Posted by
SciFiCCGuy on Monday, January 22, 2007 1:21:59 PM
Every December, we seem to watch a glut of Christmas movies, and despite the fact that I’ve named many of them as favorite movies in my journal, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Polar Express, and A Christmas Story, there’s still a whole bunch I haven’t, such as National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s a Wonderful Life, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Elf, or even a new one I saw for the first time called Surviving Christmas. I liked them all, even Surviving Christmas, yet it should be noted these movies are listed in order of best to worst (and if you take exception to the fact that I picked National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation over It’s a Wonderful Life or How the Grinch Stole Christmas over Elf, keep in mind that this is 2006, not 1946, and that the way I’ve placed them on this list is still somewhat debatable).
The Nativity Story is definitely another Christmas movie for the plus column. Despite some negative publicity about Hollywood trying to cash in on the Christian crowd with product designed for them, or the fact that the actress playing the virgin Mary, Keisha Castle-Hughes, was a pregnant teen in real life and was not invited to be part of the marketing campaign, The Nativity Story still stands as quite a remarkable movie, and definitely one of the best Christmas movies I’ve seen. When Hollywood decides to put its mind to it (and its money, and its writers and special effects and cinematographers) I’m actually amazed that they can still make a movie that glorifies God. And why not? Sometimes God works in mysterious ways. If this movie reaches at least one person with the message that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of mankind, and thereby saves that person’s soul, then it will all be worth it, regardless of some of this negative publicity.
My sister got me a movie called End of the Spear for Christmas, and it was a powerful movie as well, telling the true story of a group of Christians who were brutally butchered by the Waodani tribe in the Amazon jungles. Later, the Waodani man who murdered the leader became a believer and even, amazingly, developed a friendship with the man’s grown son. After marveling at the compelling story and acting (and it was a very well put together movie), my sister discovered that the man who played both the murdered Christian leader and his grown son, Chad Allen, is apparently in real life, a homosexual supporting many gay causes. (I'd include the html, but it takes you to a gay site, of course.) Perhaps that may be why the people who released this film, 20th Century Fox and Every Tribe Entertainment, seem to have downplayed him in the marketing. The DVD for it doesn’t have his picture anywhere on it, on the front or the back, though they show several pictures of the Waodani and the man’s wife and son. My point is, does it really matter when all is said and done? Does the fact that Chad Allen is gay or that Keisha Castle-Hughes is a pregnant teen out of wedlock change the overall message of these movies? Not at all. In fact, you have to do a certain amount of research to even know such things about these actors. A normal person going to a theater, picking these movies off a video shelf, or ordering them over a cable or satellite service doesn’t necessarily know all the background information, and doesn’t need to know it. In fact, it’s better if they don’t.
As far as Christian product goes, I’d put The Nativity Story up against just about any of them. Despite the fact that this is pure Hollywood merchandise, it manages, through expert use of all the elements of film, to rise above that moniker to become art. I mean, even Michelangelo had to please his patrons, yet still managed to make some stunning classics. Art doesn’t have to be just product simply because business and money are part of the schematics.
On a side-note, being a confirmed Trekkie (something I’m not always wholly proud of), I’m glad to see that some Star Trek actors can make a career for themselves outside of that typecasting sci-fi show. That’s Alexander Siddig, Dr. Bashir from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, who keeps showing up as the Angel Gabriel (and, I might add, he’s also on the new season of 24). I’m sure my family was thoroughly embarrassed when I just had to lean over in the movie theater and tell them, “Hey, that’s Dr. Bashir!”