Nit-picky, but in the film, the angel doesn't actually appear to Zechariah, just a voice. In the Bible, the angel appears. -- Pastor DaleWebmaster, http://LCMSPastor.com

I also thought of a theological allusion that hadn't occurred to me. In the Garden of Eden, Adam didn't protect his wife as he should have. In the river scene in this film, Joseph succeeds where Adam failed. There--there's a Christmas sermon illustration for you. ;)

"they got the stable being in a cave right" Can you please give me chapter and verse where the Bible mentions a stable or a cave? "three aligning planets that formed the star" how can three planets form a star? Even back then people knew the difference since stars didn't appear to move like the planets do. Did you find this addition odd? "That's why Herod had all the boys two years and under killed" Yeah, I had another look and couldn't see that Jesus MUST have been aged 2, but it is definitely after the birth. Also, how long did the census take if Joseph didn't get back to Nazareth and his business asap?! And why did the angel need to warn him to go back to Nazareth after Egypt - this is where they came from before the census in Bethlehem, surely they would be going back to Nazareth automatically. Maybe Joseph had set up a new carpentry shop in Bethlehem. The other common error is the shepherds following the star - it was only a sign for the magi (at least 2, maybe dozens) - for the shepherd's sign was a baby in a manger. I cannot easily link the magi journey. It seems they saw a stationary star in the East telling that the Christ was born, so came to Jerusalem (not following it, but to ask the experts there). Once there, they all found that Bethlehem was the place to go. On the way to Bethlehem the star (maybe a different one from the one in the East) surprised them by going ahead of them and stopping over where Jesus was (how a star stops over a house I am not sure). There are so many possibilities in filling these gaps.

OK, the stable: caves have been found that were used as stables in that area, and IIRC, the location of Jesus' birth has been determined pretty closely and is located at the Church of the Nativity. My understanding is that this location was initially a cave.   But did they have a word for "planet"? The only appearance of the word in the Bible is 2Ki 23:5, and it's probably better translated "zodiac" there. It's like Jonah: was it a whale or a fish? They didn't have Linnaean classifications back then, so who knows?   Why would they stay in Bethlehem? To let the stigma of Jesus being conceived out of wedlock calm down. And no, Jesus may have been younger than 2. Point is that it wasn't that night. -- Pastor DaleWebmaster, LCMSPastor.com