JACOB (The Bible Collection) Full Christian Movie
- 11 months ago
This 90-minute TNT miniseries is a straightforward dramatization of the Biblical story of Jacob in the Book of Genesis, but it only covers his life from the theft of his brother Esau's birthright to their reconciliation years later, with the emphasis on his intervening struggles to marry Rachel despite her crafty father Laban's machinations.
Acclaimed theatrical director Sir Peter Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, gives the film a style that is more stagey than cinematic, with lots of static shots lacking in cinematic flair. But he elicits dramatically convincing performances from a strong cast. Matthew Modine, Sean Bean, Lara Flynn Boyle, Irene Papas, Joss Ackland, Giancarlo Giannini, and Christoph Waltz all offer richly subtle performances under the sure hand of Hall's direction. Some highlights include Jacob's theft of the birthright, the "Jacob's Ladder" dream sequence envisioned with good special effects, Jacob's overnight wrestling match with the angel who renames him Israel, Jacob's battle of wits with Laban, and the final reconciliation between the brothers.
The battle of wits with Laban is perhaps the most entertaining stretch of the film. The editing in several of these sequences is surprisingly sharp, helping to compensate for the small scale of this story, which is among the least memorable of many beautiful passages in the Book of Genesis. This is probably the best possible film of this material, but the material itself is weak, as the drama of Jacob's story is so internally focused that it is not easy to visualize in an involving way.
Compared to the other very rich films produced by the same artists in the TNT Bible Collection and Trimark Bible Series, most of which are three hours long, this miniseries is also among the weakest. It offers an unimaginative depiction of a relatively minor Biblical story in only 90 minutes of film, with an unusually weak Marco Frisina musical score and good acting that lands just a bit too flat.
In contrast to Matthew Modine, Martin Landau fares much better as an older Jacob in "Joseph," the Emmy-winning miniseries that picks up this story at Shechem and relates the family conflicts of Jacob's wives and sons. Indeed, "Joseph" remains the best cinematic version of the shepherd stories that fill most of Genesis, but even the first TNT film "Abraham" (1994) with Richard Harris beats this one. Although it features the same historical authenticity and excellent costumes/locations as these other films, "Jacob" is just not in the same class as "Moses" with Ben Kingsley and "David" with Nathaniel Parker," which are rousing little epics even if they fall short of "Joseph." Nevertheless, "Jacob" is still lightyears better than the more recent Biblical epics released by these Italian production companies on the American DVD market -- such as "Paul the Apostle with Johannes Brandrup -- which are filled with badly dubbed European actors and cheaper production values.
Acclaimed theatrical director Sir Peter Hall, founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company, gives the film a style that is more stagey than cinematic, with lots of static shots lacking in cinematic flair. But he elicits dramatically convincing performances from a strong cast. Matthew Modine, Sean Bean, Lara Flynn Boyle, Irene Papas, Joss Ackland, Giancarlo Giannini, and Christoph Waltz all offer richly subtle performances under the sure hand of Hall's direction. Some highlights include Jacob's theft of the birthright, the "Jacob's Ladder" dream sequence envisioned with good special effects, Jacob's overnight wrestling match with the angel who renames him Israel, Jacob's battle of wits with Laban, and the final reconciliation between the brothers.
The battle of wits with Laban is perhaps the most entertaining stretch of the film. The editing in several of these sequences is surprisingly sharp, helping to compensate for the small scale of this story, which is among the least memorable of many beautiful passages in the Book of Genesis. This is probably the best possible film of this material, but the material itself is weak, as the drama of Jacob's story is so internally focused that it is not easy to visualize in an involving way.
Compared to the other very rich films produced by the same artists in the TNT Bible Collection and Trimark Bible Series, most of which are three hours long, this miniseries is also among the weakest. It offers an unimaginative depiction of a relatively minor Biblical story in only 90 minutes of film, with an unusually weak Marco Frisina musical score and good acting that lands just a bit too flat.
In contrast to Matthew Modine, Martin Landau fares much better as an older Jacob in "Joseph," the Emmy-winning miniseries that picks up this story at Shechem and relates the family conflicts of Jacob's wives and sons. Indeed, "Joseph" remains the best cinematic version of the shepherd stories that fill most of Genesis, but even the first TNT film "Abraham" (1994) with Richard Harris beats this one. Although it features the same historical authenticity and excellent costumes/locations as these other films, "Jacob" is just not in the same class as "Moses" with Ben Kingsley and "David" with Nathaniel Parker," which are rousing little epics even if they fall short of "Joseph." Nevertheless, "Jacob" is still lightyears better than the more recent Biblical epics released by these Italian production companies on the American DVD market -- such as "Paul the Apostle with Johannes Brandrup -- which are filled with badly dubbed European actors and cheaper production values.