If you didn't buy it then, you should definitely try it this Christmas season. This is a powerful rendition of a timeless story, with a cast of strong young actors. Mary (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and Joseph (Oscar Isaac) weave a conflicted but convincing love that grows as they ready themselves for the destiny of rearing the Son of God made flesh.
2000 years ago, when it came out in the original, only a few shepherds and just three wealthy wise men knelt at the feet of the Holy Family. I'm told, it didn't do as well as they had hoped at the box office, when it came out last year. Not to worry. The pay-off comes in the manger scenes. They're timeless.
When the shepherds and three reluctant Wise Men reverently approach the manger, the wondering Joseph watches them, who listened to the Angel and followed a guiding star, to approach the King of Kings.
Elliot Davis's cinematography is marvelous, with a gritty realism that carries you back in time, and plunks you down beside the fire. The constant threat of the Roman Occupation cast an oppressive pallor on all Jerusalem - the brutal taxation, the slaughter of innocents, the unrelenting barren landscape of Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Egypt. Like granules of grit and dirt, interesting faces surround us in all the crowd scenes, further carrying the illusion deeper.
Especially effective as Herod is Ciarn Hinds, who recently starred in Amazing Grace - the film about William Wilburforce and the abolition of the slave trade. Hinds was most notable in his role as the young naval officer Frederick Wentworth in the 1995 Masterpiece Theatre production of Jane Austen's Persuasion.
Add this film to your holiday favorites. It is a classic of Christmas witness.
URL:http://www.thenativitystory.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment