The King’s star (La stella dei re) is a 2007 film from Italia directed by Fabio Jephcott.
In the year Jesus was born, eastern Persia was devastated by an army of horsemen led by the cruel and ruthless Balthazar (Luca Ward). The recently blind Persian priest Melkior (Leo Gullotta), along with his entourage, has been traveling for more than a year in search of Saushyant (Jesus), whose arrival was revealed to him by the stars, when on the way he meets and foster kid Nabu (Mohamed Jasny), who lost his beloved mother (Isabella Briganti) during one of the numerous lootings of Balthazar, looting where not even the king of the town survives. Nabu was saved from surprisingly narrow death by one of Balthazar's masked thieves, who shortly after is disowned by the leader and the gang, so he has no choice but to join the blind priest's entourage. The group is also joined by the other survivor of the looting and fellow countryman of Nabu, Prince Gasphar (Jan Cornet), who, although being badly injured, lives only to exact revenge against the bandit who killed his father and his people. Surprises arise on the trip, first revealing the identity of the masked thief, which makes Gasphar and Nabu begin to see him with kinder eyes, and the inclusion on the group by Baltazhar himself, who due to a trick by Melkior himself is forced to join them. in search of the being that perhaps can heal their wounded and lost hearts.
Examples of tropes included:
- Action Girl: Yumah is this literally. She has lived all his life serving as a soldier of his father. Even when Gasphar confronts her and rejects her for being Balthazar’s daughter and treating her as a murderer, she threatens him with a sword to his throat to humiliate him in front of the others for having treated her badly.
- Affably Evil: Herod has special affection for Abraham, his protégé, even calling him his adopted son and honoring him above Antipas. But when he discovers that he has accompanied Melkior and the group to find the child of the prophecy, he is filled with anger and orders the soldiers to execute the entire group, including his favorite..
- Artistic License – Traditional Christianity: Simin, who has vivid red hair and will take no guff from her husband.
- Badass Pacifist: Summoned with Melkior. He accepts Balthazar's duel with Gasphar, but offers Nabu as Gasphar's representative due to the warrior's injuries. He has no qualms about instructing the boy to blind the fearsome bandit by attacking him directly with his slingshot and a poisoned cloth, but understandably justified since the boy would have no chance to melee with a ruthless adult.
- Bible Times: Invoked only in part. Although it takes part during the time of gestation until the birth of Jesus, the story is really more about the journey of the three protagonists who in the future will be remembered as the three Biblical wise men.
- Bittersweet Ending: The families that helped Melkior and the group to find Jesus surely lost their young children due to the massacre that Herod ordered to make the heir of the prophecy disappear. The wise men surely did not warn them to flee because they received no further information from the angel, at least according to what the movie indicates.
- Blind Seer: Melkior.
- Breakthe Cutie:
- Gasphar: Being a warrior prince, he feels helpless and maybe even a little guilty for not being able to save his father and his people from the attack of Balthazar's band. He once begins to show a little improvement from his injuries, for the only thing that makes him feel that he survived is to avenge the death of his own.
- Nabu: watches as his mother is killed by thieves, before giving him instructions on how to protect himself. Summoned later when Gasphar breaks the illusion that he will see his mom one day.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Abraham, Herod's protected priest, is the one who ultimately leads Melkior and the group to Bethlehem.
- Chekhov's Skill: Nabu's skill with the slingshot is what allows Balthazar to submit to Melkior's will to accompany them to Jerusalem and that at the end of the trip, the bandit makes peace with his daughter and Gasphar.
- Daddy's Girl: subverted with Yuhmah. All her life she has served his father as just another outlaw, hiding and denying his own femininity in order to please his father, who always wanted a son.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Balthazar can be ruthless, treacherous, who does not care about breaking his word not to hurt an entire town if he and his entourage are given a passage route, in addition to pushing his daughter to starve to death in the desert. However, he has enough decency as to not want to fight a wounded man who has defied him, [[spoiler: although also subverted because he still claims he can't refuse given the military code of responding to a challenge.
- Foregone Conclusion: “Te entrego esta mirra, como símbolo de la inmortalidad”.
- Foreshadowing:
- In turn, Melkior affirms on several occasions that he comes from Mount Usida. This region actually exists, currently under the name of Mount Khajeh, which is located in Iran (Ancient Persia). In the pre-Islamic era it was known as Mount Ushida, and is a hill considered sacred by Zoroastrians, Muslims, and some Eastern Christians.
- Melkior is a Persian priest who professes Zoroastrianism and relates the birth of the Jewish messiah announced by the prophet Isaiah, with the coming of the savior announced by his religion. In fact, he never calls him messiah as such, but as Saushyant, the name he receives in his religion.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: invoked with Balthazar. The originality of the film is that it initially portrays him as the leader of a band of looters from the desert, who only joins Melkior's journey, after he is temporarily blinded by a trick and needs Melkior to receive the antidote. During the trip he is seeing life with new eyes thanks to the presence of the wise old man, and above all witnessing the miracle of the arrival of the messiah, announced by signs in the sky.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Yumah has pursuited the affection and respect of his father, without success. Balthazar in the bottom of his harsh heart, love her and secretally admire her, but showing it to her is not an option in his bandit life.
- Ironic Echo: Gasphar passing out from pain whenever he rants against Balthazar or when Melkior talks about the prophecy
- Jerkass Has a Point: While Gasphar takes a level in Jerk with a Heart of Gold on several occasions, he is somewhat right in advising Nabu to be realistic and not believe any fantasy he is told. However, Nabu is a child, and Melkior's words are rather in a metaphorical sense, which the spiteful Gasphar cannot fathom at the time.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Balthazar. At the end of the story, it becomes clear that he has genuine affection for his daughter, but showing her would imply for him to see himself as weak. It is not in his plans to show himself like this to the world. But he finally shows a little of this when they are finally reunited with baby Jesus..
- Mama Bear: Invoked with Yumah. Although she is not related to Nabu, she risks enough to save him even at the cost of his father's disowning him and dying of starvation in the desert, in order to get him to a safe place.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Herod: The erratic behavior of Herod shown in the film makes Abraham, his protégé, finally convince himself to guide Melkior to meet the child. Naturally this, along with the angel's dream, warns the group to escort Jesus and his parents to safety. They also undertake the return trip by another path. Had he admitted that he may have a part, there wouldn't be any suing and blaming and all the mess impacting Termeh, her teacher, and others...
- No Ending: The film does not reveal whether Yumah went back with his father and his gang, or will start a new life with Caspar, Nabu and Melkior.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Caspar's father, wanting to avoid further bloodshed for his people, and also as a sign of holy hospitality, lets Balthazar and his men into his fortress, as a passage route, trusting the bandit's word to keep his word not to betray hospitality. It ends very badly for everyone, with only Nabu and a badly wounded Caspar as survivors.
- Psychotic Smirk: Balthazar does this when he kills Caspar’s father, in front of his own son and the entire town.
- Rewatch Bonus:
- the scene where the wise men of Babylon refuse to accompany Melkior to search for Saushyant. However, they offer him incense so that, in case of being found him, Melkior could deliver it to him on their behalf. Melkior upset that his colleagues don't believe him, rejects him, but his servant Hassur, (in a quick movement on the screen) accepts him in his place. Obviously this is the incense that is given to Jesus at the end
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Caspar personally deals initially with organizing the guardians of his fort, to prevent Balthazar's gang from passing through, while he himself runs to save some children so that they enter the place before it is too late. However , a bad calculation and good faith of his father the king makes this effort in vain
- Star of Bethlehem: Melkior's arduous journey and the other characters are driven by following this star. actually, the light produced by the conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and the constellation of Pisces.
- Tarnishing Their Own Beauty: Yumah hides her beauty behind a mask that hides her face, although this is used by all the bandos to avoid being recognized, but in her case it is also to avoid being looked down upon by the other men of the desert. She also keeps her hair always tied up. But when we see her finally embracing the femininity of her when she lets her hair down. However, even with her mask, it is possible to intuit a little that behind her, there is a woman, due to the softness of Ariadna Cabrol 's eyes.
- The Cassandra: Melkior. To be honest, it is understandable that most of the caracters had doubts about his faith in finding the newborn messiah announced by heaven, as the case of the Babylonian astrologers. Much less that this child is able to restore life to the dead, in the case of Gasphar and Nabu, or that he will be the future king of Israel, in the case of Balthazar. For all those who are familiar with Christianity, they know that all these prophecies fulfill a metaphorical role, and it is rather a symbol of hope for humanity.
- The Determinator: Melkior has spent his entire life watching the stars and looking for signs that herald Saushyant's arrival so he can present his honors to him. Such a search eventually blinds him, but even that does not stop him from embarking on an arduous journey with his disciples once he discovers that the sign has finally appeared..
- The Reveal: Yumah, when she uncovers her face to Melkior, Nabu and Gasphar, revealing herself to be a woman. Also later when Balthazar inadvertently reveals to Gasphar and the rest of the group that Yumah is his daughter. She quickly loses Gasphar's budding affection for her.
- The Reveal Prompts Romance: Yumah again Eventually Gasphar begins to notice her, both for her beauty and for the attention she lavishes on him. Although he doesn't like it when it is revealed after that she is the daughter of his father's murderer.
- The Smurfette Principle: Yumah, both in Melkior's retinue, and possibly in his father's band
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Gasphar and Yumah
- Will They or Won't They?: Gasphar is never seen to confess his romantic feelings to Yumah directly though she can infer that he has a special affection for her from the way he looks at her when she treats his fever and comforts her after Balthazar has rejected her. Yumah also tries to get Gasphar to forgive her for keeping the truth about her father from him, and tries to be affectionate with him, but he violently reject her and call her a murderer. However, at the end of the story, with the trip finally has reached its destination, it becomes clear that he has forgiven all of this and they both give each other a look of mutual understanding.
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Word of Dante: The film stands out for recounting the story of the three wise men as three men of different ethnicity and origin who, by chance of fate, end up traveling together and bringing presents to the child God. The epilogue affirms that they were "common" people that over time tradition began to call them kings, as a way of magnifying the role they had in honoring the birth of Jesus with gifts. Of the three characters, only Gasphar was royal, in the movie. But to be exact, the Biblical story doesn't really specify how many people were the ones who brought those presents. The film invokes him in some way including in the entourage the priest Abraham, the servants of Melkior, Nabu, Yumah and all the Balthazar’s bandits. - You Killed My Father: The only purpose of Gasphar after surviving Balthazar's attack is to find him and kill him to avenge his father's death. Woe to him, who once he finds it, He tries unsuccessfully to attack him, being easily knocked down by this. He is definitely not a competent warrior, although he is justified since he is still recovering from the wound that his enemy inflicted on him.
