Joseph the king of dreams - the 2000 animated film

October 7, 2022

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Joseph - The king of dreams (original title: Joseph: King of Dreams) is a musical drama animated film about a 2000 bible story. The film was made by Dreamworks for the home video market and is an adaptation of the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis in the Bible and serves as a prequel to the film of the 1998 The Prince of Egypt.

Trailer of Joseph the King of Dreams

Composer Daniel Pelfrey said the film was designed as an accompaniment to The Prince of Egypt, noting that although "Joseph turned out to be very different from the Prince of Egypt, it was very inspiring and rewarding".

Co-director Robert Ramirez said that while the reviews for the film were "generally very good", there was a period "when the film didn't work very well, where the storytelling was heavy" and "clunky".

History

Joseph (Ben Affleck) is the eleventh of Jacob's (Richard Herd) twelve children and is labeled a "miracle child" like his mother, Rachel (Maureen McGovern), who believed herself barren. While his brothers worked on the farm, Joseph, on the other hand, was raised by Jacob, which arouses jealousy and hatred from the brothers. When he receives a nice tunic from his father, his brothers hate him even more and fear that he will take over the role of clan leader upon Jacob's death, despite the fact that he is the youngest and only a half-brother.

One night, Joseph dreams of his brothers' flock of sheep being attacked by wolves and the dream comes true when his brothers leave him to take care of the sheep. As they swim, a pack of wolves attacks the flock and Joseph is nearly killed, until Jacob arrives to save him. Jacob is furious that Joseph was abandoned by his brothers and is also shocked that Joseph's dream has come true. The next night, Joseph dreams that his brothers' sheaves of wheat bow before Joseph's giant sheaf and that he is a bright star in the sky, surrounded by eleven smaller stars and the sun and moon. Jacob foretells that one day Joseph will rise above all, alarming his brothers.

They go to a cave where they launch a plot to kill Joseph. After following them, Joseph listens to them, and his brothers tear off his cloak and throw it into a well until nightfall. When he is "saved," Joseph is horrified to discover their plan to sell him to slave traders who will take him to Egypt. The brothers then bring Joseph's torn and bloody robe to Jacob and Rachel, whose hearts break and are led to believe he was killed by a pack of wolves.

In Egypt, Joseph became a servant of Potiphar (James Eckhouse), a wealthy man from Egypt. He quickly becomes active with his master and the two become more and more friends. However, Zuleika (Judith Light), Potiphar's deceitful wife takes a liking to Joseph. She tries unsuccessfully to seduce Joseph, grabs him, tearing his clothes, and he runs away frightened. Out of malice, she tells Potiphar that Joseph tried to rape her. Angered, Potiphar orders Joseph to be killed, but when his wife intervenes, he realizes that Joseph is not guilty of his wife's charges and later has Joseph imprisoned. While in prison, Joseph shows his talent by interpreting the dreams of the royal butler and baker, who are also prisoners. He predicts that the butler will be returned to his position in the palace in three days and that the baker will be put to death.

Finally, the Pharaoh (Richard McGonagle) begins to have dreams and the cupbearer remembers his promise to Joseph and explains to the pharaoh that he could interpret them. He orders Potiphar to free Joseph, who through guilt and shame cannot forgive himself for having unjustly locked up, but Joseph immediately forgives him knowing that Potiphar did not do it with bad intentions. Joseph and Potiphar as soon as they are dressed and clean are greeted by the pharaoh, who doubts the veracity of Joseph's abilities, Joseph asks the pharaoh to interpret his dream and interprets the pharaoh's dreams as a warning of seven years of abundance in Egypt followed by seven years of famine that will end Egypt. The pharaoh shows concern about the matter and asks Potiphar for advice on the matter, but Joseph suggests assigning a trusted person so that each year during the seven years of abundance a fifth of the crops are set aside and that this can then be distributed. among the population during the seven years of eventual famine. Pharaoh asks Potiphar if he trusts the young man, and he replies yes. Impressed by Joseph's plan, in front of the crowd he appoints him governor, remaining second to the Pharaoh, and gives him the name "Zafenat-panéah", which means "revealer of hidden things".

Shortly after his appointment, Joseph marries Potiphar's niece, Asenath (Jodi Benson). Finally, Joseph and the people closest to him begin the plan to save Egypt from famine, collecting the harvested grain and depositing it in special warehouses to store it for when the famine period begins. After seven years of abundance, Joseph saves Egypt from famine and has two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh). Joseph opens the grain stores and begins to give it to the people of Egypt, but, to his great chagrin, his brothers come to Egypt to buy grain because famine has also devastated Canaan. They do not recognize Joseph, who at first is too agitated to see them after 20 years, Asenat asks him if he is okay, but quite agitated Joseph reiterates yes. Potiphar at first rejects them because they did not contribute to the work, but they offer to pay for the grain with the same money they sold to Joseph, this infuriates him even more and when the brothers say they need the food to help the sick father and his younger brother, their grudge gets worse.

Just as Potiphar was about to give them grain, Joseph stops him and accuses them of being thieves and spies and asks for proof of their identity. The brothers are extremely worried and kneel before Joseph to ask for mercy, but Joseph asks for proof of the younger brother they mentioned to prove his innocence. Simeone (Steven Weber) is thrown in prison. He orders the remaining brothers to return with the youngest of his brothers as proof. If they don't, then Simeone will die. Dismayed, the brothers rush out of Egypt to persuade their father to let the younger son go to save Simeon's life.

Asenath is shocked and asks to know what Joseph is doing. When she sees through her lies that they are thieves, she reveals that they are her brothers and that it was they who sold him as a slave. Soon after, the brothers reappear with a young man named Benjamin (Matt Levin), who is Joseph's nearly identical brother. Simeon is released and Joseph asks Benjamin about his family. He is saddened to realize that his mother is dead, but his father did not want to let Benjamin go, for fear of losing another child. The brothers tell him that many years ago they had a younger brother killed by wolves, which angers Joseph even more, even though he doesn't show it. He sees through the lies of his brothers and decides to take revenge on them.

Joseph invites the brothers to a party and hides his golden cup in Benjamin's bag while no one is watching. After the party, while the brothers are preparing to leave, Joseph prevents them from going and discovers that one of them has stolen his cup. Despite the protests of the brothers, Joseph opens the sacks of wheat they were taking home and the golden cup appears in Benjamin's bag. Joseph orders him to imprison him and enslave him, but when his older brothers beg him to free Benjamin and offer himself in his place, he is shocked. Judas begs him not to take Benjamin, as the shock of losing another son would kill his elderly father. He confesses that his hatred of him had been blinded in the past and that, out of jealousy, he sold his brother as a slave and lied that he was killed by wolves. Touched by their honesty and their demonstration of honor and love for Benjamin, Joseph forgives them and reveals his true identity. Joseph's brothers apologize to him and Joseph invites them to live with him in the palace along with their families.

Soon after, he is reunited with his father and they all live in Egypt as a family, the film ends with a sign in the sky (11 stars and the sun and moon surrounding a brighter star) referencing Joseph's second dream. , which foresaw that Joseph would one day become king and save his family.

Characters

Giuseppe: he is the favorite son of Jacob and Rachel, sold by jealous half-brothers to slave traders traveling to Egypt. He then becomes viceroy of Egypt and saves him from the oncoming famine.

Jacob: he is the father of Giuseppe and eleven other children, had by many different women.

Down from: he is the fourth son of Jacob. It is Judas who has decided to sell Joseph as a slave, with whom he apologizes at the end of the film, begging him not to harm his younger brother Benjamin.

Ruben: he is the first son of Jacob, the only one who does not want to kill Joseph. He just wanted to hide it in a well.

Simeon: he is the second son of Jacob, one of the most violent sons together with Levi. He will be imprisoned by Joseph in Egypt for revenge, but then frees him when the other brothers take Benjamin, his youngest son, to Egypt.

Rachel: she is the mother of Giuseppe and Beniamino, she will die during the birth of the latter, without seeing Giuseppe at least one last time.

Asenath: she is the wife of Giuseppe and granddaughter of the master Putifarre. From her Giuseppe she will have two children: Ephraim and Manasse, who appear towards the end of the film.

Zuleika: she is the wife of Putiphar and Asenath's aunt, she will try to woo Joseph. For this he is imprisoned on charges of harassment by Potiphar, even though he knows that he is innocent.

putypharra: he is the husband of Zuleika and uncle of Asenath, he will buy Joseph as a slave, but he will promote him as chief of the slaves for his intelligence and cunning.

Faraone: he is the king of Egypt tormented by a strange dream, the meaning of which will be explained by Joseph, who will be appointed viceroy for this very reason.

Levi: he is the third son of Jacob, one of the most violent together with Simeon.

The Cupbearer: he is one of the pharaoh's officials, imprisoned together with the Baker and Joseph but then freed, as Giuseppe also explains interpreting his dream.

Baker: he is another of the pharaoh's officials, imprisoned together with the cupbearer and Joseph and then beheaded for treason, as explained by Joseph interpreting the dream of the condemned man.

Beniamino: he is the last son of Jacob, always had with Rachel, who will die immediately after giving birth. Joseph will pretend to accuse him of stealing a golden cup to see if the brothers care about him or are as jealous as they were with him before selling him as a slave in Egypt.

issachar: he is the ninth son of Jacob.

Technical data

Regia: Robert Ramirez, Rob La Duca
Film script: Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, Raymond Singer, Joe Stillman, Marshall Goldberg
Basato su Book of Genesis
Product by Ken Tsumura
Original voices: Ben Affleck, Mark Hamill, Richard Herd, Maureen McGovern, Jodi Benson, Judith Light, James Eckhouse, Richard McGonagle
Music by Daniel Pelfrey

Production company: DreamWorks Animation
Distributed by DreamWorks Home Entertainment
Exit date: 7 November 2000
Duration 74 minutes
Country United States
Language English