The Moving Picture

The film “One Night with the King” is an adaptation of the Biblical classic the Book of Esther. The movie is true to the soul of the romantic tale and honors the heroine’s heroic act with an accurate, heartfelt retelling of her deeds.
The Redlands Daily Facts reviewed this film as part of its ongoing community film review series Friday, Oct. 6. Overall, “One Night with the King” earned high praise from Christian and non-Christian moviegoers alike. However, some were disappointed by the film’s few elaborations on the biblical tale. One reviewer even went so far as to say that the Christian director and production company lost sight of God and committed a horrible injustice with its adapted tale.
This is overly harsh criticism for such a well-done film. “One Night with the King” did have flaws, but they had little to do with the plot or its presentation. None of the Biblical story’s details were altered, only elaborated upon. And only a few of the classic tale’s harshest details were excluded from the big screen.
The elaborations were much-needed additions without which the film would have been choppy at best, unintelligible at worse. However, it was these discrepancies that displeased some faithful moviegoers. The Book of Esther is a lovely story of bravery, courage and love and none of this was lost in the retelling, only supported with necessary details. The Biblical tale lacks many details, without which make it more of an outline than a complete story.
For instance, the greatest elaboration included background on Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Nowhere in the Book of Esther does it say why the Agagite so loathes the Jewish people that he would undertake mass genocide. With little historical data to go on, the screenwriter associated Haman’s malice with a past war between the Agagites and the Jews, which resulted in the annihilation of his people and the slaughter of his family.
However, the Bible story does say Haman hated the Jews, the people of Mordecai, and sought their destruction, though not why he loathed them so.
The Bible also does not elaborate on why Mordecai refuses to pay homage to Haman even before his evil plot is revealed. The movie again connects this to Haman’s animosity towards the Jews stemming from his family’s murder at the hands of the Jewish people. Mordecai knows he is an Agagite and that reason alone, in the film, is enough to warrant his dislike.
It is also left unclear in the Book of Esther as to why Mordecai requests Esther hide her Jewish heritage. Given their place in society as indentured servants and slaves, this is not completely strange, but not entirely understandable. There is nothing life threatening suggested at the time, so such a major concealment seems misplaced. However, if there is already unrest in the country regarding the Jews, as in the film, stirred up by Haman, then such a cover-up makes more sense.
The Book of Esther also details a plot to assassinate the king uncovered by Mordecai, but it is not made clear as to why the king’s chamberlains Bigthan and Teresh “were wroth” (Esther 2:21) or what prompted them to attempt to take his life. The movie connects their actions to that of Prince Admantha and his affiliation with Haman. The two plot together to start a war with Greece, bring down the Jewish people, create political unrest and usurp the Persian throne.
In the film, Queen Vashti’s refusal to join King Xerxes’ feast is also attributed to her protest over the coming war with the Greeks, a detail not included in the Book of Esther. The Bible story does not elaborate on why the queen did not come at her husband’s request. Biblical scholars often interpret her refusal as an overabundance of pride and an underabundance of humility. This is certainly conveyed in the film, but the vagueness of the Biblical story is rectified with a connection to the coming war, a theme which runs throughout the entire film, tying many of the Book of Esther’s loose elements together much more concretely.
The details of Esther’s romance with the king are also sketchy, at best, in the Book of Esther. The Biblical story reads that Hadassah pleased Hegai, the chief eunuch, but not how she pleased him. The movie elaborates with scenes revealing Esther’s gentle character, sharp wit, perceptiveness and courage.
The biblical story also does not say why or how King Xerxes came to love Esther above all others. The movie details how he came to treasure her after hours spent storytelling, her honesty during their one night together and her simple, straightforward character.
Other than the elaboration of a coming war, the greatest elaboration on the Biblical story was Esther’s character. Very little is said in print as to what kind of a woman Esther was or how she came by so strong of a character. “One Night with the King” does an excellent job of picking up where the Book of Esther left off, providing a much more rounded picture of the great Jewish Queen.
There were only two additions to the Book of Esther in “One Night with the King” that were added more for dramatic effect, than out of a storytelling necessity. One was the rainstorm, which left Esther drenched and bedraggled before her uninvited intrusion. She meant to appear in her best dress and jewels, but the chief eunuch, fearing for her his beloved friend’s life, refused to send for a carriage to take her safely to the hall. In the Book of Esther she does in fact appear before the king in her greatest splendor and he cannot help but offer the beautiful vision his golden scepter, forgiving her intrusion. In the film, despite her sodden appearance, the king so loved her he still protected her from the court’s wrath by offering her his scepter. This was a nice detail, which despite the obvious change to the original tale, fit well with the story’s overall intentions.
The king was also not as wrathful at Esther for her intrusion in the Bible story as in the movie. However, in print, her revelation at the private feast does cause him to enter the gardens to gather himself. He returns to find Haman attacking Esther, in his eyes, apparently trying to rape her (Esther 7:8).
There is also no mention of Esther’s diamond necklace, crafted to project the Star of David when the light strikes it, but it was a nice addition in the film. Certainly an educated leader would have demanded proof of her heritage. Such a revelation drastically altered his political plans and proof would have been necessary to cause him to make a conflicting decree, granting the Jewish people the right to protect themselves against the planned mass genocide.
There were also a couple of details from the Bible story left out of the film, which interestingly enough, did not elicit any negative comments from moviegoers as the elaborations did. One detail left out of the movie, which was included in the Book of Esther was the fact that Haman offered the king a hefty sum — 10,000 talents of silver — to annihilate the Jews, plus the addition of all their resources to his treasury (Esther 3:9). Perhaps this unsavory detail was excluded to avoid making King Xerxes out to be a cold, calculating, heartless mercenary motivated by greed.
“One Night with the King” also left out the brutal slaying of Haman’s family, including his 10 young sons (Esther 9:10), who were all hanged along side him.
Criticizing “One Night with the King” for its elaborations is not only unwarranted, but unjustified. The producers and directors stayed true to the soul of the Biblical story, adding only details that were necessary to creating a good film, and a few fitting of a big screen presentation.