December 5, 2000: The film Esther premieres, on French network France 2 and Italian network RAI. Although it was a combined effort of American, Italian and German production companies, it was not shown on American TV for a while.
Filmed in Morocco, directed by Italian director Raffaele Mertes, it tells the story told in the Bible's Book of Esther. Hadassah (played by British actress Louise Lombard), who is Jewish, lives with her cousin and legal guardian Mordecai (F. Murray Abraham) in Shushan, the capital of the Persian Empire. (In the present day, it's Susa, in western Iran.
King Ahasuerus (German actor Thomas Kretschmann) deposes Queen Vashti (Italian actress Ornella Muti) for her refusal to obey him, he is advised to choose a new queen. Guards then search the entire kingdom for worthy candidates, taking them from their homes by force to the palace. Mordecai attempts to hide Hadassah, but she is captured by the guards. For her protection, and at the insistence of Mordecai, Hadassah changes her name to Esther, meaning "hidden."
Esther and the rest of the young women are taken to the first harem, where they are placed under the custody of Haggai (British actor Phil Davies), a royal eunuch and chief custodian of the harem. Meanwhile, Haman (German actor Jürgen Prochnow), another royal advisor, rises to power and the favor of the king. Memuchan (Italian actor Umberto Orsini), a trusted chamberlain of the King, is wary of Haman's ambition. Mordecai also makes an enemy of Haman, due to Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman as others do. Haman plots revenge on Mordecai.
After a time of purification, it is time for Esther and the other women to present themselves to the King for one night each. After spending the night with Esther, the King falls in love with her, and crowns her Queen. Sometime later, Mordecai overhears a plot by two of the King's guards, Bigthan and Teresh, against the King, and reports this to Esther. Esther exposes the plot to the King, and the men are sentenced to death.
The King's chamberlain Memuchan dies and King Ahasuerus mourns his loss. Esther requests to be received, but the King takes no heed. Haman comes and tells the King to govern once again, but the King takes no heed again. Esther leaves and believes she has lost the King's favor.
The King then appoints Haman as lord chamberlain. He tells the King a certain race of people wish to overthrow the king. The King, concerned, gives Haman his signet ring, which gives him the right to decree a law that even the king cannot change. Haman sends a decree to all provinces that they should kill all Jews within their borders.
On hearing this decree, Mordecai dresses himself in sackcloth and ashes, and mourns outside the palace gates for several days and nights. Esther orders her servant, Hatach, to give Mordecai clothes. He refuses them, and gives the letter of the decree to Esther, telling her to petition the King, although it is forbidden to go before the king without being called. She tells him to gather all the Jews, and fast for three days on her behalf.
After three days, she dresses in the royal robes of state, and goes before the King. He asks her petition, and promises her that it shall be granted. Esther invites Haman and the King to attend a banquet she has prepared in her quarters. At the banquet, the King again asks Esther her petition and request. Esther promises the King that she will tell him her petition if they return to the banquet once again the following day.
That night, King Ahasuerus wakes up after having a nightmare, and not able to sleep, asks the royal eunuchs to read the chronicle. They discover that Mordecai was never rewarded for revealing the plot of Bigthan and Teresh. Haman comes to ask permission for the gallows he is building to hang Mordecai, but the King asks what to do for a man the king wishes to honor. Haman believes that to refer to himself, and describes an ornate ceremonial parade through the city. He is then told to perform this in honor of Mordechai. The ceremony is completed, and Haman then returns to his house in shame and anger.
At Esther's second banquet, the King asks once again what she desires, and she asks him to spare her life and the lives of her people. The king asks her who would do dare raise a hand against her, and she reveals the plots of Haman, including the plot to kill her own cousin, Mordecai. The King, enraged, tells his guards to hang Haman on his own gallows. The King appoints Mordecai as his new lord chamberlain.
Esther asks the King to revoke the law made by Haman, but as it is not possible to revoke a law made by the King, he tells her she must find another solution. With the help of Mordecai, she asks the King to create the law that for one day, the Jews can defend themselves against any that are persecuting them, and the King grants her request. After the fighting is over, Esther then passes a law that the Jews must celebrate the day that changed their fate, which becomes the holiday of Purim. In the final scene, some of the Jews are shown returning home to Jerusalem, led by Ezra.
Ever since that time, said to be the late 5th Century BC, during the height of classical Greece, Jews have celebrated Purim, usually in March (the Hebrew Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar are different). At a temple service, children are given noisemaking objects, and the story of Esther is read. At the mention of the name of Haman, the children use the objects to make as much noise as they can to drown out the sound of his name. Pastries called Hamentashen are baked, in a triangular shape to match that of what is said to be Haman's hat.
None of the actors were of Persian or Jewish descent. F. Murray Abraham, who is of Assyrian descent, was the only actor in the film of known Middle Eastern descent.
Ennio Morricone provided the music, having done so for Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name trilogy, the 1982 version of The Thing, the 1987 version of The Untouchables, and Bugsy.
Mertes went on to direct more biblical films: Joseph of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene, The Apocalypse, Judas and Thomas.
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December 5, 2000 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. Therer were 10 games in the NBA:
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 88-64 at the Conseco Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.
* The Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks, 100-92 at the Philips Arena (now the State Farm Arena) in
Atlanta.
* The Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics, 101-98 at the TD Waterhouse Centre (formerly the Orlando Arena).
* The Houston Rockets beat their arch-rivals, the Dallas Mavericks, 109-102 at The Summit in Houston. It's now the Central Campus of
televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Charlotte Hornets, 71-66 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in
Cleveland.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Chicago Bulls, 100-90 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Toronto Raptors, 98-84 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 96-85 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los
Angeles. Kobe Bryant scored 36 points.
* The Sacramento Kings beat the San Antonio Spurs, 81-75 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California.
* And the Vancouver Grizzlies beat the Detroit Pistons 91-83 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in
Vancouver.
And there were 7 games in the NHL:
* The New York Islanders lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 7-1 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in
Toronto.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 4-2 at the United Center in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Wild beat the Calgary Flames, 3-2 at the Saddledome in Calgary. Antti Laaksonen scored the winning goal, with 1:49 left in overtime.
* And the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 2-2 -- apparently, at GM Place, meaning the arena hosted an NBA game and an NHL game on the same day. That's not unusual on a weekend, but it is for a weeknight: It usually takes between 2 and 6 hours for an arena crew to change the playing surface from basketball to ice hockey or vice versa. According to Sports-Reference.com, the NHL game was a 7:00 Pacific Time start, but they don't give a starting time for the NBA game. And the NBA's own website says their game was also a 7 Pacific start. They couldn't have been played in the same arena at the same time.
