The inherently nostalgic experience of Christmas at primary school can be relived with each rewatch of the 2009 film Nativity! Down to even the classroom setups and background displays, you feel transported back to waiting to be assigned your role in the school’s nativity, when Christmas was the most magical and exciting time of year. Upon my most recent rewatch with friends, we were sharing all of our best primary school memories – the kind of fondness this film naturally provokes with its biblically accurate representation of the church school experience that many British kids lived through.
Martin Freeman embodies a resigned primary school teacher to perfection – he is truly a man on the very edge, with sarcastic one-liners that make you laugh out loud. Each performance from the kids is endearing and hilarious; the audition sequence is so wonderfully bizarre. Mr Poppy, if you can look past the safeguarding violations, is the teaching assistant we all would have loved at that age. His chaotic compliments Mr Madden’s strictness just right, and eventually makes him a better, kinder teacher.
While this film has you laughing through most of it, there are also some seriously sad moments, which makes the happy ending just right. The scene where Mr Maddens reads his class’s Christmas wishes, and they are for him to be happy, is always a tear-jerker. Even small things, like Ollie’s mum not paying attention to him, but then showing up to watch the nativity at the end is emotionally impacting. It’s also socially conscious – representing a lower income school able to perform just as well as the private one with a bit of belief in them. The nativity performance is so fun to watch and the songs get stuck in my head for days afterwards.
Even in moments of cringe and disbelief that Mr Poppy is even allowed to work in a school, you can’t help but smile throughout this film. It’s so heartwarming and makes Christmas feel a bit more like it did as a kid. It makes multiple appearances on my TV each December, and I love it every time.
5/5
Image Credits – The Movie DB
