[Wallace T.]

I believe the actress is of white Australian (and probably of British or Irish ancestry) and Maori descent. Her coloration might be similar to that of many Middle Easterners, but her features, which are a mix of Polynesian and northwest European, would be different from those of a typical Middle Easterner. (There is also the issue of the actress portraying Mary like a modern day spoiled teenager which is disconcerting and totally contrary to anything in the Bible or oral tradition. But I digress.)

Jews are, of course, the lineal descendants of Abraham and Sarah. However, despite the evident genetic linkage with the ancient Middle East, many Jews, including most in the United States, are European in appearance. Many of Israel's leaders have looked as if they would be more at home in Warsaw or Moscow than the Israel of Bible times.

[kosta50]

However, despite the evident genetic linkage with the ancient Middle East, many Jews, including most in the United States, are European in appearance. Many of Israel's leaders have looked as if they would be more at home in Warsaw or Moscow than the Israel of Bible times

Of course they do. Don't forget that a very large East European Jewish community comes from Khazars who are not Semitic but Caucasian. Then there are the Spanish Jews and the Ethiopian Jews with their own genetic lineage.

But we are talking about a girl who was came from a village in the heart of Israel, where little if any of the global gene pool mixing took place. If she looked anything out of the oridnary some mention would have been made.

Portraying her as a spoiled teenager is only insult to injury that completes the false impression that somehow people were always "just like us" and ethnically mixed and indistinct as we would like them to be.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Yes, perhaps for a typical Middle Easterner. My point is that she is not so foreign looking to be distracting, unless one is really picking nits. Is she clearly African, or Asian in features? No. As I wrote earlier, not all people are typical. Some have features a little outside their racial norm.

Keisha Castle-Hughes is no more difficult to accept in her role than Yul Brenner as the King of Siam, or Yun-Fat Chow for that matter, who while at least Asian, was clearly not Thai. Don't even get me started on Rex Harrrison.

By these standards Charlon Heston was couldn't play Moses or Ben Hur, all the British actors in the latter film were ill suited for Roman roles, as was Russell Crowe, and James Caviezel was a wretched choice to play Jesus, yet I can't recall any discussion of such at the time that film came out. Heck, we'd better skip Gone With the Wind since Clark Gable didn't speak with a Southern accent.