Yearly Archives: 2005

Queen Esther on the Big Screen Yet Again!

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Peter Chattaway has a note on his blog about an upcoming film based on the biblical book of Esther: One Night With the King, starring Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif (due out later this year). Chattaway further notes a few other movies made about the story of Esther.

According to my count there have been a total of nine films based on the book of Esther. Besides the 1916 silent film directed by Maurice Elvey, the French produced three silent films inspired by the biblical character: Gaumont studios produced two films in 1910: Esther and Mordecai directed by Louis Feuillade and The Marriage of Esther, while C.G.P.C. made another movie called Esther directed by Henri Andréani. In addition, the Dutch director-actor Theo Frankel directed Esther: A Biblical Episode in 1911.

Once we are out of the silent era, there are three other films inspired by Esther (all of which Chattaway mentioned): Mario Bava and Raoul Walsh’s Esther and the King (1960); Amos Gitai’s Esther (1986); and Raffaele Mertes’ Esther (1999).

As a biblical scholar I found Esther and the King quite interesting — especially how they modified the king’s reason for getting rid of Queen Vashti. In the film they have Vashti cheating on the king and actually showing up at the banquet and performing a striptease (see picture of Daniela Rocca as Vashti above right), while in the biblical account she is dumped because she refused to come at the king’s command (Esther 1:10-12). What is perhaps ironic, is that some scholars (such as Michael Fox in his excellent book, Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther (Eerdmans, 2001; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com) suggest that when the king asks her to come before the crowd “wearing the royal crown”, it is implied that she was to come wearing only the crown, i.e., naked. So the striptease in the movie may not be too far off the mark, after all! At any rate, the movie itself isn’t that bad — and it stars Joan Collins as Esther (see picture, above left).

Last and not least, a recent “film” on Esther that I should mention is the VeggieTales production, Esther, The Girl Who Became Queen, that came out in 2000 (and I have watched many times since with my kids!)

For a fairly complete listing of films based on the Hebrew Bible, see my The Old Testament on Film page.

New Section on the Old Testament on Film Uploaded

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I have uploaded a new section on The Old Testament on Film to my site (This is the first installment of pages for my Religion & Popular Culture section).

In these pages I have listed over 110 films based on the Hebrew Bible in three separate categories according to their production eras, and within each era films are listed by their release date and director. While I do not think that I have been exhaustive, I am pretty confident that I have been fairly comprehensive. I have also provided a bit of an introduction to each era, as well as links to VHS and DVD editions available on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com.

In creating this list I have been impressed by the sheer number of movies inspired by the Old Testament. While I knew of and have seen most of the “biblical epics” from the 1950s and 60s, I never realized how many silent films were based on the Old Testament — and I certainly didn’t realize how risque many of them were!

As a biblical scholar I have always been fascinated how the screenwriters and directors adapted the biblical narratives and solved some of the critical problems in the biblical text. Many of these films make fascinating hermeneutical studies in and of themselves. It has been a real treat watching some of them for the first time.

Happy viewing!

Good First Impressions: Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible

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SESBI just received my copy of the Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible (SESB), and let’s just say that so far I am very impressed.

The SESB is a must-have addition to Logos Bible Software for students and scholars of the Bible. A co-production of the German Bible Society and the Bible Society of the Netherlands, this add-in contains a robust set of texts and advanced tools for working with the Greek, Hebrew, and Latin biblical texts, including the WIVU database for BHS, as well as the critical apparatuses for both BHS and Nestle-Aland 27.

Old Testament scholars should especially take note of this package because of the inclusion of the WIVU database for the Hebrew Bible, developed by the Werkgroep Informatica at the Free University of Amsterdam. This database allows complex searches not only of the morphology of the Hebrew text, but also various syntactical features at the phrase and clause level. Very impressive!

As of the date of this post, Logos Bible Software is currently the exclusive distributor for SESB in North America; readers elsewhere should contact the German Bible Society).

Stay tuned for an in-depth review in my Software for Biblical Studies pages.

Tutoring Services Available!

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I don’t think I’ve seen anyone blog on this little bit of “news” yet, but it appears that Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman has been studying the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.

According to various news reports, the 37-year-old has hired Dr. Robert Cargill of Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, to teach her theology and Old Testament.

Just in case any big-name Hollywood stars read this blog, I want to go on record saying that I am available as a tutor! 😉

Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew

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Peter Chataway, on his FilmChat blog, recently announced a special Vancouver viewing of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew, along with a short entitled, Seeking Locations in Palestine for “The Gospel According to St. Matthew.” This short looks quite fascinating. It doesn’t appear that it is available in DVD yet (the 2003 Water Bearer DVD release of The Gospel According to St. Matthew doesn’t include it, nor does the more recent 2004 BCI Eclipse edition).

I recently viewed The Gospel According to St. Matthew again with a friend. I am quite taken by Pasolini’s work — I see why many critics consider it one of the best Jesus films ever made. Pasolini’s stark interpretation of Matthew provides quite the contrast to Hollywood’s grand biblical epics. The bleak landscape of southern Italy and the casting are both brilliant. Most of the extras are Italian peasants and the lead roles are played by non-actors. Pasolini’s Jesus, played by Enrique Irazoqui, challenges our culturally-manufactured, stereotypical blue-eyed blond Jesus.

There are many other things I like about this film. Pasolini’s use of camera angles is captivating. The viewer seems to see Jesus from the perspective of a disciple, always following Jesus or looking at him from a distance (as when Jesus is before the Sanhedrin and Pilate). From what I could observe, Jesus almost never looks directly into the camera. He is always looking slightly off-centre, with one or two notable exceptions. The first such shot (see the picture above) is when Jesus turns and looks straight into the camera and says “if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 8:24). This is a powerful shot.

Even the way Pasolini presented the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is fascinating. Jesus doesn’t say the sermon in one setting, but gives parts of the sermon in various contexts — the scenes shift between day and night, between inside and outside shots, Jesus with and without a scarf, etc. In my mind (and perhaps only in my mind!) this suggests that Pasolini wanted to present the sermon as more of a compendium of Jesus’ teachings, not a long sermon that took place at one time. And the “blessed are the cheese makers” line is brilliant! Oh, so sorry, that’s Monty Python.

To make a long blog entry short: I highly recommend Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew. And if you live in the Vancouver, B.C., area, make sure to see it on the big screen! (I am quite envious)

The film is available in both DVD (Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com) and VHS format (Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com).