Diagonaldi Very well executed

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

ckbarbour The birth of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. There have been several debates over the years between religious scholars as to how'll accurate the Bible depicts the events that led up to his birth and if it actually occurred on the day we celebrate as the day of his birth. Because of the debates over the biblical and historical facts of his life, different types of religious movements have formed around the world, thousands of different types of religious publications have been done on the subject matter as well as fiction and non-fiction works of art. The Naivety Story, in my opinion, is an excellent work of art that delivers this religious story in a deeply moving manner. Catherine Hardwicke directed the 2006 biblical tale of the Nativity Story. The movie opens up with a quote from the Bible," Behold the days are coming declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous branch and he will reign as king. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel will dwell securely" (King James Version Jeremiah 23:5-6) This prophecy sets the tone of how King Herod relentlessly goes after the people of Bethlehem to make sure that this prophecy does not come true. Caught between fulfilling the wishes of God and a mandate of King Herod that all men must go the ancestral homeland to register for a census, Joseph, and a pregnant Mary, had to make the extremely long and arduous journey to Bethlehem. This movie takes the viewer thru a gamut of emotions, from the suspense of the Angel Gabriel speaking to Zechariah and Mary about God's plans for them or the heartwarming emotion of seeing the love develop between Mary and Joseph, the amazement and joy of watching Mary give birth to Jesus and finally the horror at King Herod's edict to kill all boys two years old and under in Bethlehem. This movie makes the tale of Jesus birth come to life like no other movie has! ReferenceRainolds. John, Cambridge & Oxford Translators (1604-1611) King James Bible Retrieved from: time.com/4821911/king-james-bible-history/

Evan Wessman (CinematicInceptions) I'm not going to discuss the plot of this movie since probably most people interested in seeing it know the whole story and have heard it a couple hundred times. Instead, I'll talk about what I think it did well and poorly in. The strongest point in this film in my opinion was how the characters were humanized. We get to see a lot of the emotional struggles that Joseph and Mary and Mary's family went through during this time in their lives, which is good because that's something that I feel isn't addressed enough. Mary is still the spiritually flawless person that the Church reveres her as, but she is still definitely human in this film as well and clearly experiences a wide range of emotions that the audience can relate to. The same is true for Joseph, and his character is developed throughout as he learns how to become a father and husband. The wise men are touched upon throughout and provide a small amount of comic relief. King Herod and his son are also included and have a side story of sorts.Another big factor is the scripting. Most of the behind the scenes sequences that are kind of synthesized by the filmmakers are well scripted, but problems arise when the screenwriters have to include iconic lines straight from the Bible. It's kind of necessary for the movie since, well it's a Bible story, but I wish they didn't have to use the lines from scripture because almost all of them seemed really forced and out of place.The biggest detracting point that I see in the film is the dramatic sequences. Some of them were just fine and well executed like the slaughtering of the the infants and the scene where Mary goes into labor. However, the scenes where the Roman soldiers rush into Nazareth and are all intimidating could probably have been left out. They didn't contribute at all to the story and even resulted in some bad acting from a few nameless characters. This also ties in a bit with Herod's side story since most of the times he is seen before being visited by the wise men don't contribute to his character or the story. I think showing the end at the beginning with him and his son was good, but they could have cut down on the number and or length of his other appearances. In terms of technical specs, I felt like the casting was good with the accents that are evident but not so strong that you can't understand them. The lighting was good throughout, though I'm not really sure why I noticed that. You could make a case against the quality of the acting, but it should be satisfactory for anyone that isn't scrutinizing it too much.It's not a bad family film. The infant slaughterings and two childbirth scenes are relatively intense, but all are fairly brief and are minimally graphic. If you hate Christian films, this is better than most of them, though it still might be irritating to watch. It doesn't have the same quality that The Passion of the Christ does, but neither is it made poorly like some Christian movies (e.g. Courageos, Facing the Giants, and Letters to God) all of which have terrible stories and let the religiousness of their films limit them to an unholy degree. Since I'm not going to review any of these movies, I may as well put this out there now: If you're making a fictional inspirational film, make sure that it's a good movie before putting any inspiration into it and don't be religiously affiliated. The two reasons to not being religiously affiliated are 1. Religious plots are usually not good unless religion is a minor factor like in Angels and Demons or The Last Crusade and 2. By being religiously affiliated you won't be able to include any kind of profanity or anything controversial beyond a PG level, which severely limits your credibility, plot, and characters. Sorry if that last bit was too off topic. Overall Rating 8/10.

raymondmerritt What a pleasant surprise this sleeper turned out to be. I thought I had seen every (American) film made about this story and was still waiting for a realistic one to be made. Upon seeing this film, my wait was over. We bought this DVD and frequently lend it out to anyone willing to take the time to watch it. In my opinion, it is on my "Not to be missed" list.We just found out that the executive producer is Toby Emmerich, who was also executive producer "Hair Spray" and writer of "Frequency". Mr. Emmerich now has a new avid fan.Congrats go to Priscilla John, Mindy Marin, Juliette Ménager and Shaila Rubin for casting that was perfect. Olivia Hussey was my favorite "Mary" until Keisha Castle-Hughes usurped her. Oscar Isaac was also the most believable "pursuer of Mary / heart-broken reactor to her pregnancy" that I've witnessed. Hiam Abbass's portrayal of cognitive dissonance over who she knows her daughter to be and the reality of the pregnancy was compelling.If you have any interest in this story at all, please do yourself the favor of carving out the 101 minutes to spend with this rendition of "the Holy family".

jbf-5 I think this is my favorite Christmas movie – one that I would love to see become classic for Christians. The film is much too understated for that to ever be likely. It is from the film's restraint and realism that much of its power flows. Mike Rich (writer) and Catherine Hardwicke (director) assume their audience is both intelligent and very familiar with the story. This allows them to often portray major plot points and character developments with great subtly. They are able to eschew much of the heavy handed techniques so often used to pummel the audience into knowing exactly who are the good and the bad, and what to fear and what to hope for. It is jarring, for instance, to contrast the understated approach this film uses to tell of the start of Christ's life with the overbearing approach used in the Passion of the Christ to tell the story of His death.The handling of the character Joseph is a good example of the film's craft. This is probably the only film I have seen where his character all but outshines that of Mary. The film does an amazing job of revealing his remarkable character. After all God did not only carefully select the mother of the Messiah but also the man who would act as His earthly father. Joseph is handed an impossibly crushing situation when he discovers that his beloved and pure wife is pregnant. He handles this torment with great grace choosing a course that will save both the life of his seemingly unfaithful wife and her unborn child. Throughout the story Joseph is shown coming to the aid of others often at considerable personal cost while avoiding credit for his good works. His intelligence also shines in the deft way that he foils a pair of crafty thieves who prey upon the unsophisticated and exhausted country travelers arriving in the big city of Jerusalem. The film wonderfully portrays how his very young and uncertain wife comes to fully appreciate the man she was told she must marry. In the process Mary falls deeply in love with him.There is a prevailing sense of kindness to this film. While the three Magi are used for some comical relief, there is also a clear sense of the depth of love these men hold for each other. This is shown by the initially grudging support Balthasar and Gaspar accord Melchoir for the year long quest he devised based upon his largely inscrutable readings of astrological signs and prophesies. All are overjoyed and overcome to be present at the birth of the Messiah, but Balthasar and Gaspar are also shown having a deep appreciation for what this glory means to their beloved friend.There is also the touching story of the very old, solitary, and kindly shepherd who shares his fire with Mary and Joseph telling them how his father said "We are all given something, a gift. Your gift is what your carry inside." Mary asks him "what was your gift?". "Nothing" he responds sorrowfully. Not long after the shepherd is present when the angel Gabriel announces the birth of the Messiah telling him to "rejoice – I bring you good tiding of great joy….". Mary encourages him to lay his hand on her newborn baby. In this way the filmmakers use this humble shepherd to represent all of mankind. His role helps to underline that Christ is a gift to us all.