The Red Tent (2014)

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The only merit to this movie is set locations. If you want to see a fictional account of the bible, this movie is for you. But, True followers of Jesus Christ live in Truth and take the Word of God as sacred and Holy. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, written by man but led by the Holy Spirit. Times being what they are, more stories are written from the "we are women hear me roar" perspective. God has revealed through His word His love for all mankind, including women, with equal respect. God made us equal, but different and with different roles to perform. The Red Tent is a complete fabrication of those roles and glorifies women who are self indulgent, idol worshipers and dishonorable to the men in their lives. For the real (and short) story of Dinah, read the Bible and learn the truth.

This is fiction loosely occurring in a historical setting but is not historical fiction (realistically filling in blank areas but not contradicting the historical account). While The Red Tent gives a reasonable depiction of ancient life in the Middle East, it does not follow the Scriptural text (the only account of Dinah's life) and often seems to try to rewrite the Scriptural account of Jacob's family, giving little if any value to Jacob trying to lead his family to follow and worship only Almighty God and forsaking foreign idols. While it is understandable that Jacob's "wives" (2 wives and two unrelated concubines) would find it difficult to forsake their cultural religious practices (something we must all work through), scripture seems to indicate that is what they did after they had left Laban's household and traveled with Jacob. At times, it seems the plot is trying to teach anti-God religious practices as women rebelling against men's teaching about (and invention of) an Almighty God.

All of the negative reviews ignore the reality that this miniseries is not based on the book of Genesis, but the book The Red Tent. Anita Diamant wrote The Red Tent as a feminist Midrash. (Wikipedia defines Midrash as "a method of interpreting biblical stories that goes beyond simple distillation of religious, legal, or moral teachings. It fills in gaps left in the biblical narrative regarding events and personalities that are only hinted at.") She wanted to expand on The Rape of Dinah, a chapter in Genesis. What was Dinah's life before and after that brief chapter? In addition, she asks whether women were totally subservient to men or did they stand up for themselves and wield their own power? Since the people who wrote down the Bible were all men, did they omit or edit out important contributions of women?My critique of the miniseries is that the portrayal of Jacob is too positive, compared to the book. I think this was done to lessen criticism from Orthodox Jews and fundamentalist Christians.

Oh My God! Appropriate start for what will be a scathing critique. If I had not watched it I would not have believed how bad TV can get. This is why so many people regard the church ie Catholic etc religion with so much contempt. Not only is it a total Hollywood creation based on an interpretation of the scant "real" historical facts but it ascribes a sense of modern feminism that was absolutely not tolerated and totally absent in those years. Get a grip people. How anybody can give this a positive review is absolutely astonishing. The script is so lame that even the best direction which this show does not have could not make the actors give a better rendition. The acting - it has to be said is badly affected by this - is almost to a person awful. Some of the wives have moments when their sex appeal is almost enjoyable and if that is the only redeeming aspect then this show is in big trouble. Whoever made this garbage happen is a blithering imbecile TV producer who has absolutely no intention of making a quality product and like our friend Gruber regards the entire public as stupid. Is this the way we wish to celebrate Xmas? Not me for sure. It is high time that the censorship board goes beyond judging what is pathetic and crude but also what is base and downright awful. This show reminds me a lot of the garbage movies made about religion in the days back in the 30s to 60s. Lame- lame - lame!