The Nativity Story

There were 25 of us from Keele Street Christian Church and 9 other people in the audience for a showing of The Nativity Story on Wednesday evening. Pastor Grant had posed the question, "Why would I see it?", in his sermon titled Strong & Silent:Joseph last Sunday. His answer was that because we are so familiar with the story we sometimes forget the drama of the story. He encouraged us to view the film in order to reconnect with the drama of it.
Through this film, one gets a feel for what life in Nazareth and Jerusalem would have been like at that time - the constant work needed to keep life and limb together overshadowed by fear of the Roman soldiers and King Herod's oppressive regime. I found the scenes with Mary and her Cousin Elizabeth particularly moving.
I realize it is difficult to collapse the timeline of the four gospels into a two and a half hour film, however I found the Magi storyline diverged too far from the scriptures for my taste.