Finding Christmas Clips Redux

I talked last week about my attempts to find a decent film clip of the wise men for one of our Christmas services so I thought I would report back.

In the end I went for a clip from Joseph of Nazareth. The wise men segment from this film is relatively concise (particularly when compared to The Nativity Story, although in the end I edited the 4-5 minute segment into one about 2 minutes 15 seconds.

It was an unexpected choice in some ways. The film is not great, and there are some bizarre moments around the birth of Jesus - not least Joseph missing the birth because he is out collecting firewood. But it does have it's merits. I particualrly liked the shot from which the above still is taken which starts off looking back at the wisemen from the front before the camera gently rises up in the air and to the side so it can watch the magi pass below. It somehow catches the strangeness and the majesty of these men from the east arriving in the city. It's also a sort of God shot which is interesting. That said, here, as with many of the Bible Collection's films, the acting / dubbing is poor in places, and it lets this clip down a little bit, but all in all, I think I got away with it.