Synopsis
Reviews
Credits
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Synopsis
The story of the twelve tribes of Israel is told through the eyes of Jacob’s only daughter, Dinah.
It is the time of the Old Testament patriarchs of the Book of Genesis. Dinah, the only daughter of Leah and Jacob, chronicles her story from youth through adulthood. She narrates her relationship with her parents, aunts, and eleven older brothers. She often focuses on the significance of the Red Tent, occupied by the women of her tribe (including Jacob’s other three wives Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah) during their time of menstruation. The women have kept alive their old traditions of goddess-worship unbeknownst to their Israelite husbands, managing to keep this secret since men are not allowed in the Red Tent.
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Reviews
Glen in particular does a good job balancing several modes: sensitive but randy shepherd with four wives, tormented brother betrayer, and thundering old-school patriarch. Ferguson is also top-notch as the woman out of time, defiantly declaring she will marry for love and owning her single-gal-in-the-city (of Thebes) sass, standing up to authority, and midwifing like it’s her business (it is!), and business is good.
The Boston GlobeThat character, Jacob’s daughter Dinah, is a strong woman in an era when women were not supposed to enter the realms of men. Rebecca Ferguson plays Dinah with the right mix of frustration and determination. In that sense “The Red Tent” is an aggressively feminist story painted on a canvas straight out of “The Ten Commandments.” Jacob (Iain Glen) comes off as a generally good man, but also a man of his times, suspicious of what he does not understand. That suspicion turns to anger among Jacob and the other men in the family when Dinah makes a choice of which they do not approve. Their indifference to her feelings forces her to break away, and “The Red Tent” follows her into those uncharted waters, the ones Dinah tells us were ignored by the men who wrote history.
NY Daily NewsMarrying biblical heft with the particular bonds between mothers and daughters (as well as moms’ noble sacrifices), Anita Diamant’s bestseller “The Red Tent” is a perfect fit for Lifetime, conceptually speaking, and it’s been turned into a handsome melodrama, starring Rebecca who doubles as narrator of her woe-filled tale. Literary in tone and shot with considerable scope in Morocco, the first half of this four-hour miniseries proves stronger than the second, but by then viewers should be firmly invested in the story, which, by moving women front and center, cleverly redresses the Bible’s male-oriented tilt.
VarietyThe beautiful cinematography makes tent life in a desert look appealing, and it is easy to feel a connection with the characters through the excellent acting.
News OKFrom a secular perspective, The Red Tent may not exactly be an epic, but it’s an engaging and very well cast story of the triumph and resilience of the female spirit. (Debra Winger also appears, briefly as Dinah’s frightening grandmother Rebekah). Dinah grows and learns and changes a great deal throughout the series’ four hours, and her journey of romance, murder, sorrow, and more romance is well-handled visually, thanks to Roger Young
The Hollywood ReporterLifetime series finds fresh wisdom from the Bible in story about women’s choices starring Rebecca Ferguson, Iain Glen and Morena Baccarin.
TV review
There’s nothing like a sprinkle of soap to humanize an epic built on characters from the Bible.
“The Red Tent” is a faithful dramatization of Anita Diamant’s 1997 book, in which Diamant took a minor character from the Bible and filled in the story the Bible didn’t tell.That character, Jacob’s daughter Dinah, is a strong woman in an era when women were not supposed to enter the realms of men. Rebecca Ferguson plays Dinah with the right mix of frustration and determination. In that sense “The Red Tent” is an aggressively feminist story painted on a canvas straight out of “The Ten Commandments.”
NY Daily News
Jacob (Iain Glen) comes off as a generally good man, but also a man of his times, suspicious of what he does not understand. That suspicion turns to anger among Jacob and the other men in the family when Dinah makes a choice of which they do not approve.
Their indifference to her feelings forces her to break away, and “The Red Tent” follows her into those uncharted waters, the ones Dinah tells us were ignored by the men who wrote history. -
Credits
- Rebecca Ferguson
- Dinah
- Iain Glen
- Jacob
- Morena Baccarin
- Rachel
- Minnie Driver
- Leah
- Will Tudor
- Joseph
- Hiam Abbass
- Queen Re-Nefer
- Vinette Robinson
- Bilhah
- Debra Winger
- Rebecca
- Pedro Lloyd Gardiner
- Levi
- Saif Al-Warith
- Simon
- Douglas Rankine
- Reuben
- Agni Scott
- Zilpah
- Sofie Golding-Spittle
- Werenro
- Will Payne
- Jacob
- Darwin Shaw
- Benia
- Aiste Gramantaite
- Ruti
- Toby Sebastian
- Re-mose
- Sean Teale
- Shalem
- Sheila Vand
- Meryt
- Leigh Lawson
- Laban
- Morjana Alaoui
- Ahouri
- Holly Earl
- Rachel
- Zen Rapley
- Re-mose (7 Yrs)
- Caitlin Joseph
- Zilpah (18 Yrs)
- Sonia Okacha
- Sherya
- Gabrielle Dempsey
- Leah (20 Yrs)
- Tika Peucelle
- As-Naat
- Ilham Oujri
- Vaniah
- Stewart Scudamore
- King Hamor
- Samy Bennis
- Benjamin
- Leni Zieglmeier
- Bilhah (12 Yrs)