Review: The Nativity Story

For all the Hallmark Seasonal movies and ranting about Die Hard, "The Nativity Story" is a movie that I often find overlooked when people list their Must-See Christmas Movies.

It's not entirely surprising. This was an Indie movie with a small budget, with a relatively unknown director and cast. Despite that, The Nativity Story is one of those films that shows how much you can do with a small budget, if you also have creativity and a willingness to put in the work.

While it may not have stuck in collective memory the way that Die Hard or The Grinch did, it's a movie that I keep coming back to each year, along with The Muppet Christmas Carol.

The Plot

If your familiarity with the Nativity story begins and ends with the plays and scenes that start popping up everywhere in mid-October, you'd be forgiven for thinking that there were only three people involved. Someone on the writing team, however, clearly had a background in religous study, because The Nativity Story brings in the origins of John the Baptist, Herod and the Massacre of the Holy Innocents, the Wise Men and the Shepherds visited by the angel.

The Nativity Story opens with the Massacre of the Holy Innocents, then flashes back to a year earlier, to Zecheriah and Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, parents of John the Baptist. Next, we visit Nazareth, and are introduced to Mary and Joseph.

Plotlines interweave as Herod intends to find (and kill) the prophesised Messiah, the Wise Men follow the star for months on what must have at times seemed a fools errand, and Mary and Joseph make the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

The journey culminates in Bethlehem, Mary going into labor as they pass the gates, and Joseph frantically seeking anywhere that can take them, finally finding it in a manger.

This brings the film full circle as we return to the Holy Innocents, the Flight into Egypt, and one of the best closing sequences in film.

The Good

The Nativity Story is a masterpiece of Indie Cinema, and the director, Catherine Hardwicke, deserves full credit for making a lot out of very little.

She has something of a reputation for doing her best work by utilizing body language, costuming, camera angles and lighting as storytelling mediums in their own right, rather than just relying on actors and a script. You don't have to spell out every last detail, if the audience can visually distinguish those things for themselves. Catherine also has a knack for picking the best actors for the role, rather than relying totally on star-power, and a surprising amount of talent, if they didn't quite get their big break from her, got enough visibility to be considered for the later role that shot them to stardom.

The soundtrack is mostly subtle, blending perfectly with the mood and tension of the moment, interspaced with hymns, something not unlike Gregorian Chant, and background choiral music. I really can't describe it better than saying that whoever wrote the score deserves all the awards currently in existance.

The costumes take historical accuracy up to a new level, rather than the Renaissance Bible Fanart illustrations most of us are familiar with. They don't stick to a single style, either, but show the meld of cultures on the road and in the city, from the lavishness of Herod's court to the practicality of a small village. Even in relatively homogenous settings, the characters stick our for the subtle clothing distinctions in ways you rarely see outside of high-end Theatre productions.

There is a lot going on in this movie, but where it really shines is in breathing Humanity and life into events that are usually dry and heavily summarised. The Nativity Story really emphasises that while Jesus is the Son of God, he is also the son of Mary and Joseph, whose relationship is also given far more consideration than the usual road of being a foregone conclusion.

(Fun Fact: Joseph is the patron saint of Fatherhood, and while he is often overlooked or treated as an afterthought in most adaptations, this movie gives him the depth he deserves.)

Your mileage may vary, but I really liked that the movie explicitly showed the Archangel Gabriel coming to Mary, and her consenting to become the Mother of God and all it entails, rather than being a passive figure.

I also loved that it didn't shy away from what this meant for Mary, newly betrothed and about to present a pregnancy to a husband who knows he isn't responsible, or Joseph, who the Angels didn't think to forewarn. In the Bible verse Matthew 1:19, Joseph resolves to divorce her quietly, rather than expose Mary to public disgrace by accusing her of adultery, but again, the film goes into more detail, exploring what this really means for both of them.

Mary: Even my cousin Elizabeth has born a son in her old age.

Joachim: Elizabeth has a husband!

In fact, it's this quiet struggle, and Joseph's active decision to claim Mary's child as his, that brings them from near-strangers to husband and wife. It's acted out more through staging and body language than dialogue; in the softening of their postures toward each other and the increasing openness with each other, contrasted with the way the other characters grow quiet and closed-off around them.

There's also a honestly beautiful conversation between them, filled with hope and wonder and vulnerability and fear.

Joseph: The Angel came to me, and told me that the child in you was concieved by the Holy Spirit, and I should not be afraid.

Mary: Are you afraid?

Joseph: Yes. Are you?

Marty: Yes.

Mary: Do you ever wonder when we'll know?

Joseph: Know?

Mary: When he is more than just a child. That he is the Son of God. Will it be something he says? A look in his eyes?

Joseph: I wonder if I will even be able to teach him anything.

This is something rarely acknowledged: that they're going to spend at least 12 years raising the Immanuel, God incarenate. What are they going to do when the Messiah has opinions about his bed-time, or eating his vegetables? Jesus is their son, but also so much more.

Oscar Isaac and Keisha Castle-Hughes really kill it in their roles here, not as the wise saints they eventually were venerated as, but as a young couple uncertain about the monumental task ahead of them, but determined to face it together.

For all the seriousness and drama, it's paced well and broken up by some genuinely funny moments. Even then, the humor is natural, and doesn't seem out of place or forced.

(Two Wise Men are crossing an expanse of desert, after the third has refused to join them)

Balthasar: "I don't miss him."

Melchior: "Nor do I."

(Bells jingle on a camel's reign, as Gaspar rides past them)

Gaspar: "You forgot the map."

The Bad

It's ironic, given that I just finished raving about The Nativity Story's greatest strength being it's attention to detail, but one of the biggest critical complaints was that the storyline had too much attention to detail, to the point of dragging the pacing.

I can admit, the critics do have a point there: I can think of half a dozen scenes with the side-plots, and even a few with the main characters, that could have been shortened without negatively impacting the movie.

The accents bug me, too. In the movie's defence, The Nativity Story was released in 2006, only a few years post 9/11. Getting an entire cast of actors who looked mostly Middle-Eastern was an impressive feat; having them use Middle-Eastern accents would have ensured that the film never made it off the cutting room floor...

My Beloved, who I finally convinced to watch The Nativity Story with me, would like to register her objection that there was only one angel present, and the heavens were not lit up by angels singing, and that Baby Jesus didn't have an umbilical cord.

I'll conceed those points, but maintain that if there was any movie that could get away with a miracle birth, it's probably this one.

Final Thoughts

Overall, The Nativity Story is the best and most enjoyable version I've watched so far.

The characters are treated respectfully, nothing is played purely for laughts, and gravitas and dramatic tension are balanced with moments of humor and warmth.

If you haven't watched this movie already, go do so.

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