I am a devoted Biblical researcher and minister. I have to say that I have never before seen a depiction of the Hebrew women of the Bible and their lifestyle more accurate than portrayed in this series! The Red Tent was written from the eyes of Jacob's daughter. It may have not had every aspect of Jacob's life, but then again it wasn't about him or any of these men, for once. It was about Dinah and the wonderful women in her life. This series was told in her voice. But I felt as if it was a collective voice of all women, who for years have been wounded and mistreated, as well as misrepresented in the Christian and Hebrew community for centuries. Many Hebrew women today live a similar lifestyle as depicted in the series, and many spiritual paths for women have been built on the same strength of faith and community as was shared by the women in the Red Tent. I also loved reading the rest of Dinah's story, because it was based on true accounts of other Hebrew women. I can almost feel as if I was there. And I have longed to know Dinah was alright. But,of course she was! She is the daughter of Leah and descendant of Eve. I wish Christian women would celebrate their own divinity the way these Hebrew women did! Thank you for the book and this series. Please make more like this.

**This review may contain spoilers**

I think there might be criticism of this movie because it does not follow the biblical account. If it did, there would simply be no story from Dinah's point of view and no movie. This could be said about the majority of the women in the Bible. The Bible was written by males, from a male point of view and that's the facts. No female writers in this book at all and all is from a male point of view, except perhaps the shortbook, The Song of Songs. SO THE WOMEN'S VOICES ARE LOST TO US.

Many people aren't biblically literate and will not know things like: During the times (and this is in the texts) women were not considered to be raped if they were "in the city"...(for the logic is that they would be heard)..."in the countryside"...yes, rape could be assumed there.

Another comment I have read that is without merit is that The Red Tent is overly sexual and violent. Hint...so is the Bible. Try reading it. Also, the idea of "love at first sight" is scoffed at. Why? Why so, when told from a female's point of view, but when Jacob falls head over heels over Rachel at the well that's just as believable as it can be. It's god's word, you know. It's the male writers' words. MANY of them. And for their own agendas.

Come on, people, use your critical thinking and let historical fiction be written so women's voices can at least be heard as they might have been. Much quality research went into The Red Tent. Women's voices in the Bible are lost to us. Some midrash is totally in order. Kudos to the writer of the book and those involved in this movie. The preview looks true to the book to me...as do the summaries. Book is great.

All of the negative reviews ignore the reality that this miniseries is not based on the book of Genesis, but the book The Red Tent. Anita Diamant wrote The Red Tent as a feminist Midrash. (Wikipedia defines Midrash as "a method of interpreting biblical stories that goes beyond simple distillation of religious, legal, or moral teachings. It fills in gaps left in the biblical narrative regarding events and personalities that are only hinted at.") She wanted to expand on The Rape of Dinah, a chapter in Genesis. What was Dinah's life before and after that brief chapter? In addition, she asks whether women were totally subservient to men or did they stand up for themselves and wield their own power? Since the people who wrote down the Bible were all men, did they omit or edit out important contributions of women?

My critique of the miniseries is that the portrayal of Jacob is too positive, compared to the book. I think this was done to lessen criticism from Orthodox Jews and fundamentalist Christians.

In general I don't like historical stories because it often tells the story of warriors with no spirit, only narrating the quest of victory. But this story shows a great sense of tragedy. I really loved how it was telling the story of real people, the tragic events in a family that explain certain human behaviors, the sense of honor or respect. I found the movie conveyed a great sense of human spirit. Everything is really human, anyone would understand each character I think. The main character seemed also very real, the actress did an excellent job. I had the impression of seeing the story of a real woman, one that gets hurt, and overcomes the difficulties on her own. I didn't mind God was not mentioned, I found the focus on the people to be more relevant because it depicts how humans are. I really felt torn about the story of each character. It was so epic! Great tragedy.

It also got me more interested in biblical stories, I might read more of it because of this movie. For example, I would like to read more about the story of Joseph. This movie and the original author have the merit to draw the attention on biblical stories and characters. I didn't even know Jacob had a daughter, choosing Dinah as the narrator gives power to the story and offers us an original and great angle to view the story.

Thanks for bringing her to my attention.

The movie is loosely based on the life of Dinah. The movie was written for a twenty-first century audience; therefore, it has some historical inaccuracies. The movie is "loosely" based on the life of Dinah. If you are a Bible scholar you will notice that the story does not follow the story recorded in the Bible. The acting is noteworthy; the actors are equally matched in their abilities and do an adequate job. It was a pleasant surprise to see Debra Winger playing a gruff and a little scary grandmother. While Minnie Driver was on the screen she was a delight playing her role with great ease converting the weak eye Leah into wise beauty. The movie is well worth watching.

The Red Tent is a glimpse into what life might have been like for women back during the days of Jacob. It follows the story of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter, starting from when he meets Rachel until Dinah's birth, where she takes over as the star of the story up until his death. The story of Joseph (and subsequently, Dinah) takes place during a time where the vast majority of people neither read nor wrote. Stories were an oral tradition. So without real, concrete knowledge of the time, the Red Tent brings a captivating look at what life for women might have been like at the time. It follows this pursuit with little care for religion, which it practically ignores, including most of Joseph's story. And of course, it follows this up with the flare and dramatic license we expect from a movie (or miniseries in this case).

If you're looking for a biblical story, you're going to have to look elsewhere. If you're looking for a historically-accurate piece, you should probably watch a documentary. If you're looking for a captivating piece about a girl experiencing becoming a woman, a wife, a mother, and all the other challenges of her sex set in a beautiful interpretation of Biblical times, then I think you'll really enjoy this miniseries.

If you are expecting a rehashing from the book of Old Jewish Fairy Tales this isn't it. This is a totally engrossing drama loosely based on the daughter of the biblical figure who was Jacobs daughter told from her perspective. I have to add it to my collection. I can't find it on DVD or Blue Ray so I'm breaking out my old VCR and waiting for it to come back on. This Movie was made for a more sophisticated taste. After watching the first night I was hooked and had to see part two. After reading the other reviews I'm a bit confused, did they think it was going to be a bible story ? I guess they hated most John Wayne movies too since they were mostly fiction too. I absolutely LOVED The Red Tent and I'm determined to own a copy.

First of all, I found out about this show checking the IMDb.com page of Rebecca Ferguson. I really enjoyed her acting in The White Queen, so, seeing that this show is set in Biblical times, I assumed it's worth watching. I cannot say it is not good, however, I found some things truly annoying about. For instance, the weird piano music at romantic/sad/emotional scenes in the show. What's that about? It would be appropriate for a movie set in the 19th Germany or England, not this era. That put me right off of every scene where the music started to play. Secondly, this might be of personal taste, but I didn't find the actors convincing as Middle Eastern people either. Despite these things, the costumes are amazing, the set well done and the acting itself rather convincing. Sadly though, this will not be a show that I recommend my friends to watch.

Well acted but watch for gross historical inaccuracies as the author must have desperately tried to make the Jews coming into Egypt more of a romantic adventure.

True, this is a story of family betrayal and ultimate redemption, but come on, let's not lose sight of historical events occurring as they did.

Laban is made out to be a drunken man, instead of the man who tricked Jacob into marrying Leah instead of his beloved Rachel.

Leah's sons were evil, but killing a king and destroying their step-sister's opportunity was a bit over the top. After their dastardly deed, they are mentioned in the rest of the picture, but there is no talk of what became of them, unless the author meant letting nature and the years take their course.

the first observation - the film is magnificent pledge for define/rediscover the Bible as the most important book. not only as religious work but as the tool for discover the world. the film is adaptation of a seductive interpretation of the episode of the rape of Dinah.and this does it the good and the bad aspects. impressive cinematography, beautiful performances, the noble message with feminist flavor. against, maybe, the ordinaries sins of religious films. or the not high accuracy to the book. but it is an impressive film. and this is more than an ordinary virtue.

Acting and production values are high. Thought this would delve into the biblical stories and theorize the life of women in this era. I fully expected a measure of creative licensing away from the core story, BUT did not expect that God's relevance would be taken out of it almost completely and the few references they gave have been negative. To me this is blasphemy. If they had just created names, changed a few events and said it was a story about the era, it would have been fine and more believable. Haven't seen the end and don't want to - read enough reviews of the book to realize it will only get worse. It's like if you went to see the Titanic to find out it was all about global warming and the poor melting iceberg.

This was a favorite book of mine. I was very worried that they would screw this but it is very true to the book. No, it is not an exact retelling of the Bible. Then again, the Bible has many versions and is written word of stories passed down. This is historical fiction loosely based on the Bible and the way women lived and were treated at the time. That is really the main point of the story. That women can learn from each other and that we cannot always rely on men to do the right thing. That women are strong, resourceful and are often supporting men behind the scenes. The problem I have is that the main characters "The Good Guys" are obviously English, light skinned with English accents. The dark ones more often than not were "The Bad Guys". Also, they kept showing her in satin sheets. I doubt they had satin sheets in 1000 BC or whatever the date was.

I absolutely loved this movie!! The acting was excellent as well as the story line. I could sense the feelings of the characters and had an easy time following the story line.

I never gave much thought to Jacobs only daughter and this movie described it so well. Such as her life. It made me think of things that I never thought of before. Such as how so many people in the Bible have stories that we never knew about. I really enjoyed watching it from start to finish.

It also helped me to understand Jacob more. I can't wait until the sequel comes out. The only thing I didn't like about the movie was the ending because it left me wanting to know more. But I still rate it 10 stars!!! I would by the DVD once it came out.

It was an entertaining story if you told people it was fictional. I would have said I liked it a lot. Because this mini-series is from the Bible with Bible characters, you can't change the story and expect it to be good. It was terrible! It felt as though it was a feminist propaganda movie. All of the men were EVIL! Laban, Leah and Rachel's father was a wife beater! The bible showed him to be a tricksters not a wife abuser. Jacob, was a poor idiot who had no Godly conviction. The brothers were rogues.

The ladies worship idols and regarded it as a girlie tradition. Only Rachel secretly stole her dad Laban's idol. Dinah was an arrogant, disrespectful brat, who calls her dad Jacob, talks to her Grandma like shes a peer! Then there is the Rape that never happened. She had consensual sex and then married him and her family are brutes?

She has a son from her rapist(husband) that tries to kill her brother Joseph? Joseph appears to the king, dirty and unshaven and the bible makes a point of saying he cleaned himself, shaved himself and prepared to meet him. I wanted to like this one but couldn't. It feels obvious that the writer of this mini-series didn't like the original true story.

This was an amazingly told story, and if the author had changed the names of every character, moved the context to almost any more primitive culture, it would have been wonderful. But I kept realizing that, at every turn, the author betrays the characters of the real history of the family of Jacov, and shreds every measure of decency in everyone's story to aggrandize the one-chapter person of Dinah.

There is nothing wrong with a little story embellishment, so long as it doesn't move into downright lies. But this tale is riddled with lies. The author claims that Rivkah - Rebeccah - is a diviner of some sort, and a rather self-absorbed woman, which is not suggested in the history of these people at all. She tells that the circumcision of Shechem and family and friends was Jacov's idea, instead of the notion of his sons, the brothers of Dinah. And the author assumes the idol worship of the wives of Jacov where there is no cause to make such an assumption. In fact, Jacov's father's wife is chosen from these same people BECAUSE they are not of the idol worshiping kind. He is sent to the same people - the people of his mother - and he is sent by his mother, to find a worthy position in life and a suitable bride. He gets four. On that count the author is correct though making more assumptions on the brides Zilpah and Bilhah.

If this tale had taken place in a galaxy far, far away, and if all the names had been changed - if the author was not trying to re-write scripture to her own ends above God's, it would have been wonderful. BUT I only rate it a three because it plays so fast and loose with the truth. It is almost as if it were written by a Clinton.

It seems like most negative reviews are about this series not following the Bible. I am upset that it just doesn't follow the book it was made after. Don't watch this movie thinking it's the Bible perspective.

I enjoyed the red tent book and was looking forward to watching this. I also was hyped due to the lineup of casting for it... However I feel like they butchered it. They missed 3/4 of the book content and changed key parts of the story.... Kinda feels like that changed many of the key moral points of the book. It had potential to be a really good mini series.... Just the directing and screen adaptation didn't do it for me. The acting felt very staged.... Which is unfortunate because many of the actors have been great in other films.

I usually love watching books come to life with the movies that are made after them... And yes the book is usually better than the movie, but I like to watch the writers/directors perspective on the literature and their artistic interpretation in movie form. But this is one of the worst adaptations from book to movie I've seen.

This is fiction loosely occurring in a historical setting but is not historical fiction (realistically filling in blank areas but not contradicting the historical account). While The Red Tent gives a reasonable depiction of ancient life in the Middle East, it does not follow the Scriptural text (the only account of Dinah's life) and often seems to try to rewrite the Scriptural account of Jacob's family, giving little if any value to Jacob trying to lead his family to follow and worship only Almighty God and forsaking foreign idols. While it is understandable that Jacob's "wives" (2 wives and two unrelated concubines) would find it difficult to forsake their cultural religious practices (something we must all work through), scripture seems to indicate that is what they did after they had left Laban's household and traveled with Jacob. At times, it seems the plot is trying to teach anti-God religious practices as women rebelling against men's teaching about (and invention of) an Almighty God.

Oh My God! Appropriate start for what will be a scathing critique. If I had not watched it I would not have believed how bad TV can get. This is why so many people regard the church ie Catholic etc religion with so much contempt. Not only is it a total Hollywood creation based on an interpretation of the scant "real" historical facts but it ascribes a sense of modern feminism that was absolutely not tolerated and totally absent in those years. Get a grip people. How anybody can give this a positive review is absolutely astonishing. The script is so lame that even the best direction which this show does not have could not make the actors give a better rendition. The acting - it has to be said is badly affected by this - is almost to a person awful. Some of the wives have moments when their sex appeal is almost enjoyable and if that is the only redeeming aspect then this show is in big trouble. Whoever made this garbage happen is a blithering imbecile TV producer who has absolutely no intention of making a quality product and like our friend Gruber regards the entire public as stupid. Is this the way we wish to celebrate Xmas? Not me for sure. It is high time that the censorship board goes beyond judging what is pathetic and crude but also what is base and downright awful. This show reminds me a lot of the garbage movies made about religion in the days back in the 30s to 60s. Lame- lame - lame!

I don't understand why the author even used the bible as a basis since the storyline doesn't even compare to what is in the small portion of Dinah's story in the bible. Drivel and boring. Started watching and thought "what? this is being called fiction because it is" Kept watching to see if there was any redeeming qualities. Storyline was boring; it was choppy. Jacob was misrepresented in much of the film and many of the story lines were changed to fit the narrative of the author. Old theme with Hebrew characters. Since I had taped them after watching most of episode 1, I went to episode 2 and fast forwarded through 75% of the movie. Watched the last bit and it had nothing of value in it either. Don't waste your time. Maybe if it had just been a story without trying to make people think it came from the Bible it might have been more palatable but I don't think I would have liked it anyway.

The only merit to this movie is set locations. If you want to see a fictional account of the bible, this movie is for you. But, True followers of Jesus Christ live in Truth and take the Word of God as sacred and Holy. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, written by man but led by the Holy Spirit. Times being what they are, more stories are written from the "we are women hear me roar" perspective. God has revealed through His word His love for all mankind, including women, with equal respect. God made us equal, but different and with different roles to perform. The Red Tent is a complete fabrication of those roles and glorifies women who are self indulgent, idol worshipers and dishonorable to the men in their lives. For the real (and short) story of Dinah, read the Bible and learn the truth.

i will show you some lies & falsification :

1. Jacob is a Prophet & Prophets never did anything wrong or foolish. but we saw Jacob betrayed to his brother , he asks for an idiotic Circumcision that has no good effects on anything , he did nothing to his sons who was killer & should be punished .

2. Jacobs wives worshiped idols !!!! its a big lie

3. Dinah never existed

4. Joseph was a Prophet too & his anger about Dinahs son was a lie too

5. the story of Joseph in Egypt was a Falsification story

6. Rebecca was not evil

I was very disappointed in this series. As my name is JAcob and I know the Bible quite well, I was extremely disappointed that there was little to no regard for the Bible. In the series, God does not talk to Jacob, nor change his name to Israel. The story of Joseph was only true in that he was sold into slavery and made second in command to the Pharoah. In the Bible, Jospeh's brothers are sent to Egypt to buy grain. They came across their brother but do not recognize him. Joseph recognizes them immediately and begins to toy with them. After he toys with them he reveals himself as their brother who was sold into slavery. The brothers were scared because Joseph could have them killed. Joseph explained it was God's plan to send him to Egypt. The movie butchers this great and moving story of forgiveness and faith in the Lord God.

The story of Dinah was also dramatized and fictional, her story in the Bible is short and does not have any Biblical truth....

Overall, this movie could almost be considered blasphemous. I will not go so far as that but it butchers the story of the Bible. If you want an exact representation of a Biblical Truth, watch - The Gospel of John! It is word for word the exact Biblical truth.

The movie was generally well-done. The acting well-matched the setting and script. Parts of the story were somewhat abrupt, but understandable since it's trying to pack most of a lifetime into 3 hours, however it could have been improved as far as time transitions. Background and clothing also appeared to well-fit the story.

The story depicts the viewpoint of a woman bitter against her father and some of her brothers. It showed some anti-Semitic prejudice in depicting character flaws in Jacob and his sons, in contrast to the women and Canaanite men and Egyptians who were depicted as righteous people. One might wonder if the writer of the story was a non-Jewish Palestinian sympathizer instead of a bitter daughter/sister.

Notwithstanding a few minor historical problems, the movie was professional and captivating, and worth seeing again.

The Red Tent is a TV mini-series about Dinah the daughter of Jacob and half-sister to Joseph (he of the technicoloured dreamcoat fame). Told from a woman's point of view (unusual for TV/movie biblical stories) it revisits Old Testament family goings-on.

I enjoyed it at three hours, any longer would have been pushing my attention span. It was pretty realistic, as far as I know - my knowledge of this era/area being somewhat limited. The acting was fairly good, bar one or two exceptions (perhaps some rushing through the production at times caused this?).

All in all: a good thing for the family to watch during a festive season such as Easter or Christmas; but perhaps a little bit mature for the truly wee ones.

I understand that Dinah was a minor character in the Bible, and so Anita Diamant wrote a book that cast her as the main character. My mom read the book and liked it. Well, the movie is too hokey. I don't know what the general aim was, but it comes across as one of those melodramatic biblical epics from the '50s or '60s. One of the men came across as a mangled version of Khal Drogo (and it turns out that some of the cast members of "The Red Tent" are best known from "Game of Thrones").

Basically, movies like this are the reason why Monty Python made "Life of Brian". I do not recommend it. Had I been watching it alone, I would've spent the whole time making the sorts of comments that Mike, Servo and Crow make at crummy movies on "Mystery Science Theater 3000".