Merry Christmas

I went to see the Nativity Story last week with the family. If you're familiar with Christian mythology, this should be nothing new to you. It's a pretty feel-good story, that tells the bibical version of Jesus' birth literally. So literally, that the film staged its world premiere in Vatican City. I'm not one for bibical stories -- although Christian mythology does have some pretty good stories that have been (and could be) turned into great fantasy films -- but I really wanted to see this one because it supposedly went for historical accuracy in the portrayal of the characters of the nativity story. For me, that was a refreshing break to the brunette/blue-eyed Jesus that is familiar to North Americans. The movie didn't disappoint from that respect. Mary was played by 16-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes, who was 12 when she gave an incredible performance in Whale Rider. There is just something about a Maori girl playing Mary, that I found satisfying. Sorry, can't explain it. Other notable actors were Hiam Abbass, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Alexander Siddig and Oscar Isaac. The performances were pretty good, but the best was the comedy relief of the three wise men, played by Nadim Sawalha, Eriq Ebouaney and Stefan Kalipha. A pretty good movie from an international cast.

Related:

• The pagan origins of Christmas
• Mithras -- that other saviour that came before Jesus

Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion: The Root of Evil [47:51 mins]

Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion: The Virus of Faith [47:58 mins]

Calvin and Hobbes: Snowman [stolen from here] -- Click the thumbnails to see the larger images.