Esther (1986 film) explained

Esther
Director:Amos Gitai
Distributor:Facets Multi-Media
Runtime:97 minutes
Language:Hebrew

Esther (Hebrew: אסתר) is a 97-minute 1986 Austrian-British-Dutch-Israeli Hebrew-language independent underground dramatic historical experimental art film directed by Amos Gitai, his directorial debut. The film tells the story of Esther from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Esther and stars Simone Benyamini, Zare Vartanian, Mohammad Bakri and Juliano Mer-Khamis.

Synopsis

When King Ahasuerus (Zare Vartanian) of Persia drives out of his court Queen Vashti for refusing to show up before him, a frantic search for young virgins is unleashed throughout the kingdom, extending from India to Ethiopia. Esther, an orphan who was raised by her Jewish uncle, Mordecai (Mohammad Bakri), has entered the King's harem, having been chosen as his wife without the knowledge that she was Jewish. At court, she has thwarted an attack against the King thanks to information provided by her uncle. For the service rendered, Esther and Mordecai have become the only free court characters not to prostrate themselves in front of anyone. However, when Mordecai refuses to bow to Minister Haman (Juliano Mer-Khamis), the latter commands the death of all of the Jews of the kingdom under the seal of the King. This is discovered by Esther and Mordecai, who devise a plan to save their people. Mordecai acts in advance against Haman, ordering the vengeful extermination of all of those who want the death of the Jews.[1] [2] [3]

Cast

Production

The film marked the directorial debut of Amos Gitai, who also wrote the screenplay.[4] It was shot by Henri Alekan and Nurith Aviv (with assisting), and cast by .

Developed at and financed by Interkerkelijke Omroep Nederland and Film4 Productions, the film was distributed by Facets Multi-Media.

Release

The film was screened at the May 1986 Cannes Film Festival during the International Critics's Week, at the October 1986 Torino Film Festival where it also won several awards, and at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival on 21 February 1992. The film was released in Israel, where it premiered at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, together with Berlin-Jerusalem (1989) as part of a DVD boxset in 2005.[5]

Critical response

Stephen Holden of The New York Times opined that "[t]hough not especially entertaining, it is quite handsome and bristling with ideas."[6] In Israel, however, some reviewers were more negative. Daniel Warth of Ha'ir, while noticing similarities to the works of Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bertolt Brecht, and Miklós Jancsó, stated that the film "is an artistic pretension which remains nothing but an aesthical drill with unsophisticated political declarations."[7]

References

Citations in article
  • Sources used

    • Further reading

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Sources:
    2. Sources:
      • Schenkar. Guilhad Emilio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr1aw6NoPJo. he:חי בסרט – עמוס גיתאי. Living in Films – Amos Gitai. Jerusalem. Ministry of Education’s Israeli Educational Television. he. 30 September 2018. 12 August 2014.
      • Book: Ginsberg. Prof. Dr. Terri. Lippard. Prof. Dr. Chris. March 2010. Historical Dictionary of Middle Eastern Cinema. Lanham, Maryland, Toronto, Ontario, and Plymouth. Rowman & Littlefield’s The Scarecrow Press, Inc.. 137. 9780810873643. Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts, Volume 36, Series Editor: Arthur Jon Woronoff. 718533076. 30 September 2018.
      • . News: he:אסתר, או הפורים־שפיל של עמוס גיתאי. Esther, or the Pourim-Shpil of Amos Gitai. Summer 2001. 76–82. he., Volume 75. Tel Aviv-Yafo, Jerusalem, and Ra’anana. The Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies, The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, Tel Aviv University, ’s, and The Department of History, Philosophy, and Judaic Studies, Open University of Israel. 23437280.
    3. Sources:
      • Book: Ehrich, Carl S..

        de:Carl S. Ehrlich

        . Esther in film. September 2016. Burnette-Bletsch. Rhonda. The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film. 122–124. Berlin and Boston, Massachusetts. Walter de Gruyter. 9781614513261. 959149599. https://books.google.com/books?id=MtcXDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA122. 30 September 2018. Handbooks of the Bible and Its Reception (HBR). 2. Google Books.
      • News: Fainaru. Edna. Fainaru. Dan. he:אסתר – משוש האינטלקטואלים. Esther – The Opium of the Intellectuals. 9 April 1986. http://idea.cinema.co.il/ideawebinter/multimedia_11/0161/01610299.pdf. he. HaOlam HaZeh. Tel Aviv-Yafo. 30 September 2018. HaOlam HaZeh. 4 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210704055936/http://idea.cinema.co.il/ideawebinter/multimedia_11/0161/01610299.pdf. dead.
      • Pélisson. Olivier. 1986: Amos Gitaï – Esther Is Born. Paris. ’s Le Film français, 15 avril 2013. fr. 1 October 2018.
      • News: Schwartz. Dennis. Dennis Schwartz. 26 July 2018. Ably Tells the Purim Story of the Jews. Ozu’s World Movie Reviews. Bennington, Vermont. 1 October 2018. Online Film Critics Society. 2 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181002020114/http://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/esther.html. dead.
    4. Book: Clanton Jr., Dan W.. Daring, Disreputable and Devout: Interpreting the Hebrew Bible's Women in Art and Music. 2009. 122. Continuum International Publishing Group. 978-0-5670-2747-4. Google Books. 10 October 2018.
    5. he:ברלין ירושלים. Berlin-Jerusalem. Gitai, Prof. Dr. Amos. Ramat HaSharon. NMC Music’s Globus United King Films. he. DVD. 2005. 30 September 2018. http://israel-music.com/various/berlin_jerusalem. 920667873.
    6. News: Holden. Stephen. 19 May 1989. Reviews/Film; The Purim Story, With Modern Overtones. The New York Times. 11 October 2018. 16.
    7. News: Warth. Daniel. he:תרגיל אסתטי. An Aesthetical Drill. 9 July 1986. http://idea.cinema.co.il/ideawebinter/multimedia_11/0161/01610301.pdf. he. Ha'ir. Tel Aviv-Yafo. 30 September 2018. Haaretz Group's . idea.cimema.co.il. 4 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210704055949/http://idea.cinema.co.il/ideawebinter/multimedia_11/0161/01610301.pdf. dead.

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