Dir.
Catherine Hardwicke, US, 2006, 101 mins
Cast: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Shohreh Aghdashloo
Review by Carol Allen
This year we have a Nativity film for Christmas
in addition to any traditional school Nativity plays that
may have slipped through the increasingly politically correct
net.
Hardwicke, whose previous films (Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown)
have been concerned with dysfunctional teenagers is an interesting
choice of director and she does bring a sense of the reality
of everyday life to the story, particularly in the depiction
of the villagers of Nazareth and their daily lives.
At first thoughts, the film might look like it is going
to adopt the interesting concept of treating this as a story
without the supernatural element. In the beginning, when
the priest Zechariah (Stanley Townsend) hears the voice of
angel telling him that his wife Elizabeth (Aghdashloo) will
bear a child (John the Baptist), he could have been merely
hearing the voice in his own head, particularly as the beautiful
Aghdashloo doesn't look post-menopausal by today's standards
and might well have become pregnant the usual way.
But no, Mary does actually see the Angel Gabriel (Alexander
Siddig) and it is made very clear that she is a virgin.
However, the film is, for a while, the story of a teenage
girl, who has a very real problem in dealing with her family's
reaction to her pregnancy, until eventually they believe
her. This element is not discarded when the villagers start
whispering about this apparent scandal in their midst, but
the traditional supernatural element increasingly predominate
as the film proceeds.
At times it is as though Renaissance paintings of scenes,
such as Mary on a donkey with Joseph leading or the Holy
Family in the stable, have been brought to life and this
reviewer personally found the stable being bathed in a spotlight
from the heavenly star a bit over the top.
The film does however deal satisfyingly
with the question school children have been asking forever; “How did
Joseph react when he discovered his fiancŽe was pregnant?'” The
answer here in Isaac's engaging performance is in a very
human but kind and compassionate way (with a little help
from a dream).
Everyone goes on about what a good man he is, and Isaac
manages to present goodness as a strong and totally unsoppy
characteristic. He is in many ways the most interesting character.
Zechariah and Elisabeth have great dignity and the relationship
between Mary and Elisabeth, with the older woman protecting
and advising her young cousin, is very convincing.
Keisha Castle-Hughes is a very real
teenage girl in the earlier scenes, though once she and
Joseph begin the journey, her serenity sometimes lapses
into passivity. The massacre of the innocents, which opens
the film, is powerful and horrific, though Ciaran Hinds
has a bit of a clichŽ part to play
as Herod, one of history's villains. And of course a Jewish
villain, which could conceivably upset the Jewish community,
but as the Holy Family are also very obviously Jewish, the
one should balance the other one out here.
It is all very respectful and should not upset traditional
Christians in any way. Indeed it should please in terms of
confirming any belief in the traditional story and provides
an appropriate film for the Christmas season.
This reviewer would personally have preferred a more ambiguous,
perhaps agnostic interpretation of the scriptures, where
John and Jesus might or might not have been supernaturally
conceived as the fulfilment of the prophecy. That would however
be controversial as far as Christians are concerned, whereas
this should succeed well in capturing the audience for whom
it is intended.
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