The Nativity Story

{{Infobox film

| name = The Nativity Story

| image = The Nativity Story.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Catherine Hardwicke

| producer = {{plainlist|

Wyck Godfrey
Marty Bowen

}}

| writer = Mike Rich

| starring = {{plainlist|

}}

| music = Mychael Danna

| cinematography = Elliot Davis

| editing = {{plainlist|

Robert K. Lambert
Stuart Levy

}}

| studio = Temple Hill Entertainment

| distributor = New Line Cinema

| released = {{Film date|2006|11|26|Vatican City|2006|12|1|United States}}

| runtime = 101 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English
Hebrew

| budget = $35 million

| gross = $46.4 million

}}

The Nativity Story is a 2006 American biblical drama film based on the nativity of Jesus and directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The film stars Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Hiam Abbass, Shaun Toub, Alexander Siddig, Ciarán Hinds, and Shohreh Aghdashloo.

The Nativity Story premiered in Vatican City on November 26, 2006, making it the first film to hold a world premiere in the city,{{cite web|last1=Sherwood|first1=Harriet|title=Martin Scorsese's Silence to premiere at the Vatican|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/25/martin-scorsese-silence-premiere-vatican-jesuit-missionaries-japan|website=The Guardian|access-date=15 April 2018|language=en|date=25 November 2016|archive-date=December 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203135254/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/25/martin-scorsese-silence-premiere-vatican-jesuit-missionaries-japan|url-status=live}} and was released in the United States on December 1, 2006, by New Line Cinema. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $46 million worldwide.{{cite news|last1=Kiefer|first1=Peter|title=Vatican Plays Host for 'Nativity Story' Premiere|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/movies/27cnd-vatican.html|access-date=June 22, 2014|publisher=The New York Times Company|date=November 27, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140622194634/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/27/movies/27cnd-vatican.html|archive-date=June 22, 2014}}

Plot

In the Roman province of Judea, the Massacre of the Innocents is ordered. Via flashback, the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus Christ are shown to explain why King Herod the Great ordered the act.

One year before the massacre, Zechariah, a rabbi in Jerusalem, is making an offering, when he is told in a vision by the Archangel Gabriel that his wife, Elizabeth, will bear a son. Zechariah does not believe him, stating that he is too old, and Gabriel tells him that he will be unable to speak until the boy is born. In Nazareth, 14-year-old Mary lives a peaceful life with her family, only for that to be ruined as soldiers constantly come to collect taxes; one man, unable to pay, has a third of his land seized and his daughter pressed into debt slavery. Mary, betrothed to 32-year-old Joseph of Judaea, is soon visited by Archangel Gabriel and told that she will become pregnant with God's son, whom she will name "Jesus". He tells her that God has blessed her cousin Elizabeth with a child despite her old age. Mary visits her before the harvest, where she witnesses the birth of John the Baptist to Elizabeth and Zechariah, who regains his speech. Mary returns from the visit pregnant, to the shock of Joseph and her parents, who fear that Joseph will accuse her of adultery, a sin punishable by death through stoning according to the Torah. Joseph does not believe Mary's religious explanation but decides not to accuse her. Still shocked and angry, he is later visited in a dream by the Archangel Gabriel, who tells him of God's plan for Mary's son and to take Mary as his wife.

Meanwhile, Emperor Augustus has demanded that every man across the Empire return with his family to his place of birth for the census. As a direct descendant of King David, Joseph is forced to travel {{convert|110|km|sp=us}} across Judea's rocky terrain from Nazareth to Bethlehem, his native homeland. With Mary on a donkey laden with supplies, it takes the couple nearly four weeks to reach Bethlehem. Upon arriving in town, Mary goes into labor, and Joseph frantically seeks a place for her to deliver. There is, however, no room in any inn or home because of the people arriving for the census, but at the last minute, an innkeeper offers his stable for shelter.

Meanwhile, three Magi—Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar—travel towards Judaea after having previously discovered that three planets will align to form a great star. This Star of Bethlehem appears before the Magi, after a visit by the Archangel Gabriel. The Magi visit Herod and reveal to him that the Messiah is still a child and he will be a Messiah "for the lowest of men to the highest of kings." Shocked by this, Herod asks that they visit the newborn Messiah and report the child's location back to him, under the pretense that he, too, would like to worship him, while in fact, he plans to kill the baby for fear of a new king usurping him. The Magi arrive at the stable where Mary has given birth to Jesus, and they present the infant with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Suspicious of his intentions, the Magi avoid Herod, returning home via a different route. Herod realizes that the Magi have tricked him and orders the death of every boy in Bethlehem under the age of two. In the present, Joseph is warned in a dream of the danger and flees to Egypt with Mary and Jesus, Mary knowing her son will bring hope to mankind.

Cast

{{castlist|

Oscar Isaac as Joseph
Keisha Castle-Hughes as Mary
Hiam Abbass as Anna
Shaun Toub as Joachim
Ciarán Hinds as Herod the Great
Shohreh Aghdashloo as Elizabeth
Stanley Townsend as Zechariah
Alexander Siddig as the Angel Gabriel
Eriq Ebouaney as Balthasar
Alessandro Giuggioli as Herod Antipas
Nadim Sawalha as Melchior
Stefan Kalipha as Saint Caspar
Shelby Young as Naomi (voice) (uncredited)

}}

Production

The film was shot in Matera and Craco, Italy, and Ouarzazate, Morocco.{{cite web|last=Strain|first=Arthur|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6213440.stm|title=Star shines in Herod nativity role|website=BBC news|date=6 December 2006|access-date=January 14, 2020|archive-date=January 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114092530/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6213440.stm|url-status=live}}{{cite web|last=Bensalhia|first=John|url=https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/basilicata-blockbusters-what-watch-visiting|title=Basilicata Blockbusters: What To Watch Before Visiting|website=Italy Magazine|date=28 June 2016|access-date=January 17, 2020|archive-date=August 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822221505/https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/basilicata-blockbusters-what-watch-visiting|url-status=live}}

Reception

=Box office=

The Nativity Story opened to a modest first weekend at the domestic box office by grossing $7.8 million,{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2006&wknd=48&p=.htm|title=Weekend Box Office Results for December 1-3, 2006|work=IMDb|publisher=Box Office Mojo|access-date=14 December 2012|archive-date=September 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190918195158/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2006&wknd=48&p=.htm|url-status=live}} with a 39% increase over the extended Christmas weekend.{{cite web|title=The Nativity Story (2006) – Weekend Box Office Results|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=nativity.htm|work=IMDb|publisher=Box Office Mojo|access-date=14 December 2012|archive-date=April 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426075845/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=nativity.htm|url-status=live}} After its initial run, the film closed out with about $37.6 million in domestic gross and $8.8 million in foreign gross, resulting in a worldwide total of almost $46.4 million on a reported $35 million budget.{{cite web|title=The Nativity Story (2006)|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=nativity.htm|work=IMDb|publisher=Box Office Mojo|access-date=14 December 2012|archive-date=November 8, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108185004/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=nativity.htm|url-status=live}}

=Critical response=

The Nativity Story received mixed reviews. {{As of|2020|06}}, the film holds a 37% approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 131 reviews with an average rating of 5.29/10. The site's consensus says, "The Nativity Story is a dull retelling of a well-worn tale with the look and feel of a high-school production."{{cite web|title=The Nativity Story – Rotten Tomatoes|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nativity_story/|work=Flixster|publisher=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=20 June 2020|archive-date=September 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928061449/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nativity_story|url-status=live}} Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 52 based on 28 reviews.{{cite web|title=The Nativity Story|url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-nativity-story|work=CBS Interactive|publisher=Metacritic|access-date=14 December 2012|archive-date=March 10, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310052236/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-nativity-story|url-status=live}}

A. O. Scott of The New York Times gave the film a positive review saying, "At its best, The Nativity Story shares with Hail Mary an interest in finding a kernel of realism in the old story of a pregnant teenager in hard times. Buried in the pageantry, in other words, is an interesting movie."{{cite web|last=Scott|first=A. O.|title=The Virgin Mary as a Teenager With Worries|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/movies/01nati.html?_r=0|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=14 December 2012|date=1 December 2006|archive-date=August 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803073038/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/movies/01nati.html?_r=0|url-status=live}} Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post concluded a positive review of the film stating, "The most intriguing thing about The Nativity Story transpires during the couple's extraordinary personal journey, advancing a radical idea in an otherwise long slog of a cinematic Sunday school lesson: that Jesus became Who He was not only because He was the Son of God, but because He was the son of a good man."{{cite web|last=Hornaday|first=Ann|title=Chapter and Verse|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113001587.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=14 December 2012|date=1 December 2006|archive-date=December 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223064948/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113001587.html|url-status=live}}

Conversely, many critics felt that the film did not take the story to new cinematic heights. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly noted, "The Nativity Story is a film of tame picture-book sincerity, but that's not the same thing as devotion. The movie is too tepid to feel, or see, the light."{{cite web|last=Gleiberman|first=Owen|title=The Nativity Story (2006)|url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1564208,00.html|newspaper=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=14 December 2012|date=29 November 2006|archive-date=November 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105180904/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1564208,00.html|url-status=dead}} Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said, "This is not a chance to 'experience the most timeless of stories as you've never seen it before' but just the opposite: an opportunity, for those who want it, to encounter this story exactly the way it's almost always been told."{{cite web|last=Turan|first=Kenneth|title='The Nativity Story': A "Story" told with too much naiveté|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/cl-et-nativity1dec01,1,4548828.story|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108075643/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/cl-et-nativity1dec01,1,4548828.story|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 January 2009|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=14 December 2012|date=1 December 2012}}

Incidents

Keisha Castle-Hughes became pregnant during filming, at the age of 16, and received a lot of media attention.{{cite web|title=Introducing Felicity-Amore Hull — Keisha speaks about her labor, delivery, and new little girl|url=http://celebritybabies.people.com/2007/06/08/introducing_fel/|publisher=People|access-date=14 December 2012|date=8 June 2007|archive-date=March 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325023937/http://celebritybabies.people.com/2007/06/08/introducing_fel/|url-status=dead}}

Music

Mychael Danna's score of the film was released as an album on December 5, 2006. The album was nominated for a Dove Award for Instrumental Album of the Year at the 39th GMA Dove Awards.[http://www.cbn.com/cbnmusic/news/021508doves.aspx Nominations Announced for 39th GMA Dove Awards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011122444/http://www.cbn.com/cbnmusic/news/021508doves.aspx |date=October 11, 2012 }} on CBN.com (February 14, 2008)

An album of songs inspired by the film was also released under the title The Nativity Story: Sacred Songs. It featured music by artists like Point of Grace, Amy Grant, Jaci Velasquez, and others.{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I2IROG|title=Soundtrack - The Nativity Story: Sacred Songs - Amazon.com Music|website=Amazon|access-date=September 16, 2017|archive-date=August 3, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230803073044/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I2IROG|url-status=live}}