The Nativity Story
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 10+. A Catholic review of this movie for parents.
Our review
A young woman named Mary says yes when an angel tells her she will be the mother of God's Son. She and Joseph make a long, hard trip to Bethlehem. Jesus is born in a stable, and shepherds and wise men come to see Him. This is a reverent film that confesses the virginal conception and the divinity of Christ, and Mary gives her yes. Parents should frame three things: Mary is shown in painful labor, she is unhappy at first about her betrothal, and Herod's soldiers kill the infants of Bethlehem.
For parents
The USCCB rated it A-I, but Common Sense Media says 10+ and the film is slow and serious. Lumen suggests about eight and up, watched with a parent. Herod's soldiers kill babies, mostly off screen. Men hang on crosses in quick shots. Villagers whisper that Mary sinned or was attacked. Tell your children what the film leaves out: Mary was conceived without sin, the angel called her full of grace, and she stayed a virgin always, even in giving birth (CCC 490 to 499). The Church has long held that her childbearing was without the pains of Eve, though this is not defined. The palm reader is wrong, and fortune telling is not for Christians (CCC 2116). Ask: what did Mary say to the angel? How did Joseph protect her?