At least I don’t have to spend much time describing the plot. Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) portrays Mary, who has been forced by her parents to marry the wealthy Joseph (Oscar Isaac) and told to remain pure for one year. Shortly thereafter, she is visited by a messenger from God, who informs her that she has found favor with the Lord and will soon be giving birth to His son. Mary and Joseph then head for Bethlehem while King Herod (Ciaran Hinds) seeks to learn more about the prophesy of a Messiah. You already know the part about there being not enough room at the inn and an available manger nearby. As all this is happening, three wise men follow the North Star to the location where the Messiah is born.

Here’s where it gets a little weird. Everyone knows the story of the nativity. Who among us can’t tell it from memory? The movie assumes we know it, and doesn’t bother to add much to the telling. This approach renders the film bland. It’s essentially going through the motions of dramatizing something that is common knowledge. That doesn’t really work. Even if you’re dealing with something as familiar as the nativity story, you still have to make it 3-dimensional on screen. In other words, if you’re going to tell the story in cinematically, it needs to use the tools that are available within the medium.

I was reminded of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, which depicted the crucifixion of Jesus as it was taught to us all in Sunday school, albeit with a lot more graphic violence. That picture let us see the event through Christ’s eyes. Over the course of two hours, we identified with Christ as He struggled with and eventually embraced his destiny to die so that others could be reborn. Despite what some may say, that movie’s strongest impact didn’t come from seeing what Jesus went through during the crucifixion; it came from feeling how he accepted it, knowing it was his reason for being on Earth. The Passion was a great example of how you can take advantage of the deep characterization that cinema allows to portray the emotions behind a Biblical event.

While all the familiar events are depicted in The Nativity Story, it shortcuts a lot of things in the characterization department, assuming that anyone who has read the Bible will be able to fill in the gaps. While that may be true, an opportunity to do something spiritually meaningful was lost. Consider Mary – a young woman who has been chosen to give birth to God’s flesh-and-blood son. Surely, she would have felt a combination of emotions: wonderment, pride, apprehension, possibly even nervousness. Amazingly, the Mary in this movie approaches it with general ambivalence. She doesn’t really show a lot of emotion about birthing the Messiah. I wish that were different. Movies have the ability to take us deep into the minds and souls of the characters. They can show us what people are thinking and how they are feeling in the deepest recesses of their hearts. The movie should have shown us Mary going through all these disparate emotions and eventually realizing that her love for God – and her desire to heed His call – is enough to keep her going despite the various obstacles in her path. Can you imagine how moving that would be? By avoiding this approach and sticking to a straightforward, events-only take, The Nativity Story never achieves its potential.

I have to say that I’m surprised. When I heard that Catherine Hardwicke was directing, I thought she was a brilliant choice. Hardwicke’s previous films, Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown were meticulous, insightful studies of adolescent angst and rebellion. It seemed logical that she would want to explore the nativity story from Mary’s point of view. If any director was going to put us in Mary’s sandals and make us understand what it would feel like to be chosen by God, Hardwicke would seem to be the one. Curious, then, that she avoids using her greatest strengths as a filmmaker in service of this story.

In total fairness, The Nativity Story is very pleasant, well-made, and generally enjoyable. By no means is it a bad film. It just feels slow, draggy, and rote because it never really lets us see the story through the eyes of Mary – and that’s exactly how we want to see it. Only in the final 20 minutes, when Jesus is born, does the movie start to spark. (Then again, you’d have to be completely incompetent to mess that up.) The faithful will certainly want to see The Nativity Story, and I’m certainly glad that I did see it. However, there is an inescapable feeling that the film could have been so much more than it is. A motion picture depicting the birth of the Savior ought to stir the soul, not just pass time during a frantic holiday season.

( 1/2 out of four)

The Nativity Story is rated PG for some violent content. The running time is 1 hour and 37 minutes.