Movie Review: The Nativity Story

I really liked it. (Obviously we all know the story, so I won't sum it up.) I think we all think about how unbelievable this whole first Christmas thing must have seemed to Mary and Joseph. This movie does a good job capturing what it may have been like. It's a movie, so of course they've tweaked a few things, but then, the story in the Bible is only a few chapters long. We can only speculate as to what it was really like. This movie stays pretty true to what we know, quoting a lot of verses, including Old Testament prophesies.

Seeing Mary in this movie, I couldn't help but think, 'Oh, this poor little girl! How scary would all this have been to her?' I really liked her relationship with Elizabeth. Elizabeth would've been the only one to believe her right away, and I think this movie showed the importance of Mary having someone who understood. This movie also did a good job at showing that Jospeh was a good man. I liked how their relationship developed, too.

The only real problem I had with it was that the angel (they had the same angel for all the appearances in the story) was kind of creepy - especially when he was speaking to Mary. And he really didn't look like any angel I've ever seen, so it was a little hard to believe he could be one. Oh, and I also thought it was a bit overdramatic when they were crossing the river. Those are small things, though, which really don't take anything away from it.

Oh, and I liked that the people looked Jewish, Mary was young, Joseph was older, and that little Jewish details were thrown in there, like Mary touching the mezzuzah (small case where a parchment on which Deut. 6:4 is written) on the doorframe and then kissing her hand as she enters her house.

It's nice to watch a movie of the real Christmas story. I recommend it.