The
Red Tent
(2014 TV Mini-Series/Sony DVD)
Picture:
B Sound: C Extras: D Episodes: B-
Raised
by her mother, her aunts, Dinah has been raise by the women of the
Red Tent, daughter of Jacob and Leah, sister to Joseph. In The
Red Tent,
she learns from the wise woman and their experiences in how to be a
midwife of her tribe. However, as Dinah grows up, she surrounded by
her envious brothers who murder her husband and eventually land her
in slavery. Dinah leaves her family and becomes slave for the
Egyptians while raising her son without telling him she is his
mother... only years later does he learn what happened to the family
she left.
What
is the Red Tent? To men, it is the place when women are monthly
'unclean' and to spend their days, but to the women, it is the only
place and time where they can talk with each other, share their
wisdom, share their stories and build their friendships with their
other wives and women of their tribe. Dinah grows up headstrong and
independent, believing in a woman can choose her own path, but when
she falls in love with a Prince of another tribe, she is punished and
then forced to be come a slave/midwife. Then she uses her skills she
has learned in the Red Tent to build her own life. It is only years
later she is reunited with her family and made peace and forgave
those who had wronged her.
This
TV mini-series had an all star cast of characters and was a retelling
of Jacob's and his daughter's story through the eyes of a woman. If
their is a Prodigal son story, this would be the Prodigal Daughter
story. More than often, you have to remember during this time women
was treated lower than slaves, they are breeding stock, things, they
were tools in which the men use for trade, marriage and dowry. It
teaches that a woman's role/place should child bearing, they should
follow traditions and obey their husbands. If not, women must then
endure the roles in which society gives them. Minnie Driver and
Debra Winger are among the cast.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is nicely shot and plays well
throughout, but the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is a bit soft and a
bit off with too much sound in the front and center channels. There
are no extras.
-
Ricky Chiang
