Finally - An Entertaining Hollywood Movie about Jesus for the Whole Family!

By Dr. Ted Baehr,
Publisher of MOVIEGUIDE®
Special for ASSIST Ministries

Released in Australian Theatres December 2006

On DVD Easter 2007

Rated PG in Australia for its Mild Themes & Violence

HOLLYWOOD, CA (ANS) -- It's been decades since Hollywood has released a major motion picture about Jesus that can be seen by the whole family.

THE NATIVITY STORY is just such a movie.

THE NATIVITY STORY is one of those very rare movies that brings the Gospel alive in a compelling, captivating, entertaining, and inspiring manner that shatters expectations.

It is a sacred movie and a divine revelation in the best sense of these words. It is a human story with depth and breadth and height and all the right elements to capture the audience.

It's a spiritually uplifting, vivid story of love, faith, hope, and ultimate redemption - a movie for the entire family.

The movie opens with Jeremiah 23:5-6: "'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.'"

The rest of the movie references and quotes Scripture throughout. The intensely paranoid King Herod sends out the troops to kill all the innocents in Bethlehem and stop the prophecy that there will be born a Kin g of Kings and Lord of Lords. Herod is intensely superstitious and played brilliantly. Thus, this movie starts, as it should, with a bang.

It then flashes back to a year earlier in the town of Nazareth, showing a brief moment of tranquility in the life of Mary and Joseph. .

Suddenly, the Roman troops are upon the village demanding tribute for Caesar. Mary's father loses part of his land and his donkey. Joseph the carpenter buys the donkey back from the greedy soldier and gives it back to the father, asking for Mary's hand in marriage. Mary protests a little, but she is betrothed and must spend a year before they consummate the marriage.

Soon, an angel of God comes to Mary to tell her that she is with God's child, born by the Holy Spirit. She goes to see her cousin Elizabeth, who in her older age is also with child. (A previous scene shows Elizabeth's husband, the priest Zechariah, entering the temple and being struck mute when he doubts the word of the angel that Elizabeth! had become pregnant.) When Mary returns to Nazareth, it i s clear that Mary is pregnant. Joseph is devastated but decides to continue with the marriage after an angel appears to him in a dream. At the same time, the magi in Babylon are preparing to follow a unique astrological sign, which forms a brief new star, to find the King of Kings.

Eventually, of course, Joseph and Mary have to journey to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census, and the prophecies of God are fulfilled.

THE NATIVITY STORY has one of the best scripts ever written for a biblical story. What makes a movie compelling is a sense of jeopardy, and that sense of jeopardy is present throughout this movie. The dialogue, the plot development, the turning points are refreshingly dramatic, so good in fact that they will elicit tears at certain points.

THE NATIVITY STORY is compelling drama that carefully avoids gruesome, graphic violence. Even the slaughtering of the ox at the temple does not show the blade entering the animal, yet it causes the audience to wince.Catherine Hardwicke's direction is superb.

Joseph and Mary are very human and very Jewish and very much in love. Each character has a terrific character arc. Probably the best part of the movie is the costuming and the settings. Having spent some time in Israel researching other movies, I can attest to the authenticity of even the smallest details of life in Israel in the first century. The crucifixions, the agriculture, the ephods, everything is done exquisitely. There is one moment where Mary has an attitude, but it is very brief and natural. A later statement, however, declares that Mary is always trustworthy, that she keeps her promises and therefore she is honored by God. Her complexities add depth to her character and make the story of Mary and Joseph more profound.

THE NATIVITY STORY should be a movie that every Christian would want to see. It is certainly a movie that every Non-Christian should see. It testifies in every way to Jesus the Messiah and is clearly and consciously evangelistic. Such statements that this baby! is the "greatest King" and "God made flesh," that the gol d is for the King of the world, that the frankincense is for the greatest priest of all, and that the myrrh is to honor the sacrifice, and many, many more pointedly proclaim the story of the Christ and the great news that there is salvation in none other.

ee THE NATIVITY STORY with your friends, family, colleagues, and the members of your church. See it with the members of your Sunday School class. And, don't forget to share it with someone who has yet to encounter the real Jesus.

The more people who go see THE NATIVITY STORY in its first weekend, the more Hollywood will be inclined to make more movies like it.

NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr: For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest MOVIEGUIDE® magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. MOVIEGUIDE® is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. MOVIEGUIDE® now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers. MOVIEGUIDE® also regularly broadcasts several international TV and radio programs hosted by Dr. Baehr.