The Nativity Story- gripes

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I wonder if you all enjoyed the Nativity story as much as I did not. I thought Mary was portrayed as quite grumbly and unhappy through the first half, and having some disdain for her parents. She only started to smile when she began to “fall in love” with Joseph, which I had heard was part of the movie having been done by protestant Christians.
I think a Catholic sturdy in the faith can come away with a deeper sense of the humanity of Mary and Joseph, and all that the probably endured during their journey to Bethlehem and so on, but all in all I was very disappointed.
 
I didn’t see her unhappiness in the first half as distain for her parents.
She was unhappy at being given away in marriage, but that is understandable. She was 14, and was unaware of what her parents plans were until the marriage. I’m sure she was also unhappy at seeing what the roman soldiers were doing to her people.
I don’t think she started to become happy when she was falling in love, but when she became pregnant. She was very happy during the visit with Elizabeth.
I also wouldn’t say that she ‘fell in love’ with Joseph. She loved him very mcuh by the end of the movie, but I don’t know if I’d use the expression ‘fell in love’.
 
It was ok. I found the movie’s portrayal of Mary to be a bit more sullen than I imagine her to be, since, as I understand it, being sullen is what one does when one doesn’t get one’s way, and I can’t think of anyone more self-effacing than Our Lady. And, given her actions at the wedding in Cana, she doesn’t seem to be one to pout or be sullen. (Imagine her going off in a sulk when Our Lord told her that his time had not yet come 😉 )

And as for she and Joseph falling in love- I don’t know if it was a physical “falling in love” experience, or rather a profound relief at being able to connect with another human being about the miraculous events that were taking place. Finally! Someone to whom she could discuss the enormity of the impending Incarnation. I think the marital experience of Our Lady and St. Joseph was deeper than any other human couple, even without ever being expressed in a physical manner.

C
 
I actually enjoyed the Nativity Story a lot more than I thought I would. I liked it a lot more than I liked the Passion of the Christ. (Bracing for the impending backlash.)
 
valient_Lucy said:
I actually enjoyed the Nativity Story a lot more than I thought I would. I liked it a lot more than I liked the Passion of the Christ. (Bracing for the impending backlash.)
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I haven’t seen Passion of the Christ. I’m scared to. I can’t stand watching violence in movies, and just the clips I’ve seen have had enough blood and gore to give me nightmares.
I think I might be the last remaining Catholic who hasn’t watched it, but I’ve no plans to change any time soon.

Pains and blood in childbirth? Been there, done that. Watching Our Lord being tortured, mutilated, and murdered? I’ll leave the visuals to the Sorrowful Mysteries of my Rosary.
 
Cari said:
I haven’t seen Passion of the Christ. I’m scared to. I can’t stand watching violence in movies, and just the clips I’ve seen have had enough blood and gore to give me nightmares.
I think I might be the last remaining Catholic who hasn’t watched it, but I’ve no plans to change any time soon.

Pains and blood in childbirth? Been there, done that. Watching Our Lord being tortured, mutilated, and murdered? I’ll leave the visuals to the Sorrowful Mysteries of my Rosary.
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🙂 I’m so glad I’m not the only one.
 
Cari said:
I haven’t seen Passion of the Christ. I’m scared to. I can’t stand watching violence in movies, and just the clips I’ve seen have had enough blood and gore to give me nightmares.
I think I might be the last remaining Catholic who hasn’t watched it, but I’ve no plans to change any time soon.

Pains and blood in childbirth? Been there, done that. Watching Our Lord being tortured, mutilated, and murdered? I’ll leave the visuals to the Sorrowful Mysteries of my Rosary.
Click to expand...
I only saw it for the first time this year. The most uncomfortable part, for me, was the flogging scene.
 
LRThunder said:
I only saw it for the first time this year. The most uncomfortable part, for me, was the flogging scene.
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True. I think the version on telly this year was the rejigged one where the flogging scene was a little less too-too.
 
valient_Lucy said:
I actually enjoyed the Nativity Story a lot more than I thought I would. I liked it a lot more than I liked the Passion of the Christ. (Bracing for the impending backlash.)
Click to expand...
I know what you mean. One cannot ‘enjoy’ the Passion of the Christ. The purpose of watching the Passion is to help one meditates exactly on what kind of horrendous death Christ went through for our sake. One cannot imagines without watching it.
 
cathgal said:
I know what you mean. One cannot ‘enjoy’ the Passion of the Christ. The purpose of watching the Passion is to help one meditates exactly on what kind of horrendous death Christ went through for our sake. One cannot imagines without watching it.
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I’ve never watched it (see my previous, “I’m too squeamish” post), and I can imagine it. The writer, director, and actors never watched the Passion, yet were able to imagine it. For roughly 2000 years of history, people didn’t watch it, yet were able to imagine it.

Perhaps watching it may have helped drive the ultimate brutality of Our Lord’s Passion home for some people, and if the fruits of that viewing were conversion of the heart and repentance, awesome! But I don’t think one necessarily needs to watch the movie to be able to meditate on the Passion.
 
Cari said:
But I don’t think one necessarily needs to watch the movie to be able to meditate on the Passion.
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True! But if you don’t have a problem meditating on it, you shouldn’t have a problem watching it. Don’t be scared of it. It’s nothing you haven’t seen in your heart during the Sorrowful Mysteries. And there are breaks in the torture scenes where Jesus or one of the other characters flash back to a happier time. Go ahead and rent it, and if it gets too much, you can always switch it off. 🙂 I think people work it up too much. For me, I mostly feel emotional that Jesus loves ME that much. It’s really a love story, and a beautiful one at that.

As for the Nativity Story… my meditations on the Joyful Mysteries put that one to shame 😛
 
I truly enjoyed The Nativity Story, particularly the humor between the 3 magi, or when Joesph quipped to Mary when they were leaving Nazareth “Looks like they’ll miss us” as the townspeople were shunning them for her pregnancy. The screenwriters did a commendable job of displaying real human emotion & interaction in a story we all learned as children - and made the characters real.

And I loved the look on Zechariah’s face in the temple when the Lord talked to him. Priceless.

I also love The Passion, because …
CatholicSam said:
For me, I mostly feel emotional that Jesus loves ME that much. It’s really a love story, and a beautiful one at that.
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exactly! 👍 👍 👍
 
I watched the Nativity Story yesterday and I really enjoyed it. I liked the realism (ex. birth scene with Elizabeth) and how the characters spoke with a Middle Eastern accent as opposed to a British or American accent. lol 😛

The only part I didn’t like was the river scene with the donkey… Other than that the only thing I would change in the movie is the length of it…it was too short… I didn’t want it to end.

God bless
 
I didn’t like it too much as it wasn’t faithful to the Bible, cutting out Mary’s dialogue from Luke, making Mary look like a spoiled teenager.
I have met some holy teenagers and they sure do not look\act like the Mary in the movie.

I liked the setting, the visuals were done pretty nice and it was a nice story but a poor interpretation of the holiest event in history and the holiest human person ever born, Mary.

I liked the silver bells background music when they were looking for a place to stay, as that song always gives me the impression of anticipation.

Overall I would say it was pretty good for a Hollywood film, mediocre from a Christian perspective.

In Christ
Scylla
 
Cari said:
I’ve never watched it (see my previous, “I’m too squeamish” post), and I can imagine it. The writer, director, and actors never watched the Passion, yet were able to imagine it. For roughly 2000 years of history, people didn’t watch it, yet were able to imagine it.

Perhaps watching it may have helped drive the ultimate brutality of Our Lord’s Passion home for some people, and if the fruits of that viewing were conversion of the heart and repentance, awesome! But I don’t think one necessarily needs to watch the movie to be able to meditate on the Passion.
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That is not true the Passion has been on the silver screen for nearly a 100 years now and before that Passion plays with very real recreation of the event so real that sometimes they created backlash against Jews thus the controversy of the Passion recreating the realism of the Passion Plays of Europe that could lead to anit-Jewish sentiment. Of course that never happened but we all know the controversy. Passion plays predate the meditations of the rosary so it would be unhistorical to say Christians always meditated before the Passion movie came out. The Passion movie revived the ancient tradition of realistically recreating the Passion narrative.
 
Wisdom said:
Passion plays predate the meditations of the rosary so it would be unhistorical to say Christians always meditated before the Passion movie came out. The Passion movie revived the ancient tradition of realistically recreating the Passion narrative.
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Totally forgot about Passion plays. And this, coming from an English major! :o I stand corrected on that point.
 
I agree that the depiction of Mary left much to be desired. However, I enjoyed the limited development of Joseph’s character and Mary’s relationship with him. I especially enjoyed to scene where Joseph saved Mary in the swollen river. Also, the scene where Mary washes Joseph’s badly bruised feet was moving. Joseph’s willingness to sacrifice (feeding the donkey instead of himself) was also great.
 
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