Review of The Nativity Story (2006) by Mirzel T — 05 Apr 2011

This movie was better than I had expected. They interpreted the Bible story of Jesus birth almost exactly how is was told and happened. I have seen movies on Jesus birth and his life but seeing this movie and how the interpreted the story was interesting and portrayed very nicely.

It was interesting how at the Beginning they showed how Herrod wanted so badly to stop the prophecy from coming true that he had all boys killed, and he was so happy with him self that he thought he has actually stopped it from coming true. It then starts with Mary and her life and through out the movie you get glimpses of what is going on with King Herrod and the Wise Men, how Mary learns of her pregnancy and that she is to be married to Joseph.

Seeing how Mary was told by an angel that she was to give birth to a son, and had a bit of doubt but yet still believed anyways was very inspiring. Because even though she did doubt it since she had not been with a man she still believed anyways, because she trusted her faith and trusted in God. When she cam back home from visiting her cousin Elizabeth seemed like the climax because it makes you wonder what Joseph, her family, and the town will do to her when they see that she is with child. Seeing that Joseph was so merciful with her and did not take her to trial was something new, he accepted her and the child and when he had a vision from an angel that he was to claim the child of his own and call him Jesus he could not longer be mad at Mary.

Watching them travel and seeing how hard it must have been to not only pull a donkey, but also pull a donkey with a pregnant wife on a difficult terrain was not easy and took some strength. Then so see his sacrifice of walking and walking so that his wife would not have to so that she could ride the donkey, showed so much love as did when he saved her from the rushing river after she was thrown from the donkey.

In this movie you see so much sacrifice and love and passion, and how they are so certain that out of the thousands of children in the world theirs is the one who will save all of man kind. I think that the plot of the story is of the sacrifice that they both make to bring this child into the world, Mary makes the sacrifice to carry and give birth to the Lord, her Lord, who also sacrifices her reputation to let others think so low of her. But for Joseph who was merciful to not take her to trial, but also lied about the child being his and did not make her walk while she was pregnant and saved her from a rushing river.

Another point that may be considered a climatic point is when King Herrods Soldiers are sent into Bethlehem to kill every son below the age of two and they barely escape from them just in time that they are not their when the soldiers arrive.

Even though I have read the story of Jesus and seen many movies, I did not know what the terrain would be like that they would be traveling on. Nor how many days it would take to reach Bethlehem, I imagine that if it took over 105 maybe more, to reach the Holy City that it may have taken them a couple of weeks to a month, but they only had a month to get to their home town to register.

It was a good movie and good to see it in such a different way and to experience it in a completely different way. You can also see that they paid close attention to the traditional laws of the Jews and the Hebrews, and the traditional clothes and shoes. They used traditional homes and tried to make it as realistic as possible, from the clothes, hair, the land, the homes, and animals and even the money.