reviewed by John Murphy
The First Noel
The Nativity Story begins with the melancholy strains of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and proceeds quickly to the Massacre of the Innocents. Not exactly the Hallmark version of Christmas one might have expected. Catherine Hardwicke, director of the hard-hitting teen drama, Thirteen, immediately establishes a tone of tasteful realism in the opening sequences that nods to The Passion of the Christ’s more brutal treatment of Biblical material.
The story of Christ’s birth—from the angel’s annunciation to the humble manger—is so familiar by now that it would seem to defy surprise in a retelling. And, for the most part, that is true of the Nativity Story, directed by Hardwicke’s in a style so restrained as to border on soporific. Yet it is essential to the film’s success that it stays faithful to it source and does not attempt any revisionist variations on the events. In this film, angels are angels, Mary is the Blessed Virgin, and Christ is the Son of God. That may not seem like so much to ask, but our current culture’s poisonous atmosphere of cynicism, skepticism and materialism offers no guarantee that even a religious film will portray religion in a positive light.