The Nativity Story (2006)

You won't be disappointed!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I'm not going to discuss the plot of this movie since probably most people interested in seeing it know the whole story and have heard it a couple hundred times. Instead, I'll talk about what I think it did well and poorly in. The strongest point in this film in my opinion was how the characters were humanized. We get to see a lot of the emotional struggles that Joseph and Mary and Mary's family went through during this time in their lives, which is good because that's something that I feel isn't addressed enough. Mary is still the spiritually flawless person that the Church reveres her as, but she is still definitely human in this film as well and clearly experiences a wide range of emotions that the audience can relate to. The same is true for Joseph, and his character is developed throughout as he learns how to become a father and husband. The wise men are touched upon throughout and provide a small amount of comic relief. King Herod and his son are also included and have a side story of sorts.Another big factor is the scripting. Most of the behind the scenes sequences that are kind of synthesized by the filmmakers are well scripted, but problems arise when the screenwriters have to include iconic lines straight from the Bible. It's kind of necessary for the movie since, well it's a Bible story, but I wish they didn't have to use the lines from scripture because almost all of them seemed really forced and out of place.The biggest detracting point that I see in the film is the dramatic sequences. Some of them were just fine and well executed like the slaughtering of the the infants and the scene where Mary goes into labor. However, the scenes where the Roman soldiers rush into Nazareth and are all intimidating could probably have been left out. They didn't contribute at all to the story and even resulted in some bad acting from a few nameless characters. This also ties in a bit with Herod's side story since most of the times he is seen before being visited by the wise men don't contribute to his character or the story. I think showing the end at the beginning with him and his son was good, but they could have cut down on the number and or length of his other appearances. In terms of technical specs, I felt like the casting was good with the accents that are evident but not so strong that you can't understand them. The lighting was good throughout, though I'm not really sure why I noticed that. You could make a case against the quality of the acting, but it should be satisfactory for anyone that isn't scrutinizing it too much.It's not a bad family film. The infant slaughterings and two childbirth scenes are relatively intense, but all are fairly brief and are minimally graphic. If you hate Christian films, this is better than most of them, though it still might be irritating to watch. It doesn't have the same quality that The Passion of the Christ does, but neither is it made poorly like some Christian movies (e.g. Courageos, Facing the Giants, and Letters to God) all of which have terrible stories and let the religiousness of their films limit them to an unholy degree. Since I'm not going to review any of these movies, I may as well put this out there now: If you're making a fictional inspirational film, make sure that it's a good movie before putting any inspiration into it and don't be religiously affiliated. The two reasons to not being religiously affiliated are 1. Religious plots are usually not good unless religion is a minor factor like in Angels and Demons or The Last Crusade and 2. By being religiously affiliated you won't be able to include any kind of profanity or anything controversial beyond a PG level, which severely limits your credibility, plot, and characters. Sorry if that last bit was too off topic. Overall Rating 8/10.

The Nativity Story is Biblical feature in which Keisha Castle-Hughes stars opposite Oscar Isaac in director Catherine Hardwicke's dramatic account of the Annunciation, and the arduous journey of Mary and Joseph to give birth to baby Jesus. This feature is a remarkable, if frustratingly restrained, act of imagining the tale of Christ's birth as a flesh-and-blood drama actually set in Israel two millenia ago.It makes very strong impressions in a scene-by-scene way beginning with the slaughter of Bethlehem's innocents under orders from a paranoid King Herod,it then jumps back a year to the prophecy that informs Zechariah that his wife, Elizabeth, will bear a child. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's cousin, the adolescent Mary, struggles with her family to make ends meet and is promised to the carpenter Joseph. Soon comes word to Mary, via an angel, that she will carry, while still a virgin, the long-awaited Messiah who will liberate the Jews from Herod and his Roman benefactors. Thus begins a detailed account of Joseph and Mary's hard travel to Bethlehem, while three Magi spend months crossing the desert trying to rendezvous with some point below the convergence of three heavenly bodies in the night sky. Hardwicke and Rich anchor all this in period detail, though what proves most moving are relationship nuances, especially the friendship and trust that emerge between Mary and Joseph after he is told in a dream that she speaks truthfully about her miraculous pregnancy.This is a beautiful depiction of the account of Jesus' birth.It should appeal to anyone as a straightforward narrative.It is far from a secular version of the familiar Biblical tale, and thus feels a bit repressed. It might have been nice if it could have breathed a little more with imagination, but it makes up for it by ingeniously weaving hints of things to come, later in Christ's life, into the action.Also worth noting is the director's strives for authenticity in telling the Gospel's most treasured tale.

When I heard about this movie, my immediate thought was finally a movie about the birth of Christ. No Santa Claus, no trees, or Christmas carols. Its the true story of Christmas. I was amazed that this crew pulled it off and they did it very good. The setting was perfect, the story followed accordingly to the bible scriptures, the acting was good. Kiesha Castle Hughes portrayed Mary very well. She had the character look down pat and she delivered the dialogue with a good sense of passion and grace. Oscar Isaac did a great job portraying Joseph. He had the look down perfectly and capitalized on bringing the true couple of Mary and Joseph to life on the silver screen. Overall, for a movie that portrayed a good bible story was pretty good. I thought it could have been a little better but for a first time attempt to bringing this tale to life, its acceptable.

This is a fine portrayal based on early existence of Mary (Keisha Castle Hughes), and Joseph(Oscar Isaac). A story well known and sacred that starts when birth of Jesus is announced to Mary by Angel Gabriel (Alexander Siddig). Meanwhile is also announced future birth of John the Baptist from the old couple Elizabeth (Shoreh) and Zechariah (Townsend). Mary learns from the angel Gabriel that she will conceive and bear a child called Jesus. When she asks how this can be, since she is a virgin, he tells her that the Holy Spirit would "come upon her" and that "nothing will be impossible with God". She responds: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word".At the beginning Joseph is suspicious when Mary announces the blessed news but later is informed by an Angel.At the time that Mary is due to give birth, she and her husband Joseph travel from their home in Nazareth about 150 kilometres (90 miles) south to Joseph's ancestral home in Bethlehem to register in the census ordered by Herodes the Great (Ciaran Hinds). Meanwhile three Magician Kings Melchior(Nadim), Gaspar (Kalipha) and Bathasar (Eriq) are looking for Jesus, Son of God. Having found no place for themselves in the inn, Joseph and Mary meet a man who gives the couple a place in his stable. Mary gives birth to Jesus she places the newborn in a manger .Meantime an angel of the Lord visits the shepherds guarding their flocks in nearby fields and brings them "good news of great joy": "to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord." The angel tells them they will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger. The angel is joined by a "heavenly host" who say "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!".The shepherds hurry to the manger in Bethlehem where they find Jesus with Mary and Joseph. They repeat what they have been told by the angel, and then return to their flocks.This agreeable film focuses the Nativity story in a realist style but also accompanied with beautiful images, as there are shafts of lights, wonderful clouds and extraordinary landscapes. It packs marvelous cinematography by Elliot Davis who reflects splendidly the ancient scenarios filmed at Italy and Morocco. Atmospheric and emotive musical score adding oriental sounds by Mychael Danna. The motion picture is well directed Catherine Hardwicke who formerly directed 'Thirteen' and 'Lords of Dogtown' and subsequently would achieved a lot of success with 'Twilight'.