Posted on 12/01/2006 5:42:28 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
Are you ready for “The Passion of the Christ: The Prequel”?
The self-explanatory “The Nativity Story” arrives at local theaters in time for the holidays, and it’s a sweet, live-action version of an elementary-school Christmas pageant.
The big story behind the scenes is that Australian Keisha Castle-Hughes, this film’s Blessed Virgin, is pregnant in real life at age 16, which is the kind of publicity money can’t buy. As Mary, she is young, strong and vulnerable, but her performance is a bit of a blank slate.
The action begins with a paranoid Herod ordering the murder of all Hebrew first-born male children to thwart a prophecy that a king will be born to take his place.
In flashbacks, Mary’s Aunt Elizabeth conceives a child at an advanced age, a child who will become Christ’s forerunner, John the Baptist, and Mary is visited by the semitransparent, wingless angel Gabriel Joseph, the industrious and handsome young carpenter, lives conveniently across the way from Mary.
Meanwhile, back in Persia, the three Magi - Melchior, Balthasar, and Shemp, I mean, Gaspar) - seem more like the THREE STOOGES than WISE MEN. They’re watching three heavenly bodies align and bickering over whether to mount a camel-borne expedition to the East.
The film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke has less in common with Pier Paolo Pasolini’s neorealistic landmark “The Gospel According to St. Matthew” (1964), Martin Scorsese’s controversial “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988) and Mel Gibson’s gore-splattered “The Passion of the Christ” (2004) than with the blandly earnest Hollywood biblical epics of the 1950s and ’60s. Screenwriter Mike Rich followed the leads provided in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
For her part, Hardwicke - who shot in southern Italy, where both Pasolini and Gibson preceded her - brings a refreshingly enlightened view of women’s roles and details the lives of her biblical characters. Mary’s mother, Anna, for example, makes and sells designer goat cheese, which she rolls in thyme, in the village.
The dialogue is in English and Hebrew and advances the plot, but does not reveal much about characters’ inner selves. The film’s climax relies too heavily on canned, choral music. The first of the expected offspring of “The Passion,” “The Nativity Story” is an after-Sunday-school special.
I hadn't thought of it, but that is a good idea. Will call during my lunch break.
I want to check out if the Ritz Theater is showing the movie. I love their seating.
Ping
I'll have to see it at my local Regal.
I just called the theater. The running time is 1hour 55 minutes and it is rated PG.
If I go directly to the theater after work I should be able to make the 4:50PM showing.
Let me know what you think of the movie.
Ping
Are you and your wife going to see the movie?
I did not see The Passion when it first came out. My mother had just passed away and I was afraid that the film would be too emotional for me at that time.
Matter of fact a friend of mine who is a priest recommended that I hold up seeing it because of the intense emotions. I have seen it on video and he was right. It was a magnificent film but so emotional that I have not watched it since than. The scene with Mary running to pick up Jesus when he fell down had me crying out loud.
Absolutely.
My condolences on the death of your mother.
Putz-o-rama.
In Jesus of Nazareth they never showed the angels. I thought it was very well done.
LOL, details, details details
I think that Mr. Verniere doesn't care about the facts, just that it's a "holy bore."
Doesn't the title make you want to see it?
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