MOVIES: The Nativity Story

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Mary is portrayed as having labor pains before giving birth to Jesus (which goes against the Immaculate Conception)

There are a few disturbing scenes of Violence as well (including a road side crucifixtion.)

This movie’s screenplay WAS written by a protestant, so some of those things (like the way Mary was portrayed) are a bit…protestant.

‘Jesus of Nazareth’, on the other hand, is really good and includes much of Jesus’ life leading up to the events of Holy Week.
 
there is no problem whatever with the movie other than in the sensibilities of some ultra-fundamentalists and traditionalists. if you want to rehash the whole discussion just search the topic on this forum. Or you could just watch it and judge for yourself, now there is a concept.
 
jediliz said:
Mary is portrayed as having labor pains before giving birth to Jesus (which goes against the Immaculate Conception)

There are a few disturbing scenes of Violence as well (including a road side crucifixtion.)

This movie’s screenplay WAS written by a protestant, so some of those things (like the way Mary was portrayed) are a bit…protestant.

‘Jesus of Nazareth’, on the other hand, is really good and includes much of Jesus’ life leading up to the events of Holy Week.
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The question regarding Mary’s labour pains was asked in the AAA forums when the movie came out, and the answer given there was that this doesn’t contradict the Immaculate Conception - her having labour pains could have been a foreshadowing of the suffering Christ (and she by extension) would endure on the Cross. The Church has never definitively said she didn’t endure labour pains.

I don’t find anything problematic in this movie from a theological standpoint - the Church has left a lot about Mary’s life prior to the birth of Christ up to interpretation, although some traditions in this regard have sprung up, some very early on.

I think the movie is respectful to Catholicism (they even have Mary wearing the traditional blue veil during the Nativity scene - I think that shows respect for traditional Catholic depictions of Mary), and I didn’t see anything that explicitly contradicted Catholic teaching.
 
JU2 said:
The Naitivity is out on DVD now. Has anyone seen it? And if so, can you comment whether it’s a good representation that won’t conflict with Catholic viewpoints? If so, I’d like to rent it and watch it with my 7 year old.
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i have seen it i thought it was a really good movie:)
 
I almost cried when I watched it especially the scenes between Mary and Elizabeth and when Jesus was born. Although it is slightly inaccruate because Elizabeth gives birth to John while Mary is still with her.
 
Goth_Catholic said:
I almost cried when I watched it especially the scenes between Mary and Elizabeth and when Jesus was born. Although it is slightly inaccruate because Elizabeth gives birth to John while Mary is still with her.
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Just out of curiosity, why do you say that it’s inaccurate? St. Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant (as per the Archangel Gabriel) when the Annunciation happened, and then Mary went to visit her (we don’t know exactly how long after the Annunciation) and St. Luke’s Gospel tells us she stayed with St. Elizabeth for about 3 months before heading home (Luke 1: 56). 6 months + 3 months = 9 months, the length of a pregnancy. Sure Scripture doesn’t explicityly state that Mary was there for St. John the Baptist’s birth, but it also doesn’t explicitly state that St. Elizabeth gave birth to him after Mary left - IMO this part is up to interpretation, and I think it makes more sense that Mary would have stayed until St. Elizabeth gave birth, since she was so close to doing so around the time of Mary’s departure. 🙂
 
Hmm, I never nodiced that before. Actually it’s probably because I most often read Luke according to the KJ bible and it state “returned her own house. Now, Elizabeth’s full time” I always assumed that ment that Mary left and John was born afterword.
 
Goth_Catholic said:
I almost cried when I watched it especially the scenes between Mary and Elizabeth and when Jesus was born. Although it is slightly inaccruate because Elizabeth gives birth to John while Mary is still with her.
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that was a very good part:)
 
I loved the movie. It was one of my favorite of last year. I’ll probebly get the dvd for my birthday.
 
JU2 said:
The Naitivity is out on DVD now. Has anyone seen it? And if so, can you comment whether it’s a good representation that won’t conflict with Catholic viewpoints? If so, I’d like to rent it and watch it with my 7 year old.
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I have to say i enjoyed it alot. I decided to watch it last night. I thought i would watch the birth (the navity story) then his death, (the passion of Christ) for good friday. Both movies made me cry.

The only thing i didn’t like was that Joesph was too young. Joseph is suppose to be older but the director did not imply that either of them every had relations with each other. It did show quite well that Joseph was chosen because he was a great and faithful man. He chose to not denounce mary BEFORE the angel told him that it was the messiah that she was caring. I think it brings a little bit of depth to St. Joseph that is sometimes left out. He also protected and helped Jesus coming into the world.

The movie made me cry quite a lot. Really brought the story to life
 
Morning_Star15 said:
…I didn’t see anything that explicitly contradicted Catholic teaching.
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Actually, near the beginning when Mary is in the town and she is watching the guys (it might have been Joseph in particular), she tells a small lie afterwards, which conflicts with her sinlessness. And she also puts off work to do something, I don’t remember what. Or at least grumbles a bit about it. You can tell she is portrayed in a, for lack of better words, Protestant way.

I’m very happy with their treatment of St. Joseph, though. Just for that I would recommend the movie. He was absolutely wonderful although not in keeping with a tradition (little t!) that says he was older and assigned to protect the BVM rather than to actually wed her, IIRC. And the Magi were great, as well. 😉 Ooh, and the Archangel!
 
It was beautiful!!! I highly recommend it! There are two birth scenes, one for Elizabeth, and one for Mary, and a circumcision(tasteful camera angle)… as long as you are okay with your 7yo seeing that kind of thing, go for it!!!
USCCB(United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) has great movie reviews; here’s their page for the Nativity Story: usccb.org/movies/n/thenativitystory.shtml
 
Cradle said:
Actually, near the beginning when Mary is in the town and she is watching the guys (it might have been Joseph in particular), she tells a small lie afterwards, which conflicts with her sinlessness. And she also puts off work to do something, I don’t remember what. Or at least grumbles a bit about it. You can tell she is portrayed in a, for lack of better words, Protestant way.

**Good point - I hadn’t thought of that. I don’t know if I would entirely classify it as a lie - she was scattering seeds in the field with other girls, and as they were doing so they were looking over their shoulder at a cute boy working nearby. Then the boys and girls got into a fight throwing seeds at each other, and after about 10 seconds of this Mary’s mother called her over and reproached her that she was going to be late to work, to which Mary replied “I was working.” I don’t know: does the fact that she stopped working for a few seconds mean that she was lying when she said she had been working? If it was a lie, wouldn’t her mother, who saw what was happening, have called her on it, by saying, “I saw that you were goofing off, and not working.”? Just a thought. 🙂 **

I’m very happy with their treatment of St. Joseph, though. Just for that I would recommend the movie. He was absolutely wonderful although not in keeping with a tradition (little t!) that says he was older and assigned to protect the BVM rather than to actually wed her, IIRC. And the Magi were great, as well. 😉 Ooh, and the Archangel!
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I was wondering who here has seen The Nativity Story. It was a movie from a few years ago. The girl who played Mary is Keisha Castle Hughes. I liked the movie for certain reason bot not for others. It didn’t take me long to decide the movie was made by folks who weren’t Catholic. Mary was not portrayed in a particularly holy manner. “Just a regular person.” However, I was very pleased with the attention given to Joseph and his struggles.

I have always had St. Joseph as a favorite of mine. I quite often say a powerful novena to him. I usually feel he gets short changed on the list of favorite saints.

Any thoughts?
 
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I liked it quite a bit. I thought the portrayals of both Mary and Joseph were well done and liked how they used the Wise Men for comic relief, albeit respectfully.
 
Hi there. How many of you have seen this wonderful movie about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ? My best friend, Darrell, got me this movie for Christmas. 😃 I am watching it for the first time right now. 🙂 What did you think of this movie? 🤷:confused:
 
I saw it in the theater when it came out, and originally I wanted to buy it, but after looking at the “novelization” I decided not to after all. I may rent it, but that’s it.
 
Anyone see this film? I watched it on DVD this morning. What are people’s opinions on it? Like portrayal of Mary etc.
 
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