By Diana Hart
Lock up your eggnog. Hide your advent calendars. Put aside your yuletide cheer. You’re going to need to be fully prepared for what you’re about to face. Don’t say nobody warned you.
It’s that time of year again and that means one thing … the annual onslaught of cheesy holiday movies. The longstanding tradition of horrendous holiday movies is going strong and coming your way, with the prime candidate for the “How did this get made?” award going to the ghastly-looking Deck the Halls with Matthew Broderick and the usually lovable Danny DeVito.
‘Tis the season where movie studios try to make a quick buck off holiday cheer. The resulting films are, to put it nicely, mixed in quality. For every adorable success like Will Ferrell’s Elf, there is a cringe-worthy failure like Ben Affleck’s Surviving Christmas.
But this year, aside from the traditional corny Christmas movies, comes a film searching for the elusive and potentially huge religious audience.
The simply-titled The Nativity Story, which hit theatres last week, tells the story of Mary and Joseph’s two-year trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The film is marketing what is effectively the opening chapter of one of the world’s leading religions. For Christians, this is the true meaning behind Christmas, leaving audiences to ask themselves one question: is nothing sacred?
After the phenomenal success of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, which made more than $370 million US dollars at the box office, with millions more in DVD sales, the Scrooge-like studio executives realized something. Religion could actually drive people to theatres.
How much one filmmaker will be able to fill her stocking this year depends on one crucial fact, was The Passion of the Christ a fluke?
There was a certain magic in the strange novelty of seeing a then-beloved Hollywood icon’s film in an ancient language on such heart-wrenching content matter. This mystical quality may not carry over to the quieter The Nativity Story, with its little known cast playing the first family of Christmas.
Not that this cast isn’t raising controversy on its own. The film’s 16-year-old New Zealand-raised star, Keisha Castle-Hughes, has already achieved huge critical success with an Oscar nomination for 2002’s Whale Rider. She’s recently been in a storm of criticism after announcing that she, like her character, is about to become a young mother. This news has gained more attention than the movie itself, as gossipers speculate Castle-Hughes’ absence at the film’s Vatican premiere was to avoid the disapproving Catholic church.
As Ottawa residents put on their mittens and jackets to see their own children and relatives put on their shepherd, wiseman and donkey costumes to perform this Christmas classic, it’s hard to imagine crowds giving in their gift-spending money to see the portrayal on screen.
With the movie’s attempt at deepness with this holiday tale, religious audiences might be better entertained with a movie where they don’t already know every aspect of the story.
Also there’s something to be said for a Christmas movie that isn’t trying to change the world of moviemaking. The Nativity Story trailer’s promise to “show the world’s most famous family in a way you’ve never seen them before” seems highly unlikely with the multitude of television movies that have come before it.
This holiday, when you’re looking for something to watch with your gingerbread, how about something a little less deep and a little more ridiculous and heartwarming, The Santa Clause anyone?