Method Acting

It's holiday time again, and the Christmas release is upon us. Appropriate for the season, and for family viewing, is Catherine Hardwicke's telling of the nativity story. Will it be divisive, like The Passion? Will right-wingers scream for more while the left decries this pandering to one minority? Free adverts that were supposed to be put up in Chicago as part of their annual German-themed Christmas market were pulled because of ... go on with you, even the dog in the street knows the ads were pulled because the city wasn't getting any revenue. There's paid ads posted on the bus shelters and no one is saying they're divisive or prejudicial.

Director Hardwicke took the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and fleshed out the bits in between the sentences. There's not a whole lot of detail in the books of the Apostles, and the film's writers used the Biblical passages as a skeleton and then put some meat on the dry old bones.

Historians suggest that Mary was most likely around thirteen at the time of the Great Event, so Ms. Hardwicke chose a very talented Maori actress who's about sixteen herself. Keisha Castle-Hughes looks the part of a young girl just entering puberty, unlike any other film treatment that featured a mature woman portraying the Virgin Mary. Despite her tender years, Keisha has proven to be a keen student of her role, preparing for her scenes with a nod to the Marlon Brando style of acting.

Not merely studying to portray the Virgin Mary, the sixteen-year-old actress must have been so extremely focused on becoming the Mother of God that she went and got pregnant, out of wedlock, although no one is saying it was a visit by the Holy Spirit that brought on her condition. She admits the child is the offspring of her boyfriend. He is indeed a carpenter. I am not making this up.

Will the Conservative Christians be so appalled by this outcome that they stay away from theaters? Will Mary and Joseph...er, I mean, Keisha and her paramour, tie the knot and make it legal? She could make the rounds of the talk shows and tell us all how she was inspired by the film and got a bit carried away with the method acting. But if she names the baby Jesus, well, that's going too far altogether.