraculous birth, the biggest let-down for Catholics comes from Director Catherine Hardwicke's own words. Hardwicke explains her rationale in an interview: "We wanted her [Mary] to feel accessible to a young teenager, so she wouldn't seem so far away from their life that it had no meaning for them. I wanted them to see Mary as a girl, as a teenager at first, not perfectly pious from the very first moment. So you see Mary going through stuff with her parents where they say, 'You're going to marry this guy, and these are the rules you have to follow.' Her father is telling her that she's not to have sex with Joseph for a year-and Joseph is standing right there."
Comments Fr. Geiger, "it is rather disconcerting to see Our Blessed Mother portrayed with 'attitude;' asserting herself in a rather anachronistic rebellion against an arranged marriage, choosing her words carefully with her parents, and posing meaningful silences toward those who do not understand her."
Fr. Geiger adds that the film also contains "an overly graphic scene of St. Elizabeth giving birth," which is "just not suitable, in my opinion, for young children to view."
Despite its flaws Fr. Geiger, after viewing the film, also has some good things to say about it. "Today, one must commend any sincere attempt to put Christ back into Christmas, and this film is certainly one of them," he says. "The Nativity Story in no way compares to the masterpiece which is The Passion of the Christ, but it is at least sincere, untainted by cynicism, and a worthy effort by Hollywood to end the prejudice against Christianity in the public square."
And, in addition to a good portrait of St. Joseph, the film offers "at least one cinematic and spiritual triumph" in portraying the Visitation of Mary to St. Elizabeth. "Although the Magnificat is relegated to a kind of epilogue at the movie's end, the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth is otherwise faithful to the scriptures and quite poignant. In a separate scene, the two women experience the concurrent movement of their children in utero and share deeply in each other's joy. I can't think of another piece of celluloid that illustrates the dignity of the unborn child better than this."
See Fr. Geiger's full review here:
http://airmaria.com/
Dear xzins,
"The difficulty is that disagreement is regularly seen as being disagreeable whether intended or not."
I understand, but here's my problem with that statement.
There are folks here who are usually quite decorous even when disagreeing with others. And there are folks here who can't seem to post (at least about certain topics) without being insulting.
It really doesn't have as much to do with the topic of conversation, as it has to do with the efforts of the individual posters.
Some folks are usually rude (or are usually rude about specific topics), and should be banned. Other folks are not rude, generally speaking, although all of us slip once in a while.
It's just not that tough.
"But, as long as some are asked to be discreet in their opinions, then we have a potential problem."
One can disagree with discretion. There are posts here on this thread that are vulgar and border on obscenity. It shouldn't be so difficult to communicate one's viewpoint without showing oneself to be a vulgar buffoon.
The standards for ALL discussion herein should be higher.
On any given day, xzins, you manage to meet those higher standards. I don't see why others shouldn't.
sitetest
Nothing in the Bible identifies anyone except Jesus as a biological child of Mary. Absolutely nothing, not a single verse, nothing.
It mentions that Jesus had "brothers and sisters," but never calls those brothers and sisters children of Mary, and in fact specifically identifies their parents in some cases.
Amazing, and sad, how you can make dogmatic assertions without the tinest trace of Scriptural evidence for it.
I don't necessarily dispute that, although I think there was more to the pain of bringing forth chidren as foretold in Genesis. If it was just the pain of childbirth then the advent of epidurals would seem to indicate that we have moved on from that consequence of sin. While we're at it, please remember my SIL and my godson who will be making his first appearance tomorrow. Speaking of childbirth and all that. Great gift from St. Nick.
No, the pain of childbearing is a punishment, whatever that pain might be. Childbearing itself is a gift.
Also, Scripture has these same relatives rebuking Our Lord. If they were younger siblings, they would be breaking the tradition of the Jews. The fact that He also left His Mother with the Apostle John "seals the deal."
Prayers for health and happiness tomorrow. An excellent gift from St. Nick. Tomorrow is my birthday as well (don't forget to put your shoes outside of your bedroom door tonight!).
Did Baby Jesus not feel pain? Did He never cry?
Did the Child Jesus not feel pain? Did He never cry?
We know that adult Jesus felt pain, we know He cried. The shortest verse of the Bible is "and Jesus wept."
What changed?
Is that not unbelievable?? I'm sitting here thinking about what Christ means to the world. And how people are dying moment by moment not knowing Him, yet we sit and argue over something so stupid.
We'll have all these answers one day (not that we will really care, once we're in the presence of the Lord).
I'm sure Satan sits and laughs.
I find motherhood painful now. I don't know if I am doing right by daughters, seeing them cry when I tell them "no" not being able to understand my little one, and she gets so frustrated. They're both sick right now, and miserable, and I am so limited in what I can do for them. This is way harder than birth ever was.
And I know Mary was spared this pain. Although she saw her Son die, way worse than anything else.
You are conflatimg heresy and orthodoxy and claiming that is representative of Catholicsm. That seems an absurd, abusive, and dishonest approach to those of another Faith
I sure will, sister
I knew quite a few Reformed/Calvinist persons who rejected the Passion of Christ for that reason. I don't think that you could imagine how funny that strikes me (as a Catholic)...as if any portrayal of Our Lord or the gospels could be "too Catholic". ; )
A sagacity and truth bump to the top. I would include Augustine and Jerome as having a totally warped view of the subject matter as well. They set a whole lot of bad inclination in motion.
Whatever were they thinking?
Much thanks.
I was encouraging the middle name Nicholas. But they seem to think that Noah Nicholas does quite go. They might have a point.
And a Happy Birthday to you, CT-Freeper.
Explicitly praising celibacy and demanding it are two entirely different things. So your reply seems a strawman to me. This isn't about celibacy as divine provision or celibacy, or more to the point, chastity, as necessary if one is single. It's about a lot more than that.
don't forget the forerunner of Christ, John the Baptist
Anyone who says that the Church "demands" celibacy has already constructed a straw man.
-A8
That's an ad hom. :)
This will be my last post to this thread because I probably shouldn't have stopped here to begin with. The church says to it's seminarians, not it's converts who are already married, and if reports from Africa are true, not to some African priests either, if you want to be a priest you must take a vow of celibacy. Not chastity, as I understand it requires of its nuns, but celibacy. Now you can spin (ad hom!) that any way you'd like, but it won't pass the straight face test.
My Mother buried her 7-year old son and my brother when he was hit by his school bus and killed. The priests of the parish, who were nice enough and good enough men, could offer my Mother only the most perfunctory and rather useless thoughts and words.
As God would have it, a contrast was made ready: a Pentecostal Minister whose little girl had been a classmate of my brother's came to the wake. He and his five children, each just a head taller than the other, made a procession to my little brother's casket, and the minister's eyes filled with tears and he could hardly get any words out for my Mother, but he did more for her than the 3 priests in our parish combined. He understood what the priests could never understand: the gift that is the love of a woman and a man. The priests had nothing in the tank, because there was no possible way for them to fill their tanks.
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