In 2013, everyone was aghast when the History Channel, which had slowly become the home to some of the most popular “red state” entertainments in the country, delivered killer ratings with The Bible. The retelling of the Old and New Testaments garnered between 10 and 13 million viewers for each of its 10 installments. We’re finally starting to see the repercussions of its success.
Survivor producer Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (who starred as the Virgin Mary) produced The Bible. Their 12-part sequel, AD, about the lives of early Christians, kicks off on NBC on this Easter Sunday. Killing Jesus, the controversial retelling of Christ’s death executive-produced by Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly, just became the most watched broadcast ever on NatGeo.
But the most interesting Bible-inspired miniseries debuts on Tuesday night on CBS at 9pm ET. (The second half airs on Wednesday at the same time.) The Dovekeepers is also produced by Burnett and Downey (though she doesn’t star this time around), and it’s the only one that doesn’t dip into the nearly dry well of the Sunday school retelling of the life and times of Jesus Christ.
Based on the book by Alice Hoffman, The Dovekeepers tells the story of the only two women who survived the siege at Masada. In 70 CE, a group of Jews, the Zealots, who had been expelled from Jerusalem sequestered themselves in this desert fort to fight off the conquering Roman army. After a long siege, the people inside killed themselves rather than give in to the Romans.
Hoffman’s novel, and this two-part adaptation, tell the story of the siege through the perspective of two women (in the novel it’s four). Shira (Cote de Pablo, formerly of NCIS) and Yael (Rachel Brosnahan) are recounting the events of their lives for Roman historian Josephus (Sam Neill), who will eventually write them down for the ages. (This is, in fact, how we actually learn the story of Masada IRL, as the kids say.)
What makes this an interesting addition to the growing array of Christian-oriented programming is that it has nothing specifically to do with Christianity. Instead it is about faith and what one must do to hold on to it. It espouses Christian ideals by looking at the lives of people who hold a religion different from theirs. It is also, unusually for the genre, from an entirely female perspective.
The Dovekeepers is also less of a historical re-enactment and more of a traditional miniseries melodrama. Shira is the daughter of a mystic and practices some magic of her own. Yael has prophetic dreams and sometimes sees ghosts. The fantasy element isn’t strong, but it sets this apart from the more staid Biblical dramas and adds a little bit of the Game of Thrones allure.
There are also plenty of other staples of the miniseries drama at play. There is doomed love, a daughter who is forced to live her life as a boy, children whose paternity is uncertain, extramarital affairs, betrayal of the heart and female friendship conquering all sorts of adversity. The Dovekeepers isn’t trying to clobber anyone over the head with its spiritual message – though the marketing is – it’s trying to sneak it in under the guise of a more traditional genre piece.
That said, The Dovekeepers suffers the same problems that many melodramas do. It is only interested in plot: the emotions of the characters rarely get explored beyond the most surface level. While the acting is serviceable, the dialogue and action are groan-worthy at times. The sets and costumes look real and expensive, but there’s a strange sheen to the production considering these are supposed to be poor people living in the desert without vacuums or front-loading washing machines.
The movie is not perfect by any means, but if this trend of religious-focused programming is going to continue, I’m glad that Burnett and Downey are trying to do something a little different. It’s good to see that The Dovekeepers is stretching its wings, even if it doesn’t manage to soar.
