The Nativity Story

The Nativity Story is a 2006 epic biblical drama film based on the nativity of Jesus starring Keisha CastleHughes and Shohreh Aghdashloo. Filming began on May 1, 2006, in Matera, Italy, and Ouarzazate, Morocco. Other scenes were shot in Craco, a ghost town in the Italian region of Basilicata, and Cinecitt, Rome. New Line Cinema released it on December 1, 2006, in the United States and one week later on Decemberin the European Union. The film premiered in Vatican City November 27, 2006. The Nativity Story was the first film to hold its world premiere in Vatican City.citation needed

The film then goes back one year before the massacre, to Jerusalem where Zachariah is a rabbi and making an offering, when he gets told by the Archangel Gabriel that his wife will bear a son by a vision. He states that he is too old, and is told by Gabriel that he will be unable to speak until the boy is born. It then goes to the town of Nazareth, where a teenaged girl named Mary Keisha CastleHughes is farming, and soldiers come to collect taxes, one man, who is unable to pay, has a third of his land seized and his daughter pressed into debt slavery to pay his debt. Mary is then, betrothed to marry Joseph of Judaea Oscar Isaac, is visited by the Angel Gabriel and told that she will become pregnant with Gods son, whom she is to name Jesus. He then tells that her God has blessed her cousin Elizabeth Shohreh Aghdashloo with a child despite her old age. Mary asks her parents and Joseph could she visit with Elizabeth before the harvest, where she witnesses the birth of John the Baptist to Elizabeth and her husband the priest Zachariah Stanley Townsend, who regains his speech after he refused to believe the Angel Gabriels news that he would have a son. Mary returns from the visit pregnant, to the shock of Joseph and her parents, who fear that Joseph will accuse her of fornication, a sin punishable with death by stoning according to the Mosaic Law. At first Joseph does not believe Marys explanation that she was visited by the angel Gabriel, but decides not to accuse her. Although he is still shocked and angry, Joseph is later visited in a dream by the Angel Gabriel, who tells him of Gods plan for Marys son. Joseph then believes Mary, and is ashamed for his earlier doubts.Meanwhile, Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor, has demanded that every man and his family across the Roman Empire must return to his place of birth for the census. As a direct descendant of King David, Joseph is forced to travel 110 kilometers 68mi across Palestines rocky terrain from Nazareth to Bethlehe

Source: Wikipedia