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A Realistic Spin on a Timeless Story, 23 November 2006

Author: John Ruffle from London, England

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The Nativity Story: Don't miss it - its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. Here's my 17 year-old daughter's review hot from a 23rd November 2006 London preview, so this is a typical teenage take on the new release. "The film has a realistic spin", she told me shortly after exiting the theatre, "but toward the end it got so overdone; like the old Christmas films with a star shining through a hole in the roof of the stable scenario. The wise men appear right there in the stable, on the same night Jesus was born, and lo and behold, there were three of them!" (Contrary to popular myth, the Bible never does mention the number of wise men.) "The film was well paced at the beginning," she agreed, "but toward the end, it seemed rushed, like they had to finish off the 100 minutes of screen time." This may reflect the tight production schedule – how many movies make it from a blank piece of paper to world-wide theatrical release in 12 months? An amazing accomplishment by any standard.

Asked about the humour angle, my daughter thinks that it "..could have done with a little humour; yes, the wise men did add some comedy flavour, but it wasn't that funny". Also, she didn't like the name, the title reminding her of "...every single nativity film you're ever likely to see." For me, however, the title is simple and straight-forward - just like the movie, which she rates at around 7/10. The IMDb rating linked to this piece reflects my own unashamedly generous rating (especially in light of the clear anti-Christian bias evident in some reviews of this production).

Interesting that I had to remind my daughter who Keisha Castle-Hughes is, (both these beautiful young women are around the same age as it happens), but she made the connection in the end, and thinks Keisha turned in a quite tidy, understated performance. For me, although the film does show evidence of being rushed through production, (especially the final act), I do take my hat off to Mike Rich, for turning out that screenplay in one month, start to finish, and to Catherine Hardwicke for actually getting this to the screen for Christmas 2006.

Regardless of how she rates the finished screen-time, at least my daughter got to see "The Nativity Story" several days earlier than Pope Benedict XVI and a theatre full of cardinals for its Vatican world premier. (Note: the pope was in Turkey at the time, so didn't actually see it at all!) My take on the film is that it brings us back to the time when one could openly be thankful for that quite amazing birth so long ago, and not have to make apologies to be politically correct. Whether one believes or not, certainly a history-changing event. I do hope that this rendition on the big screen does well at the box-office. It deserves to, because despite the title, and while it stays rooted to the ancient religious drama genre, it simply isn't like any other nativity film you're ever likely to see!

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