Christmas Movie #5: Nativity!

I can't wait for the day that 'Nativity' becomes the Christmas classic it deserves to be.

If it had been an American film, the kids would all be spouting cool one-liners and the lead would be Adam Sandler.

Instead, we get probably the most natural performances from children ever committed to film and an excellent lead in Martin Freeman.

The film centres around Freeman as Paul Maddens, a miserable Primary school teacher who is forced to direct his school nativity and inadvertently promises to bring Hollywood producers to the production.

What makes 'Nativity' stand out for me (any why I like it so much) is that despite having lots of Christmas spirit, it also has a healthy dose of British cynicism. Freeman is the main reason why it works. He spends most of the film angry or deadpan, but he's always the right side of likeable and there's a decent amount of pathos as the situations around him change the man. The film was entirely improvised but it really doesn't show. ("How are the kids meant to pretend to do something they've never experienced?" "I'm pretending to like you, and I've yet to experience it".)

Other than Freeman, all the acting is great. Pam Ferris is lovely as the dotty school headmistress, Marc Wooton stays just the right side of annoying as the man-child Mr Poppy, while Alan Carr is surprisingly funny as the local theatre critic, Patrick Burns ("everyone gets a bad review, that's why they call them Burns victims").

The best thing about the film is that it does what few family films does and appeals to the entire family, it's funny (sometimes darkly) in a way to appeal to adults, but sweet and silly enough to appeal to kids of all ages (God, I'm starting to sound like Walt Disney).

It also has a Nativity version of the Herod story. Yep.

I'm raving entirely unsarcastically about this film, cos I don't think enough people have seen it, and I think more people should. Please, please track it down.... that having been said this is only Day 5. If this had been Day 17, I might not be so enthusiastic.

P.S. I didn't abuse my friend yesterday. He's an arsehat.