Journey To Bethlehem: The Nativity As Musical Rom-Com

I watched Journey to Bethlehem a while back. I planned to do so when it was the appropriate time, around Christmas, but didn’t manage to get to it then. After that another Christmas came and went and I still failed to return to it. As this Christmas dawned, it seemed as though I ought to say something about this attempt to turn the mythical story told in the Gospels into a romantic comedy musical.

There was a time when I would at least have objected, as some reviewers of the movie have, that the filmmaker Adam Anders “took some liberties” with their source material. After many years of grappling with the historical problems in the infancy stories in the Gospels, and many years teaching a course on the Bible and music, I am more than okay with art in all its forms doing what it does so well, namely exploring. The Gospel authors show themselves to have been doing the same thing. Although they are not strictly said to be sung, song lyrics without music are poetry, and the Gospel of Luke may thus be said to insert several musical numbers into his narrative. In my class on the Bible and music, I talk about why even those who love musicals may bristle at a one-off musical episode in their favorite show. We immerse ourselves in a story, whether as musical or as realistic drama. We suspend our disbelief. A sudden shift of genre jolts us out of our immersion.

Yet we fail to allow ourselves to be similarly jolted, as we ought to be, by the musical numbers in the Bible. Did the Israelites stop immediately after crossing the Sea of Reeds to hold a songwriting workshop? No. It is just that when telling certain stories of importance and power, they call out for something more than just prosaic words. They need song, they need poetry, they need special effects.

And so just enjoy the exploration, recognizing that the Gospel authors and modern filmmakers are doing something similar, and you’ll love hearing Antonio Banderas as King Herod sing “It’s Good to Be King” no matter how well you know the Gospel of Matthew, and even if you know Herod the Great as a historical figure in quite a lot of detail.

So what are some other highlights of the movie Journey to Bethlehem? Mary and Joseph are in an arranged betrothal and have yet to meet in person. Both have dreams for their future. Mary’s father is a teacher and she dreams of being one as well. Joseph is an inventor. There are tensions between the filmmakers trying to depict the marriage as a traditional ancient one, and also have the couple sing songs that reflect modern sentiments.

Herod sings the phrase “mine is the kingdom, mine is the power,” conveying in a way that I suspect that many people today tend to miss that the Lord’s Prayer was not apolitical. (See also the Magnificat.)

Perhaps my favorite aspect of the story is the struggle of Antipater, Herod’s eldest son, to come to terms with his duty to his father and his future role as king, when he is clearly uncomfortable with his father’s cruelty. When the massacre of the infants occurs, he is the one who directly intervenes to save Jesus. While much of this is not based in history, Herod the Great did execute his son Antipater, and so the movie is at this point speculating around history rather than merely fabricating.

The song “In My Blood” conveys Antipater’s struggle in a way that is powerful, effective, even moving.

The magi and the angel Gabriel are mostly there for comedy relief. That the film takes its subject lightheartedly doesn’t mean it is irreverent. The only viewers who are likely to find it disrespectful are those who imagine that the Gospel portraits are history and anything that deals with them playfully is therefore a departure from the truth, or those who find any humor related to religion offensive. Otherwise, I think anyone should be able to watch Journey to Bethlehem and enjoy it for what it is. When a story has been told as frequently as the nativity story has been, it is impressive to be able to come up with a fresh way of engaging with it.

What did you think of Journey to Bethlehem? If you’ve never seen it, you can get it through Amazon or in many other ways.

Here are some past things from me related to Christmas and history, for the benefit of any newcomers to this blog who were surprised by what I said on that topic: