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The Nativity Story
by Julia Thompson
Saturday I took a walk around downtown Walnut Creek during peak holiday shopping mayhem. In the course of the afternoon I was surprised to encounter more of the Christmas season than I expected. Long lines of ladies juggling shopping bags and rambunctious kids, and a gingerbread latte at Starbucks gave my festive mood and energy level a jumpstart. Then as I meandered through the outdoor plaza toward the movie theater a familiar tune piped over the speakers caught my attention…“Oh holy night the stars are brightly shining—it is the night of our dear savior’s birth…” In the minefield of “spiritual correctness” paranoia where Wal-Mart and other major retailers have been apprehensive to wish customers “Merry Christmas,” I wondered if anyone else was surprised to hear a Christmas song in public that mentions more than trees, reindeer and Santa.
I arrived at the movie theater and bought a ticket for The Nativity and joined a matinee crowd—mostly young families and older adults. When a preview for Charlotte’s Web used the tagline, “this holiday season give your family something to believe in,” I couldn’t help but brace myself for what mainstream Hollywood might do with a story central to Christian belief.
The Nativity’s telling of Christ’s birth opened with scripture from Jeremiah scrolling down the screen. With the exceptions of minor changes in timeline, and necessary character and dialogue elaboration, Catherine Hardwicke’s film stayed remarkably true to the Biblical account of Christmas.
Hardwicke managed to paint a picture of the turbulent, dangerous world of first century Bethlehem and Nazareth under the thumb of King Herod and Rome. From the bedlam of the streets of Jerusalem, crawling with entranced snake charmers and menacing soldiers to the poverty-stricken village where Mary’s family struggles to survive selling goat cheese, there is a tangible sense of the constant struggle to survive. Hardwicke gently gives the audience a taste of the threats Caesar’s ruthless tax collectors and Herod’s unpredictable desperate measures, not to mention the excruciating ordeal of primitive, dusty natural childbirth.
Despite some “gritty” elements, Nativity remains mild, tame and family friendly. Some critics have balked that the movie lacks energy and dynamism, and triggers Sunday School flashbacks. I have to admit that adults should be warned that Hardwicke’s film has some flannel board moments, but is that so bad? Maybe a simple, reverent account of the Christmas story geared toward families with children isn’t meant to pack the punch of the new Bond movie, or jarring images like Gibson’s Passion.
It was refreshing to see the nativity outside the context of a Christmas pageant or carved wooden figurines. While it is impossible to do justice to the birth of God in flesh on film, The Nativity is a good reminder that Christmas is not about a fairy tale—but a story of real human beings in a messy uncertain world. And who would have expected Hollywood to offer fare that tries to remind us frantic shoppers and decorators what all the songs, lights and sugar cookies are all about?
~ Used with permission from tothesource.org