Simply A Masterpiece

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Are there more exciting stories in the Bible? Definitely. But those who complain about the lack of excitement are missing the point. This is a love story, one of the most beautiful love stories of all time. The love of Ruth for her mother in law and the love of Boaz for Ruth. At first, I too, was surprised at the age of Naomi- until I remembered in Biblical times most girls were married off by the age of 15 many by the age of 13, so a woman could be a mother in law by the time she was 27! I highly recommend this story to anyone who wants to see a well told Bible story. The only complaint I had was the modern language they used some times but that was minor. ALL young women should see this show when they get married to remind them of how a daughter in law should treat her mother in law.

This is actually a nice little film. I felt that some of the actors did an excellent job. The viewer understood why Ruth was willing to follow Naomi to a strange town and leave everything she had never known. Naomi was extremely kind and good-hearted, and the actress was very good at portraying these qualities. Likewise, the actor playing Boaz was very convincing in his genuine love for Ruth. The music was absolutely incredible. Just beautiful. All of the scenery looked genuinely from that time period, and the clothing was very authentic. I did feel the movie dragged in several parts where there was no dialogue, but on the whole I feel that this is one of the better Biblical stories.

One would think that any film that takes the Bible for it's inspiration would be anything but boring. That is not the case. There is just so much nastiness going on in the Old Testament; mass killings, plagues, jealousy, hatred, etc. It would seem to be a gold mine of story ideas and hooks. The Book of Ruth proves that you can make a boring Bible movie. Granted, the story isn't one of the most compelling in the Old Testament, but the film makers have managed to take what little excitement and drama there is in the story, and leech it completely out. The actors are incredibly mediocre. They invest each scene with such blandness that it is hard to care about the plot or characters. At times they are so bad you would think they were given their lines a minute before they started to roll. I think the director wants you to notice that he has dressed up his actors in period wardrobe and that this is enough to create a Biblical flavor, so the acting is really secondary. It is not. Walking around in robes and sandals does not cover up poor acting and a lame story.

You gotta do better than this. Lackluster film making at its best. First you need to pick a more exciting subject. Picking the one Old Testament book that is a real sleeper was your first mistake. You have so many other books to chose from, why Ruth? Among the other books we encounter jealousy, pettiness, ethnic cleansing, misogyny, homophobia, racism, infanticide, genocide, filicide, pestilence, megalomania,and sadomasochism. Instead of picking any of these topics that fill up most of the book, the film makers opt for a bland interpretation of a very boring story. Yet they still manage to make this dull story even duller. The acting is sub par and it doesn't look as if much care went into the casting for each part. Some parts are incredibly miscast. Some are only slightly miscast. It is as if not wanting to offend anyone, the film makers ended up treading so softly that they barely made a footprint.