One Night with the King
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Movie Reviews of One Night with the King
Movie Review: Chosen to be Wholly her LORD's and Wholly her Lord's
Summary: 5 Stars
ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING: I had started to give this film four stars, but after writing this review decided that -- "warts and all" -- it deserves five.
The film starts with a narrative and scenes that remind the viewer that the stage was set for the Book of Esther hundreds of years prior, as King Saul's rebellion against God (itself as the sin of witchcraft) bore evil fruit for many, many generations, and affected whole nations.
Actor Peter O'Toole as Samuel the prophet confronts King Saul about the king's disobedience and then swiftly kills King Agag himself. The scriptural account is much more graphic, "...Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal." (ISa 15:33). Those who may think they want absolute scriptural accuracy in such films may want to reconsider their position. As a mother and grandmother, I appreciate being able to sit down and enjoy a film with my entire family (currently from 2 to 82) and not having to shield the little ones' eyes, while at the same time having the door opened to discussing these matters in greater depth in a place and time that suits our family. I don't expect Christian films to do all that for us. The film puts across well enough that there are consequences for disobedience, rebellion against God, for sin, and that it does not please God for us to give quarter to His enemies, to those self-identified as His enemies, and I appreciate the director's discretion in filming this and other scenes.
The orphan Hadassah is presented as a spunky young woman, full of fun and life, yet full of depth. She is aware of and clearly unashamed of her outer beauty; however, she places far more value on her inner beauty. By way of flashbacks to her childhood and a precious birthday present her parents had lovingly given her, the viewer is given a glimpse into the "line upon line, precept upon precept" manner in which such strength of character was developed in this delightful young woman. This, in turn, leads the viewer to cherish a culture -- still with us today -- that has such rich and robust roots, thousands of years deep. What a wonder! We find a young woman who is not in any manner preoccupied with herself, but one who delights in delighting others. Who could help but love such a one as she?
Hadassah is affectionate with her cousin Mordecai, who is raising her as his own daughter. She is yielded to his authority, yet openly persuasive. After engaging in some intellectual "fencing," he ultimately yields to her when she presents her case in terms he simply cannot resist. This sets up beautifully for what follows: her hard-won victory (permission to go to Jerusalem) is thwarted by King Ahasuerus' efforts to find a new queen. Mordecai gives her a new name (Esther), charges her to not disclose her kindred, and they both prepare for what comes next in faith, not (undue) fear.
Esther is taken to the king's house, to the custody of (the eunuch) Hegai, keeper of the women, where the viewer finds the admonition and example to not merely accept, but to embrace one's lot. Esther does so, immersing herself wholly -- mind, body, soul and spirit -- in preparation for her bridegroom. The relationship, the love, between Esther and Hegai is tenderly developed in this film, and Hegai's role in developing the love between the King and Esther is likewise presented.
In keeping with scripture, we find Esther on her one night with the king requiring nothing but that which Hegai appointed (and what he appoints is an astounding, yet believable representation of how God works through people, believers or not). The king is presented as wrestling with a kaleidescope of emotions. He tests Esther by asking her what she would do if he were to offer her his kingdom, for example. She answers, and by the expressions on each of their faces, the trembling of each of their voices, and the way the king catches his breath -- as though their eyes' meeting is almost more than he can take -- the viewer realizes that this is the point at which both are utterly slain, at which their love is consummated, at which they have become one forever, and they have not even touched each other! They do touch then, discreetly disappearing behind a veil, and the rest is left to the viewer's imagination, as it should be.
In the Book of Esther (2:15) we are informed that "Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her." In keeping with the purpose, scope and intent of the entirety of scriptures, including the entire Book of Esther, this film makes clear that Esther was outwardly beautiful, true, but inwardly even more beautiful as she was wholly her lord's (the king's, as his queen and wife) and wholly the LORD's (Yahweh's) at the same time, there being no conflict or mutual exclusivity between the two as she waited in, rested in, and lived in the will of the Most High God. This is why she found favor with all who looked upon her, as her inner beauty shone through her outer beauty and she lived in full surrender to her LORD and her lord.
Ultimately, Queen Esther has the courage to stand alone, wholly alone, and intercede for her people, surrendering herself completely with the words, "...if I perish, I perish." There are some heart-stopping moments in regard to the manner in which Esther arrives, unbidden, before the king and just how close she comes to losing her life at that moment.
The film in its entirety, including the denouement from that point on covers the account well enough to earn this film a place in my family's film library. I find in this film a rich source of inspiration for further dialog regarding the Most High God we serve, including the wonders of His grace! Truly, His Name is Wonderful!
Movie Review: This movie caused me to "dig deeper" ....
Summary: 5 Stars
What a great movie!! There are so many reasons I enjoyed this film. Ironically I never heard about it at all until I purchased the DVD at a yard sale for only $2 ! I have watched it countless times since and it's like the movie that "keeps on going". One of the reasons I liked it so much is because it inspired me to get back into digging up history so to speak. I think far too often folks take information at face value or hastily gloss over information which, if researched can actually be the beginning of an exciting adventure!
I liked all the characters in the movie except the man who played the kings cousin. His fake hair just annoyed me everytime I looked at it, and the man who played Haman's constant grating voice was a little too much. I agree with some of the reviewers in the colum who said the sound quality wasn't the best: I had to watch the movie several times to actually catch everything that was being said, but that's ok as it was worth it. Another irony, you can hear Esther and Xerxes kissing just fine!
Interesting things: it made me realize just how powerful kings might have been in times past, how much women were treated as "less than" (I am so glad I am a female in the U.S. in this day in age!!) and just how stupid idol/demon worship is. It also made me realize just how different people really are, and how the "powers that be" keep trying to make this "one world" thing happen, well it's just not gonna happen. History repeats itself and everything old is new again. I see people looking to their spiritual past to see their spiritual future.
The other comments in the column about how the scenery was more Indian than Persian, well, as far as I am aware, there's not much left of ancient Persian buildings, but since Indian building seem to be timeless, and since Xerxes ruled from "India to Ethiopia", then why not? Makes sense to me. There's not that much distance between the middle east and the far east these days. It was nice to see people of several different ethinicities in the film as Xerxes' kingdom was so diverse I think that was well represented. It was kind of funny to have three of the main stars be folks of European descent. I was glad to see Omar Shariff as his acting is always superb. I didn't like the fact that Peter O'Toole made a super-brief cameo in the film, yet got top billing. What about John Rhys Davies who's played some great roles and has a large part in this film and his name isn't mentioned until after the title, almost unsceen? That was dissappointing.
It took some research to find out that Xerxes and Ahaseurus are the same person. Why he has two names I do not know, but in my Bible, he's called Ahaseurus. I appreciate the fact that this film was made. I'd really like to see more movies made that are based on historical fact and not all "Hollywoodized". People around the world are becoming more in touch with their roots and I feel more films like this one will cause people to "dig deeper". I think the love story part was a bit Hollywoodized as in reality I've read Esther "pleased" him above all the others and that cane be taken in several ways!! I'm going to try to think along the good line of God gave her favor in his eyes and not think about what Xerxes might have been thinking about. It does seem seriously lame that he dumped his first wife (Vashti) because she didn't come when he called her. No wonder her son killed him later in life! (You divorced my mom for no good reason, die sucka!) or something like that (kidding). Who know what really happened as none of us were there. I encourage all to do research on the characters and on ancient Persia as I found it very interesting.
Movie Review: Much Better Than Expected! Starts Out So-So But Ends Up Very Good, Indeed!
Summary: 5 Stars
ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING is a pleasant surprise and a very entertaining and educational Bible movie!
Before I saw it, I was worried about the title, ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING, and I was concerned that the filmmakers would focus on the first night that Esther spends with the King, she being part of his harem. I was also wondering about the lead actress being too lightweight. I am glad that I was wrong to worry about either of these things, everything went very well with the film!
The first night with the king is done very tastefully and very ABSENT of any unacceptable, too extreme, physical relationship scenes which are too typical in most other secular movies. In fact, there is a definite LACK of lewdness, though the love and romance is tastefully and believably developed.
I like the two supporting actors from THE LORD OF THE RINGS films, the actors who played Gimli the dwarf and the mad father of Boromir and Faramir do well in their smaller roles here.
Tiffany Dupont starts the film seeming to be too lightweight, but her performance gets better and better as the film progresses and builds to its dramatic conclusion. I was wrong to think she was not up to playing the role of Esther, she is very good, after all!
As far as Bible accuracy goes, I am impressed! I felt they dwelt too long on made up characters and scenes that only made the main plot more confusing. But after I watched the film, I took the time to read through the Bible's book of Esther, again, and I was impressed that most of the minor characters are mentioned by name in the Bible, and often with brief mentions of doing things in the story, which are shown in the film, and I did not realize how accurate the movie really was until verifying it with the Bible itself!
That's what I like about good Bible movies, it makes it easier to picture and remember many Bible passages and details, and I REALLY like it when a film is more accurate than my memory! ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING is pretty good at Bible accuracy.
There are a few things that are added unnecessarily, but they don't mess up the main plot. For instance, they try to come up with a reason why Haman hates the Jews, and they give Esther a puppy love boyfriend before she gets taken to the harem, but though these things are wrong, I forgive them since while I was watching the film, I thought I was catching a whole lot more fabrication which turned out to be in the Bible after all, so this film helped me learn and remember more about the book of Esther. The good outweighs the irritating, as far as I am concerned about ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING.
The DVD extras are non-existent, but if you like accurate Bible stories, you will get your money's worth, in my opinion.
There is another great DVD movie of Esther, featuring Ben Kingsley as Mordecai, entitled ESTHER, and I can highly recommend that DVD as well! That ESTHER movie is about 10 years old, but the actors are more skilled and there is less additions to the Scripture story, though the film budget is not as high as ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING. Either one is excellent as far as Bible movie entertainment goes!
Movie Review: AWESOME!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is not only visually stunning, but it shows that true love surpasses all. I know it's a biblical story, but no other has touched me the way this one did. I guess a lot of people missed the point. See, in the end, it didn't matter whether Hadassah was a jew or a gentile because The King loved her anyway despite her trying to hide it. It's about standing up for what you believe in no matter the consequences. It's about having enough courage, pride, and bravado to rise up against protocol and/or a whole nation to defend your heritage and your people no matter the cost. Hadassah could've been a coward, keep up her charade, and let all the Jews get slaughtered, but she chose to stand up even if that meant she would parrish. Courage like that no longer exists in the world today. People only want movies about drugs, sex, and violence. Don't get me wrong, that's cool too, but every now and then it's refreshing to see a movie that pushes the envelope. That makes you think, that makes you feel glad, or take pride in something other than meaningless sex and killing. Whether you know the biblical story or not this is a great love story. Frankly, it's just an awesome story all the way around. Trust me, it's very hard to keep my Husband awake to watch anything I like to watch, but he loved this movie also, and he was just as moved as I was. It's about a very beautiful Jewish woman named Hadassah who later becomes the biblical Esther, Queen of Persia. Hadassah is snatched up and forced to become a candidate for King Xerxes who is about to take a bride. Once Hadassah is captured her father tells her it is best to conceal her identity and call herself Esther. The woman formerly known as Hadassah manages to win The King's heart by letting him know that it's not his Crown, his title, or his riches that matters most because she would rather have his heart more than any of those things. This jesture touches The King and he takes her to be his bride falling deeply in love with her. Hadassah (Esther) is then married into wealth and privledge meanwhile she's hiding who she really is from The King. Of course, there's always greed stricken people that wanna overthrow The King for their own selfish purposes. At any rate, to prevent from revealing every single detail which would spoil the whole entire movie, and to cut this short. The King is about to leave and appoint the wrong person as his successor because he has only on thing on the brain..eradicating all the Jews! At this point Hadassah has a decision to make. She could forget who she is and let her people suffer the consequences, or she could expose herself to The King and beg for her life, her father's life, and the life of her people. Showing great courage and bravery she decides to stand and let her true identity be known. Of course, there's now a choice to be made..Does The King let her live? or Does The King let her die? or Does he love he enough not to care who or what she is? I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see this movie.
Movie Review: The Queen who saved her people
Summary: 5 Stars
Visually stunning dramatization of the Purim story, the movie brings to the screen in a thrilling and engaging way the story of Hadassah, the beautiful Jewish orphan girl who becomes Queen of Persia and saves her people from the annihilation planned by Haman (James Callis), the Agagite.
The prologue begins with the capture a few centuries before of Prince Agag by King Saul, and his execution by the Prophet Samuel (Peter O Toole).
Agag's pregnant wife escapes however and perpetuates the descent of the ancient enemy of Israel, the Amalekites.
Tiffany Dupont plays a beautiful, spirited, intelligent and engaging Hadassah as we see something of the life of the Persian Jews in Susa, being raised by her uncle Mordecai (John Rhys-Davies), who adopted her when she was a little girl after her family were murdered by the Agagites.
We see several flashbacks to this event.
Haman is introduced amidst his scheming and his deep and ancient hatred of the Jewish people (his emblem is even that of the swastika.), and his Nazi/Hamas type rallies where he rails against the Jews. He continually alludes to the false alliance of the Jews with the Greeks and their plans to introduce democracy, pouring scorn on both the Jewish G-D and Greek democracy.
Very grand and majestic settings and a brilliant cast.
Luke Goss adds force to the role of Xerxes and the beautiful Indian actress Jyoti Dogra is perfect in the role of the proud and tragic Queen Vashti.
Several elements of intrigue are added to the story such as the plottings by Prince Admantha (John Noble) and Haman. Admantha is outwitted by Haman who rises to become Xerxe's prime minister.
Haman's plans to slaughter all the Jews in Persia, and building of a huge gallows erected for Mordecai who had refused to bow before Haman, thus incurring Haman's rage and hate.
Hadassah's pain and strength shine forth as she eventually manages to expose Haman and reveal herself as a Jewess - Hadassah Bat Abihail, to the beautiful scene of the appearance of the Stars of David floating across the horizon. The Star of David will triumph over all of Israel's enemies.
She persuades Xerxes to cancel the evil decree of genocide.
The scene where Haman is caught by Xerxes in Hadassah's chamber has an added element of violence as Haman is actually caught strangling Hadassah by an enraged Xerxes, before being sent to his death.
Always we are reminded of the theme of the struggle of the Nation of Israel to survive through the millenia of persecution, where in each generation, a new enemy arises to try and annihilate the Jewish people.
At the end of the movie Mordecai is appointed the King's Chief Minister, and decrees the right of the Jews to rise up and defend themselves against those who aim to annihilate them. Certainly a relevant theme today.