The viewer soon realizes that Sayles is retelling the story of Christmas: Mary De Angelis is Mary of the Angels, Joseph is Joseph, and Noelle (get it? Noel) is the mysterious Christ child, with stigmata and the webbed hands/fins of a fish. The family has to flee the murderers, they live in a sort of a manger (the old fur farm), and read the lost diary of those who went before (the Old Testament). At the end, they are faced with the Slaughter of the Innocents. You don't have to be a believer to be fascinated by the beauty of the landscape and mysterious serenity of Noelle; Sayles draws the viewer into his world and meets the challenging of retelling this story in a new way.
