Nativity Story: No Ordinary Joe
The Nativity Story See trailer
Opens Today, Dec 1
Rated: PG (some violence)
Running Time: 1:42
Principal Cast:
Mary – Keisha Castle-Hughes
Joseph – Oscar Isaac
Anna – Hiam Abbass
Joaquim – Shaun Toub
King Herod – Ciaran Hinds
Elizabeth – Shohreh Aghdashloo
Today, we took our whole staff to see The Nativity Story, starring Keisha Castle-Hughes as Mary and Oscar Isaac as Joseph. My instant review is that it is faithful to the Biblical story, given that there is not a lot of scriptural text to work with in making the film. I agreed with Peter Chattaway of Christianity Today who said ” Castle-Hughes was a bit of a blank”.
Overall, I felt the strongest character was Joseph, who faced a cultural uncomfortable situation, (pregnant fiancée), yet continually showed us that he would do the right thing and make the right decision, in leading and guiding his family. In this film, Joseph is freed to show us the struggles that he faced – no whitewashing of the strain he felt in his home village and the sense of betrayal by Mary. Yet he shows us a sense of humor on the journey.
I think this was brilliantly filmed in Morocco, Italy, Nazareth and France and served as an authentic story-telling of the Nativity story when the God of the universe stepped into our reality and allowed His son to be born of a human mother.
Thanks for your comment in my blog. I agree that the character of Joseph was the strongest, but I also thought Mary’s character was quite strong. I suppose it is natural that I’m able to empathize with her and her situation, though.