The Dovekeepers

The book the Dovekeepers was interesting with much information about history. The movie is only sex and left all the information out. Also, the movie is very disjointed. I recommended this movie to friends and was embarrassed. What a total disappointment. Where were the scenes of of the destruction of the Temple, the hazards of traveling across the desert, that the person they were talking to was Josephus the great Historian, that Masada was built by Herod, the importance of the dovekeeping and sending of messages, who were the Essenes,where were the fields and what did they grow, what was the Mikveh, the explanations of the rituals done by Shira and her methods of holistic healing, etc. Where was all the information that was given in the book. We know about sex and lust but not about the history that was provided in the book. This movie removed the essence of the book leaving nothing of interest.

The information I had before trying to watch this sounded good, sounded like it would be quite interesting. Unfortunately the program itself was amazingly boring. I admit, I did not watch the entire show, I gave up watching after 25 minutes. I would have quit sooner but I was hoping it would find some energy and take off.

Every scene just plodded along, the times when there should have been the strongest of emotions, there were just frozen masks of indifference. As most, at times, a slight knowing smile, or a little frown of anger (I think that is what it was).

Maybe it got better later on in the show, I just could not hang on anymore. It should have been a great story, I think, but not told and represented this way.

I doubt too many people will find this interesting enough to watch all the way through.

Really the only good thing about this film was the visuals. Everything else about it was just terrible. This movie was in essence a women's romance novel set during biblical times. The film hardly hold up to Judea/Christian values though. The two main women in the movie sleep with every man they meet. This is unacceptable in our time, but in this time in history they would have been killed for it. To add insult to injury they also practice witchcraft. No one ever seems to question any of this behavior though, and everyone acts like this is perfectly normal. I never did watch the second night. It was so terrible I could not bear another night of this trash. The characters are empty, and wooden. The men are all hunky (right off the cover of a romance novel). Do yourself a favor and skip this. Your brain will thank you for it.

It was definitely not an action show ,but a drama, with much narration. Hard to follow at points and slow in others. I am glad I did not pay to see this at the movies , even Sam Neill was dry. Roma Downey & Mark Burnet take yet another step further away from presenting a good Christian story,( i.e. their Bible and A.D. stories toning down the divinity of Jesus and leaving out Satan claiming to such things because they wanted it family friendly, but this movie is not) full of fornication. I lost track of all the adultery ,out of wedlock sex and children born out of wedlock. Like a day time soap. Shame...but it is obvious they have plenty of "water" around...

I never read the book so I don't know what the intention or full story was. (This version seems to exclude a lot). And I can forgive the lack to authenticity. (Blue eyed, flame haired Judean 2000 years ago? Yeah, right.) It's fictionalized history.

What's unforgivable is the the lack of likeable characters (except maybe the German slave and Josephus who was at least a realist/pragmatist.)

I'm all for love and romance, but come on! The women come across as dumb, weak, easily seduced and/or mean (scorned wives mad at mistresses). The men predatory when not just complete a-holes.

Perhaps it was the way this particular story was told, but what the Jews were fighting for wasn't really emphasized/shown. We see the Romans take revenge, but (based on the story here) they were attacked first. Revenge is what the Romans do. Sure, revolt/rebellion/dying for freedom is a topic of argument between Shirah and Josephus, but it's never made visceral for the viewer.

Ultimately, I didn't really care what happened to the Romans or the Jews. The only ones I felt bad for were the children with such lousy parents.