My next festive documentary feels less like a movie and more like a very dry university lecture captured on camera. 2007’s The Star of Bethlehem, presented by Frederick ‘Rick’ Larson, reveals what he ‘discovered’ when he searched for clues about the biblical star that supposedly led the Three Wise Men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Using the ‘Starry Night’ software that is the go-to for modern astronomer, while studying the teachings of previous stargazers, Larson references the good book to create “nine data points” that, he argues, proves categorically that the star was real and, therefore, the Nativity story must have been true. Whoah.
It sounds earth-shatteringly illuminating but, truth be told, this is very dry stuff, with the majority of the film consisting mainly of Rick delivering an actual lecture to enthusiastic Christians in a small studio. He does manage to make things slightly compelling with some fairly convincing arguments. Larson goes to great lengths to explain he’s not a qualified astronomer, but a lawyer who just happens to have a healthy interest and knowledge of this subject. His legal background likely explains his ability to spin a good yarn. Credit to him, it’s not all quite as boring as it sounds and, though Rick starts out seeming like a nutty fruitcake, he works hard to back up his theories with cold, hard, scientific data. He talks through various key passages from the bible that, he contends, totally marry up with the actual positions of genuine celestial objects “proven” to have been visible over the sky at that time.
It’s a fascinating theory and, from looking online, Rick seems to have persuaded a lot of people that he’s onto something. However, it’s obviously been heavily marketed as a Christian film and its primary target audience will likely have been folk who didn’t need much convincing in the first place. Me? I’m a sceptical dude who goes into this with an open mind.
I’m quite taken in by Rick’s theories but can’t ignore the fact that he regularly talks about “assumptions” he’s made about what certain passages in the bible meant. After a while, it starts to feels like he's just trying to make the data fit a theory he’s already got, rather than the other way round. It’s classic ‘tunnel vision’ that tends to be associated with hardcore religious types. It reminds me of those countless ‘Ghost hunting’ programmes on cable TV, where the hunters go into a house already convinced it’s haunted, so every little thing they can’t explain is automatically attributed to the supernatural. It’s funny when you can audibly hear a lone member or Rick’s captive audience gasp “Whoah!” at one of the presentation’s “revelations”.
This one was brought to us by the same team who produced The Passion of the Christ and feels like a cash-grab. It’s not particularly cinematic, save for a few dramatised ‘cut-scenes’ and, we learn, this is a popular lecture Larson has delivered all over the world. Someone has essentially decided to point a camera at it, add a few bells and whistles and call it a movie. Mind you, if stand-up comedians can get away with this sort of thing, then that’s fair enough.
Larson comes across as rather smug, interested not just in proving his theories, but in showing off just how clever he is. At one point he gleefully tells his avid Christian audience that they’ve “got it wrong” about some things they’ve been taught and brought up to believe in. He’s also occasionally passing off the work of others as his own, trying to shoehorn existing theories into his own concept. Haters online have pointed out that scholars throughout the ages have found that Jupiter and Venus were in conjunction around the time of Christ’s birth, but Larson presents this information as a startling revelation he stumbled across himself one day while dicking about on his laptop. Not cool.
It gets comical towards the end too, with Larson’s argument becoming increasingly muddled. He tells us that the star did stop over Bethlehem on December 25th, but then tells us that this isn’t actually the date of Christ’s birth but then…umm…it still means…something?
Fair play to him, though for pulling all this info together into quite an entertaining and persuasive little story. Whether or not you choose to believe him, Larson knows how to create an engaging narrative, albeit one with a few plot holes. I’m not sure how much this counts as a ‘movie’ but is still worth a watch. Nothing here is likely to convert anyone who’s not already a true believer but with enough of the facts and figures presented appearing to closely marry up with details in bible scripture, it is definitely fascinating at times. It comes down to that age old concept of faith - meaning can be found anywhere if you’re looking for it. Whether or not you’re open to accept it is completely down to you. Me? After this one, I definitely need to watch something with a little more snow, candy canes and Santa.
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