The Nativity Story

My wife and I have just returned from the preview of The Nativity Story. It is a must see for everyone. Excellent in every way (for a Hollywood production)

I started off skeptical (I know, you can hardly believe that) I tried to be offended by the "great spirit" way in which the Holy Spirit was portrayed. And I wanted to be offended by what I, at first, saw as a "flirty" portrayal of Mary. But my wife turned to me and said that, "she was very young and she just wanted to go play with her friends."

Then I saw the mastery of the writers. They set up Mary to want to be normal, and then showed her to be a (reluctantly at first) submissive, modest, and humble woman. Submissive to the Holy Spirit and submissive to her parents. Nice !

This began to draw me in. The settings were superb. The costuming was excellent and even educational. Even the scenery was full of good detail. (Except they showed the temple in reverse a few times, but now I am picking nits. Few in the audience would know the difference and this way the ignorant would know it was the temple. ) I saw a machine that was used to move big blocks of stone (to build Herod's stuff) It was very believable. The houses, the scenes of families at night, sleeping all together in one room, the scenes of family meals, were all very accurate to the times. Even King Herod's family was shown to sit around a common meal and partake with their hands.

The detail was astounding. Even the preparing and marketing of goods was quite accurate to the times. The entire movie is full of little insights into the life and times of Mary and Joseph.
They are deeply troubled and saddened by the behavior of others towards them during their predicament. The time Mary spends with her Aunt Elizabeth (John the Baptists mother) is precious.

Another example of detail is the staging of people walking through the wilderness on narrow paths in ever increasing numbers as they traveled to Jerusalem for the feasts. (It would have been great if the director had included the group singing of a couple of the Psalms of Ascents )

The details you learn about the "Wise Men" more than make up for a few liberties. Few have heard the meaning of "Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh" but you will in the film. And who would have ever thought about the shepherds life as a solitary one, and thus, when they heard the glad tidings, they independently walked to the place of Jesus birth? I don't know about you, but I have always thought them to all be sitting around a fire or something and leaving in a group to visit Jesus. What a night that must have been ! With glory all around the silent dark countryside.

The movie comes out on Dec. 4th. Let others know. Take your parents and kids. My thoughts at the end of the movie were, " You did a great job. Now, when are you going to tell the rest of the story?" They definitely had the sensitivity and talent to tell the whole story of Jesus like nobody has before.