The Nativity Story

I waited until Christmas afternoon to see "The Nativity Story," thinking it would be an interesting day on which to see a movie that corresponded to the Christian celebration of Christ’s birth. Though the script clearly had some facts out of place (e.g., the wise men visited the Bethlehem birth site the same night the Savior was born in the movie version while the facts are quite different as Bible readers well know) the overall story line was quite well done. The roles of Mary and Joseph were well acted in my view. Mary displayed elements of honest fear, real doubt and then incredible trust, displaying exactly what you would expect to have happened to a young teen, who received such an announcement from an angel. And the response of people in Nazareth to her pregnancy was also quite well done and very believable. Furthermore, Joseph proved to be an honorable and decent man in a believable way.

Hollywood often misrepresents biblical narratives very badly but this movie gets things about right, if you can overlook the few minor historical mistakes made along the way. I believe this is the best big-screen film we have on the story of Jesus’ birth. I expect it will be watched again and again in years to come once it is available on DVD. I highly commend it to all ages.