History Film / TheNativityStory

* YoungFutureFamousPeople: How about ''[[UpToEleven unborn]]'' future [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} famous person]]?

* King Herod the Great (Creator/CiaranHinds) gets plenty of screen time to demonstrate both why he was "great" and why he's mostly remembered as a cruel and paranoid tyrant; his son Antipas (Creator/AlessandroGiuggioli) also spends considerable time with him in many of these scenes.

* Meanwhile, somewhere to the east, the Three Wise Men (Creator/StefanKalipha, Creator/NadimSawalha and Creator/EriqEbouaney) have noticed some odd behavior in the stars telling them a child of some significance is soon to be born in Israel; naturally, they decide they'd like to see this for themselves.

[[quoteright:281:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Nativity_Story_362.png]]
[[caption-width-right:281:So what's this movie about, you ask? [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin What, do we have to spell it out for you?]]]]

!!Provides Examples Of:

While most of this film does focus on the conception and birth of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} as indicated in the title, several subplots also get considerable screen time:
* King Herod the Great gets plenty of screen time to demonstrate both why he was "great" and why he's mostly remembered as a cruel and paranoid tyrant; his son Antipas also spends considerable time with him in many of these scenes.
* Mary's cousin Elizabeth, though past her child-bearing years, is also having a baby. After all, as Gabriel explains to Mary, if God can do that for her, getting a virgin pregnant can't be too much more difficult, can it?
* Meanwhile, somewhere to the east, the Three Wise Men have noticed some odd behavior in the stars telling them a child of some significance is soon to be born in Israel; naturally, they decide they'd like to see this for themselves.

* RuleOfThree: This movie goes with the very traditional (though not strictly Biblical) ThreeWiseMen, who are stated to have brought three gifts.

* AnachronismStew: Mary's question of why she has to marry a man she does not love is a mild case of ValuesDissonance, relating to a wholly modern concern and therefore a question no one in her culture would have asked in the first place.
** Or maybe not. This plot point could have drawn on ancient traditions that Mary never meant to marry, but to remain a consecrated virgin her whole life.
** Mary was still a young girl. Wanting to be with someone you love wasn't invented in the modern era, especially for a girl of 16.
** Several scenes also have more concrete historical inaccuracies, such as Roman soldiers having beards and their horses having stirrups.

* ArrangedMarriage: Mary's marriage with Joseph.
** PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: The film portrays Joseph as already liking Mary before they were engaged, and Mary warms up to him after a bit.

* BibleTimes: Our setting, of course.

* ButICantBePregnant: Kind of the ultimate example - this birth has to have been truly miraculous because Mary hadn't had sex with anybody.
** In an ironic twist, Creator/KeishaCastleHughes, who played Mary, was pregnant with her boyfriend Bradley Hull's child, which created a minor scandal at the time of filming.
** Also covers Elizabeth, though in her case it's because she's supposed to be too old to have a baby.

* {{Irony}}: Shohreh Aghdashloo is a Muslim actress playing a Jewish character. She even notes this fact in a past interview.

* MysticalPregnancy: Both Mary and Elizabeth experience one-- Elizabeth being thought to be too old to have children, Mary being [[VirginPower a virgin]].

* OhCrap: Joseph, after Mary tells him that her water just broke upon reaching Bethlehem.

* PragmaticAdaptation: This not being a musical, some of the the poetry traditionally identified as "songs" in the book of Luke was understandably either trimmed down or trimmed out.
** Also, TheThreeWiseMen show up at [[AwayInAManger the manger]], despite most Bible scholars believing they more likely arrived some time later. Obviously, the more accurate version would have resulted in an anticlimax.
* RomanceEnsues: Between Mary and Joseph having to join forces against suspicious parents and neighbors, and taking a long journey together to Bethlehem and beyond, how could it not?
** Of course, it didn't hurt that in this version of the story, Joseph was already into Mary. The movie suggests that rather than being a strictly arranged marriage he actually requested permission from her parents.
* RuleOfThree: This movie goes with the very traditional (though not strictly Biblical) ThreeWiseMen.
** Traditional, of course, because they are stated to have brought three gifts.

* TheThreeWiseMen: Naturally.

* TeenPregnancy: Played straight, despite the unusual circumstances (see NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished): Mary's reputation with the townspeople takes a serious hit, as does Joseph's when he decides to go through with the marriage.
** Which is amusing seeing as how Castle-Hughes was actually pregnant during the filming of the movie.
* TranslationConvention

* FollowTheLeader: Likely wouldn't have secured a wide release without ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist''.

** In an ironic twist, Keisha Castle-Hughes, who played Mary, was pregnant with her boyfriend Bradley Hull's child, which created a minor scandal at the time of filming.

* BibleTimes: Our setting, of course.

Courtesy of Catherine Hardwicke, and adapted principally from the books of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament, ''The Nativity Story'' is a fairly high-budget movie adaptation of a story particularly popular in churches during the Christmas season.

* Literature/TheBible: Our source, of course.

* GreaterScopeVillain: While mentioned in the opening, and alluded to be the reason for the high taxation and brutality of the land, Emperor Ceaser Augustus never makes an appearance in the story.

* YoungFutureFamousPeople: How about ''unborn'' future [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} famous person]]?

While most of this film does focus on the conception and birth of {{Jesus}} as indicated in the title, several subplots also get considerable screen time:

* YoungFutureFamousPeople: How about ''unborn'' future [[{{Jesus}} famous person]]?

Courtesy of Catherine Hardwicke, and adapted principally from the books of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament, '''''The Nativity Story''''' is a fairly high-budget movie adaptation of a story particularly popular in churches during the Christmas season.

* {{Badass}}: Joseph. Not only does he build his house with his bare hands, but after Mary's pregnancy is revealed he has to do it ''alone.'' He saves Mary and their donkey from drowning, protects them against thieves and pickpockets in Jerusalem, and after Mary goes into labor and can no longer travel just a short distance from their destination, he carries her into Bethlehem going door to door before finally finding a safe place for her to give birth.

* BigBadassBirdOfPrey: The film uses a hawk to symbolize the Holy Spirit. Quite a step up from the usual dove.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: parodied: Arguably; the tremendous honor of getting pregnant with God's own son was actually intended as a ''reward'' and a blessing for Mary's virtue, but it feels a lot more like a punishment throughout this movie.
* NowIKnowWhatToNameHim: Take a wild guess.
** Also counts for Zechariah being told by God to name his son John.