Abraham Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Abraham Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 6, 2017

Note: This film is available as part of the box set The Bible Stories Collection.

That oft quoted adage “the book was better” might never be more appropriate than in adaptations culled from the Bible. How can mere mortals hope to compete with what many believe is a Divinely inspired collection of writings? That of course hasn’t stopped a lot of mere mortals from trying, and Biblical stories have been a staple of first film and, later, television outings virtually from the time these media were invented. While the big screen Biblical epics of the 1950s and 1960s were often kind of silly ( David and Bathsheba), or alternatively overly reverential and therefore kind of stodgy (The Greatest Story Ever Told), they typically (though not always) brought audiences in to delight not just in the pomp and circumstance, but also perhaps to blandish any qualms of conscience that not going to church and/or shul “religiously” (so to speak) may have engendered. One of the more interesting films to come out of this adaptive fervor was the 1966 effort The Bible: In the Beginning..., a John Huston directed effort which presented several iconic tales from Genesis and which was initially planned as just the first installment for a whole series of Biblically oriented tales culled directly from scripture. Its failure at the box office put the kibosh on that plan, but several decades later, a similar plan was put into production, albeit on a much smaller scale, with a series of made for television films (many marketed as miniseries despite not being all that lengthy) that offered various Bible tales, usually with at least one marquee star attached. Many of the made for television entries included in this set were part of a series which ran on various Ted Turner owned networks starting in the 1990s, and some at least have long been favorites of those who like their Biblical adaptations on the more intimate and less epic side of things.

There's some kind of interesting "hidden" Hebrew lore in terms of the name changes that the two focal characters of Abraham undergo. It’s not quite as evident in English language translations of Genesis’ eleventh through twenty fifth chapters (the source for this made for television version of Abraham), but there’s a fascinating transformation in the names of both Abraham (Richard Harris) and Sarah (Barbara Hershey) which hint at some of the hidden wisdom that lurks not very far beneath the surface of this well known story. As many devout Bible readers will know, this married couple actually start out as Abram and Sarai, but in Chapter 17, the two get “updates” from a Divine voice. For Abram, it’s:

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Sarai, on the other hand (and/or name), is apprised of her change of moniker this way (note that the difference is detailed to her husband, not to Sarai herself):

And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

While the ostensible meaning of these changes can be etymologically analyzed, the “occult” reasoning has to do with the Hebrew letter “he” (pronounced hay), the fifth letter of the Hebrew Aleph-bet which can be transliterated as either an “e” or in some cases an “h”, but which has the subtextual connotation in at least some Jewish traditions of representing the Divine presence or more physically the breath of life. Therefore, when Abram and Sarai both are adorned with a new “he” in their names, they get a new "shot of life" (so to speak), which of course ends up leading to their unexpected parentage of Isaac at an extremely advanced age.

Abraham is one of the better made for television films in this set, one elevated by a nicely nuanced if occasionally hyperbolic performance by Richard Harris, but also one that takes its time getting to that very moment when Abram and Sarai get their little “jolt” of life added and become parents to “multitudes” (eventually, anyway). The film spends a lot of time detailing the nomadic proclivities of various peoples as well as their pagan tendencies to worship manifold gods, and in a kind of interesting presaging of Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, Abram’s first close encounter with Divinity is portrayed as at least potentially the fervid imaginings of someone who just bumped his head violently.

The telefilm is probably padded a bit too much in its middle section (it runs close to three hours), but it affords nice opportunities for Harris, Hershey and other performers like Maximilian Schell (misidentified as “Shell” in the credits, here playing Pharoah) to strut their stuff. The film suffers a bit in the special effects arena, especially when it’s called upon to depict a couple of epochal events, but, again, many of the films in this series emphasize the personal stories rather than the sort of epic qualities that tended to define some of the widescreen splendors of the 1950s, so this particular aspect may actually end up making this entry more appealing than ever to some.

Robert McKee’s teleplay probably spends too much time on needless comedy relief courtesy of some supporting characters (especially in the opening sequences), while perhaps not fully delineating the angst that Sarai’s “barren” state creates for the marriage. While there’s a long sequence dealing with Hagar (Carolina Rosi) and Ishmael (played by Danny Mertsoy and Giuseppe Peluso as the character at different ages), but a perhaps more balanced approach would have demonstrated Hagar’s own angst at being banished so unceremoniously.

Abraham Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All of the films in The Bible Stories Collection are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.78:1. While most (perhaps all) of these efforts were broadcast in the United States in 1.33:1, it looks from scouring through the IMDb that many (perhaps all) of them did in fact have theatrical releases in various foreign markets, meaning they were most likely all shot with "safeties" and/or "shoot and protect" regimens in mind. That said, those who have seen the 1.33:1 versions which were released on videotape and DVD will no doubt notice quite a few "tighter" framings, framings which often tend to lop the tops or bottoms off of heads and/or faces, at least intermittently.

While Abraham shows some signs of the same high frequency filtering that I mentioned in the Genesis: The Creation and the Flood Blu-ray review, a more consistent fine grain field can be spotted, though it tends to disappear in several very brightly lit sequences. That said, detail levels are often quite excellent, offering perhaps unhelpful looks at things like the latex that was obviously applied to both Harris and Hershey to age them so dramatically. This is also a rather scenic entry in the Bible Stories collection, and some of the exterior vistas have excellent depth of field. The palette is natural looking and often quite vivid. There are occasional slight problems with image instability during some pans.

Abraham Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Abraham's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is (like many in this set) fairly front heavy, but it still manages to provide decent if not overwhelming immersion through good use of ambient environmental effects, like wind that whips through the valley or the sounds of various lifestock dotting the surround channels. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly, and the score (including the nice Ennio Morricone theme) also sounds fine.

Abraham Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is no supplementary material of any kind on this Blu-ray disc.

Abraham Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Abraham is inherently one of the most dramatic stores in the Bible, and its translation into a miniseries is handled with a fair degree of intelligence and good characterizations. Without the need for overly opulent production design or a "cast of thousands", this is a nicely intimate and rather moving account of a man coming to terms with being chosen and then directed by a force he can't quite fully understand. Recommended.