The Nativity Story

My wife and I drug ourselves to the movies Friday night to see The Nativity Story. I say ‘drug’ sincerely. We were not particularly drawn to the concept, we were not attracted by the previews, we have plenty of experience with ‘bad’ religious themed movies, and we already knew how the story ended. What drama is there in that?

The one positive attraction was the fact that the screenwriter’s previous credits were for some films that we have found all pretty entertaining. (Finding Forrester, The Rookie, and Radio. If you’ve seen those films, you know the common theme is sports: basketball, baseball, and football, in that order. Made me wonder what sport Jesus or Joseph would play!)

I felt that I needed to go, and so dragging Barb along, we went.

I actually liked the film. It was not as dull as I expected (that is a backhanded complement – imagine someone telling me, “I liked your sermon; it wasn’t at all as dull as I expected.”) It did a very good job of humanizing Joseph and Mary and the people around them. The drama of a teenage pregnancy and of a murderous tyrant does invite some good content, and we were rewarded. The acting is good, the characters convincing.

The film stumbles when it tries too hard to play into the traditional nativity conventions, however. The ‘wise’ men are comic characters on camels who don’t seem all that wise. The scenes of them, and of Joseph and Mary traveling are drawn out and slow. The gathering around the stable is too sentimental and seems like it belongs on one’s mantel and not on the screen.

But I’m being too harsh. Barb and I left the theater having enjoyed what we saw, even though we knew the ending.

So, if you will see only one movie this Christmas, see… Stranger than Fiction. However, if you squeeze in two, you might consider this one.