Sometimes CT Movies editor Mark Moring can’t help imposing his opinions on other people’s articles. Over at his blog, Jeffrey Overstreet notes one such occurence:
When I turned in my review of Children of Men, one of the closing paragraphs went like this:This Christmas, you’re unlikely to find any film that gives you a better sense of the pressure Mary and Joseph must have experienced, the dangers they dodged, the responsibility they accepted, and the hope that their child brought to the world.
You’ll notice that someone made a rather severe edit in what was published:
This Christmas, there’s more than one film that gives you a sense of the pressure Mary and Joseph must have experienced, the dangers they dodged, the responsibility they accepted, and the hope that their child brought to the world.
(I’ve highlighted the change in blue.)
I hate to have to point this out, but this edit isn’t about fixing an error. It changes my point entirely.
I’m just sayin’… those aren’t my words, and it isn’t my opinion.
The Nativity Story did NOT give me a good sense of the pressures, dangers, and dread Mary and Joseph must have experienced. The film moved too fast, and by downplaying the slaughter of the innocents in order to get a family-friendly rating (a decision I applaud, by the way, because I’m glad families can attend the film), it took away much of the burden they must have felt watching a whole generation of boys killed off.
Children of Men, on the other hand, doesn’t abbreviate its depiction of a violent world, a place so volcanic with bloodshed that the fragility of a baby’s life is accentuated. We come to care so intently about that baby’s survival because of the film’s intense darkness.
While I’m sure The Nativity Story will be a blessing to many viewers, there is one thing it does not communicate very powerfully: the effect of Herod’s violence on the people in his kingdom.
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