• Bible Films Blog

    Looking at film interpretations of the stories in the Bible - past, present and future, as well as preparation for a future work on Straub/Huillet's Moses und Aron and a few bits and pieces on biblical studies.


    Name:
    Matt Page

    Location:
    U.K.












    Thursday, December 22, 2005

    The Nativity Story - Central Page

    My Review for this film is here.

    There have been so many posts on The Nativity Story that I thought it would be worth putting links to all my posts on it, plus any other relevant ones, all in one place.

    Internal Links
    New Film On Nativity In Works
    Hardwicke In Negotiations To Direct The Nativity
    Writer Mike Rich On The Nativity
    Keisha Castle Hughes To Play Mary In The Nativity
    Script Review For The Nativity
    Nativity Name Change
    Lords of Dogtown
    Scene Analysis
    Similarities with Joseph of Nazareth

    Nativity News vol.1 - Nativity Blog, central page, CT article
    Nativity News vol.2 - Official Website, First Featurette, Teaser trailer,Time article.
    Nativity News vol.3 - Thirteen review
    Nativity News vol.4 - Photo Book
    Nativity News vol.5 - Second Featurette
    Nativity News vol.6 - CT interview with Mike Rich
    Nativity News vol.7 - Interview with Mychael Danna
    Nativity News vol.8 - EW Interview Hardwicke, Haertland Debut, Sacred Songs CD
    Nativity News vol.9 - Interview with Alex Siddig, second nativity blog
    Nativity News vol.10 - Theatrical Trailer, Third Featurette, Novelisation, DVD Documentary
    Nativity News vol.11 - "Resources" website, Castle Hughes pregnant.
    Nativity News vol.12 - Pauline Press books, Outreach screenings, PG rating.
    Nativity News vol.13 - Pastor Screening, Outreach materials.
    Nativity News vol.14 - Poster, numerous interviews and overviews
    Nativity News vol.15 - Premiere, early reviews,Newsweek, clips
    Nativity News vol.16 - Hughes pregnant? Time, Variety an LA Times articles, Isacc interview
    Nativity News vol.17 - Reviews
    Nativity News vol.18 - Reviews box office blame
    Nativity News vol.19 - DVD release
    Nativity News vol. 20 - Special Edition DVD, Chattaway comentary, CT post mortem

    External Links
    Official Website
    IMDB Page
    Nativity Blog
    Another Nativity Blog


    Cast and Crew
    Shohreh Aghdashloo .... Elizabeth
    Hiam Abbass .... Anna - mother of Mary
    Keisha Castle-Hughes .... Mary
    Eriq Ebouaney .... Balthasar
    Ciarán Hinds .... King Herod
    Oscar Isaac .... Joseph
    Mary Matilyn Mouser .... Child (voice)
    Matt Patresi .... Roman Soldier
    Ted Rusoff .... Old Shepherd
    Gabriele Scharnitzky .... Shyla Yvonne Sciò
    Alexander Siddig .... Gabriel
    Shaun Toub .... Joaquim
    Tim Van Rellim .... Jerusalem Soldier #1
    Shelby Young .... Naomi (voice)
    Lynnanne Zager .... Voice (uncredited)

    Director .... Catherine Hardwicke
    Writer .... Mike Rich
    Producers .... Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey
    Original .... Mychael Danna
    Cinematography .... Elliot Davis

    Reviews
    Entertainment Weekly
    Slant
    Variety
    filmcritic.com
    Hollywood Reporter
    Shadows on the Wall
    IGN.com
    CNN
    Los Angeles Times [Kenneth Turan]
    Washington Post
    New York Times
    San Francisco Chronicle [Mick LaSalle]
    The New York Times
    The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Boston Globe
    Decent Films - faith on film [Steven D. Greydanus]
    Eric D. Snider
    Christianity Today [Peter T. Chattaway]
    Christianity Today [David Neff]
    Looking Closer [Jeffrey Overstreet]
    Darrel Manson
    Frederica Mathewes-Green

    LAST UPDATED ON 7th DECEMBER 2006.

    Labels: ,

    6 Comments:

    • At 4:16 am, August 27, 2006, Blogger queen_spoo said…

      Hey Matt! Great centralization of your "Nativity" posts. :)

      P.S. If you want to change the post date whenever you edit to reflect when you added your most recent link/revision, go to the "Post and Comment options" on the lower left of your posting entry form, and you can change the date and time to what you want, instead of keeping the old date with your disclaimer. [it used to always be visible underneath your post text box, but now they "hid" the option and you have to click to change it]

       
    • At 1:25 pm, August 31, 2006, Blogger Matt Page said…

      Thanks Spoo,

      I had seen the posting/comment option, but then it would interfere with all my current pages and mess my archives and links up. It would be good if blogger could give you non-dated pages as well as the more normal "blog" pages

      Matt

       
    • At 5:16 pm, September 29, 2006, Blogger queen_spoo said…

      Too true. That would be nice if you could have posts without a date to put somewhere... I'm still glad you have this post centralizing everything, and still have it linked.

       
    • At 12:09 pm, October 06, 2006, Blogger Matt Page said…

      Thanks Spoo

      Matt

       
    • At 1:46 am, December 03, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

      Give yourself the gift of a meaningful Christmas.

      I went to see this last night, opening night. As a recently baptized Christian, I will tell you that this was a most welcomed, meaningful and revolutionary movie for me. It centers around the mother of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

      A superbly crafted and thoughtfully directed movie, it deserves a high rating. It is an unprecedented tribute to a woman who has been relegated to backdrop scenes. Finally, Mary gets to have a movie about her spiritual journey. In my own life, Mary was in the far distant background, giving her fleeting thought if I came across a Nativity scene at Christmas or if I heard the Beatles song, "Let It Be":

      "When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be."

      It was made for a certain niche -- the ~200 million or so Americans who consider themselves Christians. Two years ago, I was not in this niche, being "spiritual, but not religious." Long story, short, it was Mary who pointed me to her Son, lead me on my own spiritual journey and caused a revolution in my heart, mind and soul.

      Those who take the time to learn about her and her role do not, as I was mislead to believe, worship her. They simply respect and venerate her. Leading folks to her Son, as I learned, is her job. In this movie, her character is doing exactly that again for me and viewers who are called to see it.

      Ever since she lead me home, Christmas has taken on such meaning as I never imagined. This year, I've started the season -- called the Advent season -- with a faith-based movie that allowed me to slide right into it in a beautiful, gentle and do I dare say, beatific way.

      This movie experience is an exquisite gift for the heart and soul. Moreover, it is a feast for the eyes. I went past the inanimate objects of Nativity displays to a visually rich and "fleshed" out Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, shepherds, Magi and stable animals. The director of the movie, Catherine Hardwick, referred to a line in the script: "...the greatest of kings born in the most humble of places."

      "Power," she says, "is not a physical power. It's not riches, it's not money, it's not control of governments and nations. It's a deeper power, spirituality."

      At the end of the movie, the audience burst out in spontaneous applause. For each of us, Christmas is not at all about holiday parties, frenzied shopping and the trappings and physical accouterments. Now, THAT'S revolutionary.

      When this comes out in DVD, it will be a part of our yearly Christmas tradition, reminding us what it is all about.

      "Merry Christ-mas!" I hope you will make it meaningfully merrier by giving yourself this movie experience of the life of Mary.

       
    • At 6:25 am, December 05, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said…

      Hey Matt,
      nice review! I saw the film today and loved it. Thought is was pretty faithful too!
      There is another great film review which I found while scanning: http://www.mercatornet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=429

      Check it out and tell us what you think?

      Trent

       

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