I saw The Nativity the theatre with my wife – my pops picked up AJ and took him and his cousins to Chuck E. Cheese’s. We had originally intended on watching the supposed snuff film Apocalypto, but due to time constraints were unable to make the right showing to be back in time. The only show worth watching that was playing on our schedule was Nativity, so we watched.
One thing I’ll say right off the top – if you’re expecting something as powerful as Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, then don’t see this movie. Don’t get me wrong, it has it’s moments, but it’s not there by a longshot. It’s clearly not written from a Christian perspective, playing heavy on the Magi and King Herod as main characters, and uses that well known Hollywood creative license with the recorded facts in the case. The exact lines that gave me this impression fail to come to mind, but I definitely came away with a “multiculturalized” feel from the movie.
Instead of remaining true to the timeline in the Bible, they re-arrange major details to make the film fit nicely into a two hour timeslot. It makes for a sappy Christmas card setting to portray the Magi appearing at the stable along with the shepherds on that first Christmas Eve as the movie presents it, but the Bible says the Magi visited and saw Jesus at "the house" where Joseph and Mary were residing. Most biblical scholars believe this was at least several months later, perhaps as much as ten to twelve months. This undoubtedly entered into Herod's decision to have all male children two years old and under killed "in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi." (Matt. 2:16)
But according to the movie's time line, why didn't Herod just have male babies two months old and under killed? Again, for some unknown reason, the movie gives us the impression that the Magi decided on their own not to return to King Herod. Not only would it have been more dramatic, but also biblically accurate if the movie would have shown the Magi telling us that they had been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, returning to their country by another route. It's a shame that the movie completely disregards this and inaccurately presents this as their own decision.
Cinematically speaking, the efforts to make the Magi amiable are well intentioned, it ends up just being a bit goofy. The gadgets they use in their astronomy/astrology efforts are comical and out of place in this film. Herod's character isn't developed well enough; he was a complex politician, and more insight into his actions would have been useful for the context of the story. Although Herod is generally believed to have been ruthless and barbaric in his efforts to maintain his sovereignty; the film goes overboard, making him a typical psycho stereotype. A few events at the end are compressed in their chronology, although that may be a plus, by showing all the visitors to the newborn Jesus simultaneously.
Overall, I would say that most of the flaws are a result of weak directing. At times it felt fragmented and in-cohesive as a story. I felt like I was watching a moving picture book rather than a movie. The film should have had much more impact than it did. As it is, it feels more of a sentimental story for those who know and love it. But as an evangelical tool that shows the world a glimpse of wondrous news, I believe it falls far short of its potential power.
/rizzn
