HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Nativity Story, The Away In A Manger
Year: 2006
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Stars: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Hiam Abbass, Shaun Toub, Ciarán Hinds, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Stanley Townsend, Alexander Siddig, Nadim Sawalha, Eriq Ebouaney, Stefan Kalipha, Alessandro Giuggioli, Farida Ouchani, Saïd Amadis, Maria Giovanna Donzelli
Genre: Historical, FantasyBuy from Amazon
Rating:  5 (from 2 votes)
Review: Two millennia ago, there was unrest in the land of Israel as King Herod (Ciarán Hinds), the monarch placed under the Roman rule, was disturbed by the threat that the prophecies as predicted in the scripture were to come true, and the new King of the Jews would be born. As Herod saw himself as the holder of that title, he took drastic action and decreed that the recently born male children in the area should be put to death... but were the prophecies correct? Had the Saviour been born? To answer that question, we had to go back a year and follow young Mary (Keisha Castle-Hughes).

Since popular fiction's idea of a Christmas movie tended to mean more and more that it should include Santa Claus, and any mention of religion was left to church on the big day, it should have been refreshing that director Catherine Hardwicke (the woman who brought Twilight to the screen) opted to go back to where the whole celebration began. The approach she adopted, from Mike Rich's script, had taken its cue from the then-recent success of Mel Gibson's uber-religious Passion of the Christ in the hope it would cash in on the Christian moviegoing audience, except here instead of being as extreme as possible, realism was the order of the day.

So the cast were taught about how the characters they portrayed would have lived their lives, and the set design was as accurate as it could be given what was known about the era, with actors looking as if they had stepped out of the pages of the Bible. So far so good, yet as with so many of the faith-based entertainments the appeal was not likely to extend beyond the confines of those who actually had some investment in the first place, therefore if you knew and believed the story, you would appreciate it far more than those who were none too bothered one way or the other, or those spoilsports who were wont to point out how unhistorical much of the Biblical detail was.

There was no Roman census bringing citizens back to the place of their birth for a start, and if you had issues with troublesome facts such as that you were not going to get on with Dr Bashir from Deep Space Nine showing up as the Archangel Gabriel to tell Mary that she is now carrying the child of God thanks to the deity impregnating her. Hardwicke seemed interested in the issue of teenage pregnancy for a more modern take to make this relevant, but that was a mistake (never mind that the sixteen-year-old star fell pregnant at the time the movie was made), mainly because it broke the spell of the scripture and had you pondering why God thought it was such a good idea to act more like Zeus, his randier predecessor.

Obviously there was room for many interpretations of the old, old tale, and a Christmas card version could have looked somewhat shallow, but there was something to be said for keeping a measure of the magic of the season in the production, and there was some of that here. Just not enough: yes, there were regular updates from the Three Wise Men, looking as if they deserved their own movie really, and as it progressed they gave into the more traditional trappings with the Star of Bethlehem beaming benificiently down on the characters as the shepherds were assembled and so forth. The lead up to this was half-hearted moves towards examining the crisis of feelings Mary and Joseph (Oscar Isaac) must have been going through, but if they were going to go in that direction the story began to fall apart, hence the later reliance upon what every Nativity tale presented. The overwhelming problem was that everything here was largely sincere and respectful to the level of incredible boredom. Music by Mychael Danna.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 3588 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
Mary Sibley
Enoch Sneed
Darren Jones
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
Graeme Clark
  Desbris M
   

 

Last Updated: