The Nativity Story

Hey I just saw The Nativity Story with my family today.  And I’ve heard what the critics have said about it being rather staid and uninspired, but I liked it!   It was a very well done movie.  I’m not a film critic; just an average movie-goer, and I liked it.  It was historically and Biblically accurate.  They filled in some of the back stories on Herod and the Magi, but it was very believable.  It seemed to match what we know of the history of the time.  

 

    Yes, they didn’t do anything surprising, but so what?  How much can you mess with the Gospel, and still be accurate?  They kept the traditional three wise men, and their names.   But they showed some very interesting scenes of the wise men trying to search the Scriptures, the stars, and their ancient documents to learn of the newborn king.  They also used the three star theory of the mother and father star coming together towards the kingship star.  I found it interesting, even if it was conjecture.  

 

    The setting of life in Nazareth seemed very accurate and historical, as well as the characters that dwelled there.  There was not a lot of excessive dialogue, which allowed one to dwell on the meaning of the events taking place.

 

    I heard one cynical critic say of this movie, “The Nativity Story was inspired by a miracle -- the $600 million dollars Mel Gibson made on The Passion of the Christ.”  But for my part, I liked this movie a lot.  I think that for Christians, we are so hungry for some Biblically-accurate, and well-done movies that represent faith and history accurately, that we should be flocking to this movie in droves.   It was good, historical, Biblically-accurate with good acting and some moving scenes.  Go see it.

 

Dr. Bill Miller