Awww, the Holiday Season. It is a time for Hollywood to give something back to massive audiences that made it what it is today, that is, crappy Christmas comedies. Year after year, we are guaranteed at least two of two of these would-be masterpieces but only a few actually succeed in becoming a holiday tradition. Movies like "A Christmas Story" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" break the mold with the former being played on TBS nonstop for 24 hours every Christmas Eve. This year's volley of holiday cash-ins includes "The Santa Clause 3' and "Deck the Halls."
But there is a light in the darkness, so to speak. There is one seasonal film that strays from this comedy mold: "The Nativity Story." As the name suggests, this film goes the religious route and it is hard to make a religious comedy. The two genres just don't blend well together, except for in the case of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and I believe that was purely unintentional.
"The Nativity Story" is a G-rated account of what happened leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ before all the guilt laden blood and sacrifice of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." The story begins in Jerusalem where we see a visibly distraught King Harod (Ciaran Hinds) and his men rampaging through the town upsetting the peasants. The camera shots over a towering Jerusalem at night are breathtaking. Then the movie shifts back to one year earlier and we learn the cause of his vicious mood.
However, anyone familiar with the Bible will obviously know what is bothering him. In fact, even those who have never read the Bible firsthand will most likely have heard the famous story involving Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men and others. Thankfully the movie tells this classic story in a visually entertaining manner so even though we know how it will end, it does not get boring.
The movie is filmed with a filter that dulls many of the colors, making them void of any vibrancy. The achieved effect makes the movie hard to date, thanks in part to the lack of special effects. The grainy visuals naturally work well with the desert setting of much of the movie and successfully avoided any chance of the film looking too flaky in its message.
Unfortunately the stereotypical dry portrayal of the villains in this movie left much to be desired. They both spend most of the movie dressed in all black attire and they present dialogue in a slow conniving monotone. They are the quintessential bad guys, both sporting flashy perms in an effort to show off their cultured evil. Damn that's smooth.
The Three Wise Men (Nadim Sawalha, Eriq Ebouaney, and Stefan Kalipha) of the film play out like a wiser aged version of the Three Stooges. There is no slapstick of which the latter are known for to be found here but they are used as the only source of humor in the otherwise serious film. Every scene involving the three includes a humorous quip or action usually with one wise man belittling another (all very lighthearted, of course).
Teenaged Keisha Castle-Hughes, the young star of "Whale Rider," plays Mary, and did really well with her pivotal role as the mother of Christ. She reeked with the very essence of innocence in every scene in which she was featured. Her hopeful and partially na've eagerness while on her journey to Bethlehem with husband Joseph (Oscar Issac) kept the movie encouraging without seeming too flowery. Mary and Joseph did not seem too unbelievably joyful that they would be parenting the son of God but rather slightly confused and scared.
"The Nativity Story" offers itself as a story of hope and perseverance for those who are getting sick of the average holiday comedy. Viewers who do not consider themselves religious can enjoy this captivating film without being threatened too hard with a message of faith or hell.
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