Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Reviews
Product Description
Made-for-television dramatisation of the Bible story. Esther (Louise Lombard) is a young Jewish girl summoned to join the court of the Persian king (Thomas Kretschmann), along with several other young women, after he is insulted by his wife. Her captivating beauty seduces him into making her his new queen, although this antagonises the king's loyal supporter Haman (Jürgen Prochnow), who despises the Jews. When Esther learns that Haman has secretly arranged a plot to kill all of the Jews in the Persian Empire, she reveals herself as Jewish to the King, an act which is not without risk. Fortunately the King is sympathetic and pardons the Jewish people, at the same time arranging for Haman to be executed. With the Jewish people now officially free, many begin the long journey back to the Holy Land where they begin rebuilding Jerusalem.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Generally speaking, I don't like 'biblical' films. Too often they are given the Hollywood treatment and loose the story in doing so. This film, obviously made to a lesser budget, is extremely well done.
The plot lines stick closely to the biblical narrative as told in the book of Esther and the Jewishness of the story is extremely well handled. F.Murray Abraham plays Mordecai, and does so very well. It is fascinating to see Louise Lombard in the lead role. She portrays Esther very sensitively and beautifully, as the young girl who wins the King's heart and thereby saves the Persian Jewish population from annihilation by the evil Haman.
Warmly recommended for those interested in the story or in a family dvd that is a little different than the usual.
The plot lines stick closely to the biblical narrative as told in the book of Esther and the Jewishness of the story is extremely well handled. F.Murray Abraham plays Mordecai, and does so very well. It is fascinating to see Louise Lombard in the lead role. She portrays Esther very sensitively and beautifully, as the young girl who wins the King's heart and thereby saves the Persian Jewish population from annihilation by the evil Haman.
Warmly recommended for those interested in the story or in a family dvd that is a little different than the usual.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Of all the Bible sories, I find the The Book of Esther does not flow as easily as others, but nevertheless, this film based on the story is interesting; it is faithful to scripture, with a few additions to fill out the plot.
Queen Esther is beautifully cast with English actress Louise Lombard (seen in 2004's "Hidalgo"), and Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham excellent as her cousin and guardian Mordecai.
King Ahasuerus (historically known as Xerxes) is a character I find hard to like; he appears to be an indecisive and capricious man, who puts all his trust in the evil Haman (well played by German actor Jurgen Prochnow). It is Esther who courageously stands up to Haman when he tries to annihilate all the Jews of the land.
Queen Esther is beautifully cast with English actress Louise Lombard (seen in 2004's "Hidalgo"), and Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham excellent as her cousin and guardian Mordecai.
King Ahasuerus (historically known as Xerxes) is a character I find hard to like; he appears to be an indecisive and capricious man, who puts all his trust in the evil Haman (well played by German actor Jurgen Prochnow). It is Esther who courageously stands up to Haman when he tries to annihilate all the Jews of the land.
The main addition to the story is the inclusion of Ezra as a friend of Mordechai. Ezra was the scribe and priest who led a remnant of the Jewish captives back to Jerusalem, but this would come twenty years later, under the reign of King Artaxerxes, in 457 B.C. Having Ezra in the story also emphasizes the importance of God, whereas in the Book of Esther, no mention of God is made.
Directed by Raffaele Mertes (who was the cinematographer for most of the other films in this television series), it has a good score by Carlo Siliotto, lovely cinematography by Giovanni Galasso in the exotic area of Quarzazate, Morocco, with the use of a wonderful color palette in the costumes, using rich earth tones and shades of teal and olive greens.
The story of Esther is the basis for the Jewish Festival of Purim, which is a grand time for children; it's a time to dress up in costumes and masks, eat sweets, and best of all, twirl one's gragger (noisemaker) whenever Haman's name is mentioned in the reading of the story.
37 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By B. Kjosnes
Format:DVD
This is a very good film, based upon the bible. In addition to beeing a good film, where we can see the playing with words common to the Bible language and the jewish heritage. Expecially I think the producers has done well in expressing the intelligent ironic humour in the Haman-Mordecai relationship. This is also a sweet love story. This is actually until now the film in the Bible serie, of the 6 films I have already seen, wich are most close to the written word of God. Its a well done story..
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 91 reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
study
this was used to help in our understanding of the study of Esther in our group and was found to be helpful,painting a picture of people's lives then.
Published 18 days ago by jean philp
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
Really enjoyed this film. Great actors have been used. Enjoyed the story and the clothing that was used to make it seem very authentic to the real story
Published 2 months ago by Sue
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gentle and touching film
What a gentle and touching film. The fictional parts are very imaginative and help one to think about the possibilities surrounding the few facts that are contained in the bible. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Lorrainekashdan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Esther
This film was very good and interesting. I enjoyed it very much. The sound on it was not very good and I could hardly hear it which spoilt it a bit.
Published 14 months ago by Hooper
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you want a story faithful to the Bible, it's great
I read the book of Esther immediately after watching and was impressed how well they kept to the text. Read more
Published 23 months ago by E. Freeman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Esthetr - The DVD
This DVD is an excellent representation of the Bible story. Having spent several weeks studying Esther as part of our Bible class this was a fitting way to end the study and bring... Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2010 by OwenG
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Queen of Wisdom
The magnamious Persian King unknowingly takes a young jewish girl with a babylonian name (Esther) to be his queen. Haman and Mordecei play good parts. Read more
Published on 7 April 2009 by Mr. M. K. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mara
The young girl who played Mara (Nicola Harrington) gave this role a new dimension. She is definitely an actress to look out for!!!!
Published on 9 July 2006 by Sheila Miller
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Film & TV > Drama > Historical
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
