The Nativity: Episode 3 (2010)

 

Episode 3 surprised me a little; I’m of course used to film and TV adaptations making changes to their original source material, be it novel or historical.  However, it’s always unexpected to see an adaptation making changes to the Bible – especially the Christmas story.  Here, Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem starts before Joseph is visited by an angel and assured that Mary is indeed carrying the Messiah.  The journey instead begins with tension and anger.  Mary’s parents, fearing for her safety as an unwed pregnant woman, beg Joseph to escort her to Bethlehem in the hopes that she’ll be able to hide until they figure out what to do for her.  Though Joseph is furious at her seeming betrayal, he can’t stop loving her and doesn’t want her coming to harm.  That doesn’t mean he’s happy about the arrangement, though, and this reordering of the timeline naturally extends the dramatic potential.

 

Revision aside, the general reaction to Mary’s pregnancy is well-done.  There’s an intense, almost visceral scene of Joseph confronting Mary, as well as her parents’ crushing disappointment in her, her village’s violence against her, and her religion’s rejection of her (honestly, the alliteration just happened – it wasn’t a plan or anything.)  You really get a sense of the impossible position she’s in.  How does one even begin to explain something like that?

 

And of course, we can’t forget the magi.  Our favorite wise men enter Herod’s domain today, where they’re menaced and intimidated for their troubles.  Despite their best attempts at subterfuge (which only Balthazar is any real good at – he really is the most street-smart magi,) Herod and his minions start to smell out their intent.  Herod, by the way, is very suitably creepy:  diseased, paranoid, and power-mad.

 

Once again, Balthazar is the voice of practicality.  While they ultimately decide not to abandon their journey, he brings up the very real danger of carrying on – Herod could easily punish them and the citizens of Bethlehem.  It seems he’s also the one who figures out how to escape Herod’s notice and continue.

 

I forgot to mention a couple more familiar faces in this miniseries.  I recognized Claudie Blakley, who plays Mary’s mother, as Charlotte Lucas from the Knightley/Macfadyen version of Pride and Prejudice.  Additionally, Ruth Negga (the wife of Thomas, the shepherd) has appeared in several things I’ve seen:  she first caught my eye in Breakfast on Pluto, she joined PC as another W.H.O. doctor in World War Z, and most recently, she’s had a recurring role as a baddie on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

Warnings

 

Some of the epithets against Mary get pretty ugly, and there’s a scene of attempted violence.