Last night my wife and I watched a movie she has been curious about for some time. It is "One Night with the King".
I really enjoyed it. There were some big-name actors such as Peter O'Toole. And the story began not in Babylon but in Israel during the reign of King Saul. Some of the historical facts were mixed up, some altered. But overall it was an insightful look into the captivity of Israel.
I especially appreciated the side story involving the eunichs. Though I don't know what source material, if any, the author of the book this was based on used for the scene of pressing men into eunich-hood.Much of the movie felt over-dramatic, but in an entertaining way.
If you watch this movie you might, however, be bothered by one blatent contradiction of the biblical story: in the movie King Xerxes never sleeps with any of the women. In fact he doesn't even sleep with Esther until their wedding night. But we know from history in the Bible that each and every one of those young women went to the king on their appointed night. After he slept with each of them, including Esther, he made his choice...based chiefly on her physical attributes. When I read the Biblical story I see a tale of love that grew after he took her.
Overall I really did enjoy this movie. I will watch it again. It has a unique mood, likeable characters, and a fairly intrigueing plot.
1 comment:
I only watched part of that movie, and wasn't too impressed - granted, I wasn't paying complete attention to it, but it was still too "modernized." I thought it was going to be more like the Nativity Story.
I did like seeing John Noble in it, though. He's great as Walter Bishop on the show Fringe. :D
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