From Santa Claus and his elves to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to Frosty the Snowman, there are plenty of Christmas movies about different magical creatures to fascinate and entertain us. There are plenty of hilarious Christmas movies about families in crisis. home alone to Christmas vacation. These are all great movies with truly heartwarming messages about the true meaning of Christmas.
Of course, Christmas is actually about the birth of Jesus Christ and is one of the most important holy days in the Christian faith. While there are many films about the birth of Christ, faith-based films have always struggled to reach a wider audience.
The most recent of these is Journey to Bethlehem The film was released in theaters in November 2023. The movie is currently available to watch on Netflix, but be careful. This is a musical. I personally love musicals, but not everyone enjoys musicals. Faith-based musicals will certainly appeal to a more limited audience. Journey to Bethlehem Newcomer Fiona Palomo played the role of Maria, and Antonio Banderas played the role of Herod the Great. It has a humorous and goofy atmosphere, and is characterized by bright, lively songs and flashy performances.
This year’s faith-based Christmas Nativity movies are taking a completely different approach. mary It was released on Netflix today, and the content is pretty much the same. Journey to Bethlehemit takes a very different approach. Newcomer Noah Cohen stars as Mary, and Anthony Hopkins plays King Herod. Most of the cast is Israeli, with director DJ Caruso saying, “It was important to us that Mary, like most of the main cast, be from Israel to ensure authenticity.” .
This caused some backlash on social media, with the decision to cast Israeli actors rather than Palestinian actors seen as politically motivated. The casting choice makes perfect sense considering that Mary and Joseph (Tako Ido) were Jewish. At a time when this sort of thing is so important to advocates of authentic representation, this controversy seems more than a little foolish and contrived. But I digress.
The story follows Maria and her parents, Anne and Joachim, who live in Nazareth. Mary comes to the temple and prepares to marry Joseph. After the Immaculate Conception, she is forced into hiding. Mary and faithful Joseph are forced to flee to Egypt when Herod the Great orders what is known as the Massacre of the Innocents.
Here’s the trailer:
“Love comes at a high price. It’s heartbreaking. But in the end, love saves the world.” I’m generally skeptical of faith-based movies. These films are sincere in their message and often suffer from low budgets and overly ambitious plots. But this looks pretty good and Anthony Hopkins is such a great actor and you can really feel him nailing the role just in this trailer.
It is easy to get lost in seasonal consumption activities. Christmas movies, both secular and religious, are a great way to remind us that there’s more to this time of year than shopping and presents. Whether or not mary We will have to see if it is Biblically accurate.
If you’re looking for suggestions for a third Nativity movie this Christmas, look no further. nativity story This movie stars a young Oscar Isaac before he became a big hit.
Finally, this year’s blockbuster faith-based movie, The best Christmas pageant ever, ” is set to make its streaming debut on December 10th and will cost $24.99 to purchase. There’s no word on when or where free streaming will begin.