It is the story of a young woman who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. The birth takes place against a dramatic background and makes its mark on history.
The plot of The Nativity Story is familiar enough. But the parallels between the lives of the Virgin Mary and the teenage actress who plays her in the first feature film to be premiered at the Vatican are causing controversy.
The Pope, upon whose doorstep the first showing takes place on Sunday, will not be attending. Nor will Keisha Castle-Hughes, the 16-year-old unmarried actress who plays Mary and who is expecting her first child in the spring.
Castle-Hughes, who said she was “thrilled” to be pregnant”, said she had made the film “in a state of grace”. Playing Mary, a “sweet, strong and courageous” figure, had been “a source of spiritual richness”.
A Vatican spokesman said yesterday that the Pope “never was going to attend. The surprise would have been if he had.” His decision had nothing to do with the film. He is 79 and preparing for a visit to Turkey on Tuesday.
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Castle-Hughes, who became the youngest nominee for a Best Actress Oscar when she was shortlisted at the age of 13 for her role as the Maori girl Paikea in Whale Rider in 2002, will be in Australia filming. A part-Maori New Zealander, she also appeared as the Queen of Naboo in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith last year.
The father of her baby is Bradley Hull, her 19-year-old boyfriend of three years, whom she met in high school.
In the film, made in Italy and aimed at the Christmas market, Oscar Isaac, a Guatemalan actor who appears in the forthcoming Guerrilla, plays Joseph and the Iranian actress Shoreh Aghdashloo as Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist.
The film, which follows the unexpected box-office success of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ three years ago, is directed by Catherine Hardwicke, noted for Thirteen, a raw account of modern female adolescence, and Lords of Dogtown, about surfers and skateboarders in California.
Christian websites in the US and Canada have questioned Castle-Hughes’s “suitability” to play the mother of Christ.
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The film is made by New Line, the company that made the Lord of the Rings films, and is described as a chronicle of “the arduous journey of two people, Mary and Joseph, a miraculous pregnancy and the history-defining birth of Jesus”.
Father Melchor Sánchez de Toca y Alameda, deputy to Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Papal Council for Culture, which is hosting the screening, confirmed there were rumours that Castle-Hughes’s presence on Sunday had been “vetoed”, but said he “did not believe them”. He gave the film “8½ out of 10”, and said Castle-Hughes was “not expected to be a saint herself, only to do her work as an actress properly”.
Father Sánchez said he found “no major theological errors”, and the film’s graphic portrayal of Mary’s labour pains accentuated her humanity. But he added: “The interior religious life of Mary and Joseph is barely mentioned. I would have liked greater reflection on the trial of faith which is asked of them.”
In the film, Mary’s betrothal to Joseph is imposed on her by her parents, and local people are scandalised to hear that she is pregnant. “Two thousand years ago — how similar is that to teenage life now?” Hardwicke said.
The director admitted that scenes showing Mary and Elizabeth feeling the movements of the babies in each other’s wombs were “kind of girly. That’s the chick flick part of it.” But she had wanted to get across their “inspiring strength, dignity and beauty”.
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In America Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, said The Nativity Story was “Hollywood finally putting Christ back into Christmas”. The consultants included Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham. She said: “God’s hand is on this movie. It is destined to become a beloved Christmas classic.”
Mr Baehr said that after The Passion, Hollywood had “recognised there’s a gigantic part of the population that goes to church each week. Christian movies make two to seven times as much money, and often four to six times as much money, as movies with explicit sex and nudity.”
Proceeds from the premiere will go toward construction of a school in Mughar, a village 25 miles from Nazareth.
Faith under fire
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The Last Temptation of Christ Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film showed Christ in bed with Mary Magdalene. Record complaints when shown on Channel 4
The Passion of the Christ Mel Gibson’s film is said to have been “watched and enjoyed” by the Pope but it was criticised for portraying Jews as “bloodthirsty, and money-hungry”. 2004
The Da Vinci Code “Full of calumnies, offences, and historical and theological errors,” Archbishop Angelo Amato said. 2006
The Pope Must Die(t)
A light-hearted comedy. The ‘t’ was added when companies refused to promote it. 1991
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Source: Times archives, Catholic World News