The Nativity Story

Well, I finally broke down and saw The Nativity Story yesterday. I'd been kinda avoiding it because all too often movies like this foul things up just enough to irritate me. This one was no exception. I'm glad I only paid matinee prices for it.

Up front - a few positives:

While I personally detest the story, I appreciated the movie not avoiding the slaughter of the innocents. It began and ended with this horror 'tale' that occurs in conjunction with the birth of Jesus, and is one that the lectionary occasionally skips and pastors often tend to avoid. I've preached on it a few times, but don't go out of my way to do so.

I also believe the movie gave a somewhat reasonable, if truncated, picture of what things might have been like for both Mary and Joseph once it was obvious that Mary was 'with child' and it wasn't Joseph's. Even though I'm acutely aware that Mary was a poor, unwed mother, I tend to gloss over the social implications of the day, and the bible doesn't make much mention of it either. It was helpful to see some of the cultural expectations played out as a reminder that Mary's lot wasn't an easy one, yet it was one she accepted without any more hesitation than a "How?" question.

And it did answer for me the question of how a single, teenage girl could travel from Nazareth to her cousin Elizabeth's. While I'd figured she'd found someone to travel with on those dangerous roads, it was nice to see that played out, in both directions.

Now to my grouses:

According to the movie's timeline, a span of one year occurred from the time that Zechariah came out of the Temple mute to the point where Herod's soldiers began their reign of terror in Bethlehem and its surrounds. As I read my bible, the biological math doesn't quite work out. Either that, or Jesus was extremely premature - and they didn't have neonatal units in the local hospital in those days!

Here's the biblical timeline: the angel announces to Mary that she's gonna have Jesus, and as proof that this is possible, says that even now Elizabeth is six month's pregnant. Even if Mary becomes pregnant right that second, that puts her at only month six when Jesus is born and the slaughter occurs, according to the movie. Don't you just love interpretive license?

Then there's Herod. In the movie, he's pretty prophetically astute, even to the point of obsession. If you take a gander at scripture, he's not even aware of the possibility of a messiah in his time until the magi come on the scene. And even then, he has to sic his local religious experts on it to determine where this 'ersatz' king might be born. In the movie, about the only thing he gets wrong is that he should be looking for a baby, not an adult. There's no way he had enough info before the fact to set his soldiers out to target eligible males headed to Bethlehem in response to the census decree.

Then there are the poor magi. They've been set up as the 'comic relief', which is totally unfair! "What about my food?" "Bring it!" GAH!! These guys set out on one of the greatest faith journeys of all time, not knowing where they were going or how long it was going to take to get there. They packed their camels and took off after a star! Mind you, it was a singular star, not some anticipated convergence of three stars that would at the right moment. This little anachronism is one that slipped into the telling of the story.

I also wasn't impressed by the idea that the magi 'logic'-ed their way into avoiding Herod on the return trip. What would have been so wrong with having the warning arrive in a dream? God has been in the midst of this entire journey. Why abandon them at this very important juncture? Now, I'm not saying they couldn't have figured it out for themselves, but if you're planning to tell the biblical story, shouldn't you at least use the Bible to tell it?

Another grouse is a casting grouse. Zechariah and Elizabeth were supposed to be way past child-bearing years. The actor chosen for Zechariah ... well, maybe. However, I wouldn't have doubted the actress chosen to be Elizabeth having a baby for even a second. Perhaps if they'd gotten my grandma, I'd have believed the scenario. *shrug*
I realize the screenwriters were attempting to infuse some tension and excitement (?) into a story already fairly well known by most who'd see it. However, having Herod's soldiers come in the front door, so to speak, as Joseph and all fled out the back was a bit unrealistic. Herod was a crafty sort, but I'm still reasonably sure that it took him more than a few hours to realize that the magi had given him the slip and headed home via a different route. It most likely would have taken him a few weeks, if not months, to become aware of their 'treachery' (from his point of view, from theirs - he wasn't their ruler) and set his response in motion.

There were other things which were just touches which set sideways with me; however, the biggies ran rough-shod over the positives. And just from an aesthetic point of view, my local theater was having some sound difficulties which kinda set one's teeth on edge!

I will end with a positive, though. I did appreciate the time spent showing the difficulty of the trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It's not a handy one day's distance between them, and it was hazardous travel, even in groups. I have a quibble about how much of the trip they spent journeying alone. While I'm reasonably sure most people tended to live near the homes of their ancestors, a significant number of Hebrews had been relocated through various exiles and diasporas. The number of those headed to Bethlehem was probably greater than the dribble shown, especially since scripture tells us there wasn't any room at the inn, and family would have gone to ancestral homes, which were probably filled to the rafters. Gee, that didn't sound like a positive comment at all! Yet the journey was a rather difficult one, and the movie gave more than a nod of acknowledgment to the fact.

As one of my young members said, "I think I'll read the book."