La Bible: Joseph

The story of Joseph and his brothers is one of the most impressing and rich of significance stories amongst the many others great legends from the Bible. Even the Nobel Prize winner - German author Thomas Mann - wrote a novel called 'Joseph and his Brothers' giving his personal interpretation of this intense, gripping and compassionate episode of the Bible. However, the cinema never pays much attention to this story. In fact, anyone can easily remember movies like 'The Ten Commandments' which tells the adventure of Moses in his search for the Promised Land or 'Sanson and Dellila'. But the drama of the betrayed Joseph, his suffer among the Egyptians and his conquer of power and fortune, was never at the first line of consideration by the producers of Hollywood. This movie, produced in Italy, bring to us this entranced story with an average success. The movie is a bit overlong (180 min) but never boring; the sets and costumes are accurate and the movie has a great photograph. Martin Landau gives a convinced performance as Jacob, Ben Kingsley is correct as Potifar but Paul Mercurio is very bad as Joseph. Maybe another actor with more intensity could give more strenght and energy to the movie. Anyway, if you find this one in a DVD/VHS rent store and if you like Biblical movies, don't lose this one. It's really worthwhile.

As a minister, I liked this movie which caused the Bible to "come alive". Canaan and Egypt were well-depicted, and the acting was excellent. Martin Landau was very convincing as the aging and often angry Jacob, Ben Kingsley was the one to be chosen for Potipher, Lesley Ann Warren definitely let the viewer(s) see very clearly what a beautiful, sultry, and wicked wife Potipher had. Paul Mercurio portrayed Joseph a godly man who, in turn, was terribly mistreated by his brothers, Potipher's wife, and Egyptian taskmasters. Needless to say, it was inspiring to see Joseph "come out on top" in this story. The movie did follow the Biblical story line very closely. The TV movie was very impressive.

Every time this 1995 version of Joseph's profound story is on TV again, I watch it. I'm mesmerized by the beautiful Soul of Joseph as depicted by the really likable Paul Mercurio. He brings Joseph's kind and courageous spirit to life.

Also excellent is Ben Kingsley, Martin Landau, Leslie A. Warren. This film is thoughtful, beautifully photographed and directed. For me it is essential viewing for audiences who want accurate Biblical stories, as well as for those who simply like well-produced movies.

Joseph truly has a character to aspire to as followers of the deeper nature of humanity, and his characterization is both believable and amazing in this rendition. Because it isn't certain who really made this story work, I have to give everyone in the production credit.

The film was the most faithful Bible adaptation I have seen. It kept faithful to the Bible with intelligent in-filling of Biblical gaps of plot and character. The drama was maintained with real depth and passion to the characters

This film is far from the epic scale of DeMille's "The Ten Commandments" but its startling accuracy pays homage to the text of Genesis and it is full of drama, bitterness, provocative character, and spiritual development. The film takes time to address Jacob's family background without taking away from the protagonist's ongoing journey.

Since my school classes covered the story of Joseph with Old Testament commentaries, I am impressed with the remarkable precision in the film from a Jewish perspective. They include Joseph's meeting with a "man" (i.e. angel), his title as "Tzapaneth Paneah", and the incident of Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar. While some of the brothers dispute with their father Jacob, it is Judah who redeems himself from his errors.

The casting is well-credited with Ben Kingsley (superb as ever) as Potiphar. Paul Mercurio as Joseph is a quiet and righteous man who restrains himself in the face of fear and temptation.

The simple backgrounds and sets work well and while this is not an elaborate film, it is a great biblical one. Whether others are watching this film for educational, spiritual, or personal reasons, I hope they enjoy it as much as I did.