March 9, 1990: "The Handmaid's Tale" Premieres

The film's poster, with Natasha Richardson

March 9, 1990: The film The Handmaid's Tale premieres, based on the novel by Margaret Atwood.

(Note: I chose the date of the film's premiere for 2 reasons: It was the 1st live-action depiction of the story, predating the television version that premiered in 2017; and it was difficult to find a publication date for the book. It was published in Atwood's native Canada in late 1985, and in America on February 17, 1986.)

In an indeterminate but apparently near future, a staged attack that killed the President of the United States and most of Congress was followed by a biological war rendered 99 percent of the population sterile. This led to the takeover of the country, which becomes a theocratic military dictatorship known as the Republic of Gilead. (Some "republic.") 

The few women who are still fertile are assigned as "Handmaids" to male "Commanders." Essentially, they are broodmares, and thus rape victims. Any child that is born belongs not to the Handmaid, or even to the Commander's wife, not in the slightest part, but to the Commander.

Miranda Richardson plays the lead, assigned to a Commander played by Robert Duvall. In the end, she is helped to escape to unaffected Canada by a resistance movement.

Not in the film, but in the novel, there is an epilogue, set in the year 2195, with historians describing the heroine's account of "the Gilead Period," suggesting that, eventually, the tyrannical government fell.

Natasha Richardson, a member of the British Richardson-Redgrave acting family, and married to Irish actor Liam Neeson, died in 2009, as the result of a skiing accident. She did not live to see the TV version of The Handmaid's Tale, which began on Hulu in 2017, starring Elisabeth Moss. As of March 9, 2022, the series is still running, and has gone beyond the events of the novel and the film, showing that resistance has begun to make some early progress. Also as of that date, Margaret Atwood is still alive, and advising on the series.

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March 9, 1990 was a Friday. Dutch soccer player Daley Blind was born. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Detroit Pistons, 99-95 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 104-100 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Boston Celtics, 115-108 at the Boston Garden. Jeff Malone scored 43 points for the Bullets.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 107-97 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Indiana Pacers, 134-130 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Tom Chambers scored 41.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 108-100 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. Karl Malone scored 40.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors, 131-115 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Magic Johnson scored 33.

And there were 3 games played in the NHL:

* The Washington Capitals beat the Quebec Nordiques, 4-3 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-5 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* And the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 4-4 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.