We don’t usually review TV shows or mini-series here, but had to bend the rules for our favourite actress, Rebecca Ferguson. Before Mrs. Ferguson became Ilsa in Mission Impossible or Jenny Lind in The Greatest Showman, she was Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob, born in The Red Tent.
She broke my heart in this one, with one gut-wrenching scene. If they gave away awards for scenes in which a parent reacts to losing their child, she would have won hands down. The emotion she expressed was something I never have seen from her in any other role. She didn’t even react as passionately when she found her husband dead.
Another thing that impressed me about this mini-series, besides the cinematography, was the cast. Minnie Driver, Iain Glen, Debra Winger, and Morena Baccarin are just some of the star-studded names that travelled back through time to tell the story of the 12 tribes of Israel.
I am not here to knock the story or calculate how accurate the story stayed to the Bible. I am just here to grade the performances. The Red Tent has a rating of 7.3/10 on IMDb, and I can agree with the critics. There is enough subject material that this could have been a great series with 10 or 12 episodes, yet they did a great job condensing it to a two-part three-hour special. 7/10
Ten Stars or Less 