"You think you've got problems?"
Hollywood gets one right with a powerful and entertaining biblical movie that reminds us God will always turn the evil meant by the world for his faithful, into good.
Those of you paying attention may remember we bumped what was supposed to be last week’s Substack to this week, when the news dropped about the corrupt criminal conviction of former President Donald Trump, and the Holy Spirit gave me a few words to say on the occasion.
Well, here we are this week, and that article that was promised?
Not happening.
Why?
Because, only a week after the first one, yet another suspiciously inopportune technical difficulty at exactly the right wrong moment “disapparated” the completed article from my hard drive. I spent two solid days and nearly $200 I don’t have, trying to recover it, which makes a grand total “technical difficulties” have cost me in just these last two weeks, of over $400.
That I don’t have.
And so God—faithful and true to his word that tells us in Isaiah 26:3 he promises to “...keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you”—had his Holy Spirit rush to my rescue to avert the complete postal meltdown he could see I was headed for, and nudge me towards taking a bit of a break from our usual job of assessing the teeth-grinding insanity going on all around us these days.
“Why don’t we go to the movies?” he suggested.
Because this last week, I finished watching a fantastic Hollywood biblical offering that wowed the 1st century knock-off sandals right off my feet, and left me with a powerfully positive vibe that overwhelmingly satisfies both a desire for good filmed entertainment and good Bible storytelling through it.
Little—at least for me—takes the mind faithful to the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah off the biblically epic insanity in the world today, like a compelling, engaging and spiritually inspiring and encouraging, epically biblical movie from a Holy Scripture account.
So we’re taking a look today at the 1995 television miniseries Joseph that I came across completely unexpectedly on YouTube; and am I ever glad I did.
I’ve always thought Joseph’s one of the most underrated figures of the biblical account. This movie gives him the A-list treatment his character and his life deserve.
The movie was originally released as a TV miniseries airing on Ted Turner’s TNT in 1995, part of the Bible Collection series produced for the network between 1994-2001.
The whole time I was watching it, not once did it occur to me it was a TV movie, so high was the production value, the quality of the acting and the execution of the narrative. In fact, I thought I was watching a theatrical release and didn’t even know it was a TV miniseries until I did the prep research for this review.
Directed by Roger Young (veteran TV movie and miniseries director from the mid-’70’s-2014), Joseph stars Australian-born Paul Mercurio (Strictly Ballroom [1992]; judge on Dancing With the Stars; currently an Australian politician), as Joseph; prolific and award-winning actor Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji in Gujarat, India: Gandhi [1922], Academy Award Best Actor; Bugsy [1990]; Schindler’s List, [1993]; and appearances in Iron Man 3 and Ender’s Game [2013]), as Potiphar; Martin Landau (supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest [1959]; prolific TV actor most famous for the late-’60’s Mission:Impossible, and mid-’70’s Space 1999), as the Patriarch, Jacob; and Lesley Ann Warren (same Mission:Impossible as Landau, as well as hit shows like Colombo, and a movie career apexing when she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for her role as Norma Cassidy in Blake Edwards’ musical comedy Victor/Victoria [1982]), as Potiphar’s sex-mad wife.
So the talent is headed up by some heavy hitters, and the superlative acting in the movie all ‘round, shows it.
Joseph tells the story of the life of Joseph, son of Jacob (of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), contained in the Old Testament account of it in Genesis 37-50.
The movie opens with Joseph as he begins to tell the background of his life to his Egyptian master, Potiphar, Captain of the Guard in Pharaoh’s service, as a way of demonstrating to his master his trustworthiness, by the account of how he ended up a slave in Egypt.
We get the story of Joseph by seeing the lives of the family of Jacob evolve according to the Genesis account: Jacob’s favoritism towards the elder son of his most beloved wife Rachel, who was only able to provide Jacob with two of his 12 sons before she died: the two youngest, Joseph and Benjamin; the other brothers’ envy of Joseph and the cruel malice with which they treated him as a result; culminating with their selling him off to Ishmaili slave traders while telling their father he’d been torn apart by a wild animal, over which the distraught Jacob was unable to stop grieving.
When we’re brought up to speed, we then see Joseph’s story unfold in Egypt: how he’s reluctantly received by Potiphar, who originally doubts his value; how he gains Potiphar’s trust by putting the messy affairs of the wealthy household—neglected by Potiphar’s incompetent servants—in order; how Potiphar’s wife insistently tries to seduce the young and handsome Joseph, who refuses her, until she finally accuses him of trying to rape her after he ran off from her advance; how while in prison for it, the faithful Joseph wins renown for correctly interpreting by the Spirit of the Lord the dreams of a pair of Pharaoh’s imprisoned officials; how as a result, Joseph ends up interpreting two of Pharaoh’s dreams that avert Egypt’s succumbing to the 7 years of famine coming soon; how Pharaoh then appoints Joseph as his second-banana and puts him in charge of all the affairs of Egypt; and how, finally, Joseph is reconciled with his brothers and reunited with the father who thought he was dead all that time.
The biblical account itself of the life of Joseph is a lesson in how unwavering faithfulness to God gives us a supernatural power to persevere and overcome difficulties, injustices and cruelties; and how God’s faithfulness in return blesses us with his grace, protection and providence in turning what was meant as evil for us into much good that can serve God’s fruitful purpose.
It was Joseph’s insistent dedication in remaining faithful to God and not bowing down to either Pharaoh or Ra, that impressed first his master, Potiphar, and then later, Pharaoh himself; who appreciated the courage and honesty Joseph displayed by doing so, which made him a valuable servant, who could be relied upon for honesty and truthfulness in a court replete with rear-end kissing, criminally corrupt Yes Men.
It was because of that same faithfulness—even while the Number Two in an officially pagan-worshiping empire—that God rewarded Joseph with the meteoric rise from his difficult and tragic beginnings to a protected life of wealth and prominence as the second most powerful man in the known world.
It was by the tragic betrayal which befell Joseph and by which he ended up in Egypt, that God was able to save millions of lives, when Joseph’s wise planning averted famine and economic disaster during the 7 years of drought and famine that came after the 7 years of plenty he prophesied to Pharaoh.
And by which God’s own chosen nation of Israel was saved from perishing in that famine when Jacob and his family and their people were all brought by Joseph to Egypt, where they went on to live peacefully and prosperously despite the woes the rest of the world was experiencing during those 7 hard years, and long afterwards.
And finally, it was that faithfulness that caused God to reunite Joseph with the family from which he was forcibly estranged: bringing reconciliation between him and his brothers; and joy and renewed hope for his people’s future to a father who thought the son upon which all that hope for that future rested, had been dead all those years.
The movie doesn’t take the story all the way to the conclusion of the biblical account at the end of Genesis 50, with the death of Jacob and then Joseph.
It doesn’t have to.
There’s enough of all the most important parts and lessons of Joseph’s life told in the movie—man’s cruelty to man, man’s faithfulness to God and God’s faithfulness in return, betrayal, treachery, perseverance, forgiveness—that the movie’s producers safely leave it off after Jacob and the rest of his tribe arrive in Egypt; and we know the happy ending that awaits them, is to be spared from the ravages of famine, while also being reunited with the son and brother they all thought had been lost forever.
The movie runs just over 3 hours, at 185 mins. But don’t let that scare you off. It’s so compellingly put together; so well acted; looks, sounds and feels so real, that by the time I noticed I was already two-hours into it, I couldn’t tell all that time had gone by, so absorbed was I with the story.
Making that easier is all that heavy-weight acting and some really good screenwriting by Lionel Chetwynd that bring the characters to vibrant life; letting us see them, understand them, and sympathize and relate to them as real people with likes, lusts, loves and daily lives just like anybody else, rather than as faceless names of archetypes in an ancient account.
Also making it easier to watch as the time just flies right by is the authentic look, sound and feel of the environment and settings, which manage to capture the authenticity of the period in culture, fashion, behavior and architecture, without needing to go overboard on expansively lavish sets to do it. One of the strengths of the production is that it convincingly conveys the impression that this was really how it all could have looked and sounded back then.
Among the movie’s strong selling points (at least for me), is its faithfulness to Holy Scripture. There are no frivolous interjections, no exaggerations or embellishments of people, places or events to make them appear more “sexy” to a modern viewer. The biblical account itself is filled with enough emotionally-charged action, intrigue and suspense that it doesn’t need anything except a faithful bringing of it to life on the screen, which this production manages in spades.
Joseph doesn’t lack drama or suspense, especially in the depiction of the relationship between Joseph and his brothers; the intimate friendship and mutual respect that developed between Joseph and Potiphar; as well as the intrigues in Pharaoh’s court. Potiphar’s wife’s insistent and repeated sexual advances on Joseph are maybe a little more graphically depicted than they mindfully could’ve been, but we’re all adults, what’s real is what’s real, and there wasn’t anything gratuitously inappropriate about it in the context of truthful authenticity.
One of the most heart-wrenching scenes I’ve seen in a movie in a long time comes when the brothers throw Joseph into a cistern filled with snakes, and leave him there overnight as they decide whether they’re going to kill him or what. And we’re treated to listening—along with the obviously guilt-stricken brothers—as the desperate and despondent Joseph forlornly screams himself hoarse late into the desert night, begging his callous brothers to help him.
So all that’s why—if you’re into the biblical narrative as filmed entertainment—this is a great, entertaining and enlightening movie to watch anytime.
But especially when you need a potent pick-me-up if you’re suffering from the “I’m getting the snot kicked out of me by the world and I can’t take it anymore!” vibe (on top of the “Stop the insanity!” frustration with the 24/7 cavalcade of crazy going on in every manifestation of human life right now); and want an inspiring story of hope in the face of apparent futility, triumph out of the jaws of defeat, and God’s divine blessing in return for bold and unwavering faith in and faithfulness to him, to get the good, strong shot in the arm we all need from time to time to stay confident in God’s grace and providence in a dark and hopeless looking and feeling time like right now…
Joseph is just what the doctor ordered.
(Photo Credits: ©1995 Warner Bros. Discovery Networks)
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