- Film Review
- Reviewed By Stella Papamichael
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2 out of 5
After crashing onto the indie scene with the dynamic and controversial growing-pains chronicle Thirteen, director Catherine Hardwicke shows much more decorum for The Nativity Story. Unfortunately her retelling of the Christmas story is rather too reverential, full of po-faced performances from a cast that includes Keisha Castle-Hughes as the Virgin Mary. Considering that Mary is a young teenager at the time she falls miraculously pregnant, she has surprisingly little awe or curiosity about her predicament (qualities that Castle-Hughes exuded in abundance in coming-of-age yarn Whale Rider). It doesn't help that Hardwicke treats every extraordinary incident as a given, shying away from too much speculation about Mary's innermost fears. She portrays icons instead of human beings, while Ciaran Hinds comes across like a pantomime villain in the role of King Herod. None of this will concern devout Christians, but anyone hoping for more than an RE lesson will be disappointed.
Plot Summary
Religious drama starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac and Ciaran Hinds. In the small town of Nazareth, teenager Mary is reluctantly betrothed to a young man called Joseph, but is then visited by an angel who tells her she has been chosen to bear the son of God.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Mary
- Keisha Castle-Hughes
- Joseph
- Oscar Isaac
- Anna
- Hiam Abbass
- Joaquim
- Shaun Toub
- King Herod
- Ciaran Hinds
- Elizabeth
- Shohreh Aghdashloo
- Zechariah
- Stanley Townsend
- The Angel Gabriel
- Alexander Siddig
- Melchior
- Nadim Sawalha
- Balthasar
- Eriq Ebouaney
- Old shepherd
- Ted Rusoff
- Gaspar
- Stefan Kalipha
Crew
- Director
- Catherine Hardwicke
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