314. The Ten Commandments (1956)
Directed By Cecil B. DeMille
Synopsis
Moses supposes his toeses are roses,
But Moses supposes erroneously.
For Moses, he knowses his toeses aren't roses,
As Moses supposes his toeses to be.
Review
Really, if you don't know the story it is about time you moved out of the rock. So Exodus... well it is a good story as mythical nation-foundation stories go. I still do not understand why I should believe it any more than Romulus and Remus founding of Rome or Ulysses founding Lisbon or any other mythical foundation story. Shit, even Romulus and Remus is more believable. Being suckled by a she-wolf takes a smaller leap of imagination. Hebrews living in Egypt for 400 years leave no archaeological evidence behind? A single mention on a single papyrus of the anally retentive Ancient Egyptians, known for their meticulous recording?
However, if the film was simply following the story of the Exodus I would be fine with it. An adaptation of a work of fiction is a great thing if well done. But the film decides to innovate, to add elements that make a hard to believe story impossible to believe. For a film that supposedly consulted a number of historians they did a pretty shit work. The Bible never mentions the name of the Pharaoh, so they pick Rameses II. RAMESES II?! Just the most prosperous, long-lived king of the entire history of Egypt? Known for his love to his Queen Nefertari (not Nefertiri as in the film), being one of the most prolific builders in history and a reign mostly of peace and abundance? A guy who had in the region of 100 children, lived to be 90 and ruled for over 60 years? God was surely not that pissed off with him. It makes very little historical sense, as well as being often wrong in simple historical facts, such as the name of the Queen, the fact that it was him and not his father Sethi who fought the Battle of Kadesh, that the battle ended in a tie and not a victory, that his father died quite young after only 11 years of reign...
I could spend several days poking whole in the historical bollocks of the whole film. Now I could spend some more days discussing the ethical content of the film... Moses does not give a shit about slavery, in the film there are slaves of many nations, but only the Hebrew ones matter. In fact there is a whole feeling that non-Hebrews are almost cannon fodder, their death is unimportant, nothing more than a means to an end, the racial politics of the whole thing are pretty disgusting. The film itself seems to recognise the ethical violence of the last plague by having the Egyptians threaten to kill the Hebrew first-borns before God decides to kill the Egyptians. Well no, that is not what happens in the story... God just does it, he doesn't need provocation.
Now... about the film. The acting is shit. Charlton Heston is a ham, no one gets off well, Yul Bryner is a cardboard cut-out of a tyrant, even the great Edward G. Robinson comes out shit. There are several moments where the dubbing of the voices is off, several moments of simply ridiculous script writing and acting. A cast of thousands does not cover-up for elementary failures Mr. DeMille. Why can't there be one good Bible movie? Come on, the stories have potential, just do it right, leave the hammy acting at home, I know you are playing Moses, but are the dramatic poses really necessary? Are the action hero sequences required? Shit the best film about the Exodus is probably the animated musical Prince of Egypt by Dreamworks. Oh! you have to watch almost 4 hours of this!!! Good riddance.
Final Grade
5/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Differences from the Bible:
There are many differences between the movie story line and the Exodus story as traditionally understood from the Bible. According to the commentary in the DVD, some details are taken from sources such as Josephus, the Sepher ha-Yashar, and the Chronicle of Moses, as well as the Qur'an. Some are fictional inventions.
In the film, the kings of Egypt are all named: Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses II. In the Bible, they are given no names but simply called "Pharaoh."
In the Bible, the wives of the Pharaohs are not even mentioned. In the film, we see a great deal of Queen Nefretiri. Her name is a variant of Nefertari, the Great Royal Wife of Rameses II. But Egyptian records show that Rameses loved Nefertari, while in the film Nefretiri hated him. The Bible says "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart", and the film makes clear that Nefretiri's schemes are the means through which God does this.
The story of Shiphrah and Puah (Exodus 1:15-21) has been omitted in the film. Some Talmudic commentaries identify them as none other than Yokheved and Miriam.
The name of the birth mother of Moses in the Bible is Yokheved (Hebrew) or Jochebed (English). In the movie, this is changed to "Yoshebel." She is shown as a very oppressed and endangered slave working on a construction project under hazardous conditions. This may be problematic, since a strong case can be made that the tribe of Levi was not actually enslaved. Perhaps because of this, at one point Yoshebel states: "We are Levites, appointed shepherds of Israel."
While Pharaoh's daughter is no longer mentioned again after the rescuing story in the Bible, the film follows Bithiah's life well into her later years. The story of her following the Israelites out of Egypt is taken from the Midrash.
In the Bible, Moses was 80 during the Exodus, so Bithiah must have been older still, yet in the film she is portrayed as relatively young and healthy enough to carry a child in the trek away.
Baka (as played by Vincent Price) is never mentioned by name in the Bible, and he is not specifically mistreating Joshua when Moses kills him. In the Bible, Dathan is not mentioned as having been a witness to the killing (though, the Bible does mention that, in another incident after Moses kills an Egyptian, he confronts two quarreling Israelites, one of whom accueses Moses of having killed an Egyptian. The Midrash identifies the Israelites as Dathan and his brother Aviram, which may have been the inspiration for this part of the story).
In the film, on the first Passover night, the Destroyer is seen with a crescent moon in the sky. But Passover always begins in the middle of the Hebrew month of Nissan, during a full moon.
In the film, the young Moses is a successful military commander who defeats a Nubian army and makes the Ethiopians allies of Egypt. This is sourced in Josephus, but is not in the Bible.
In Exodus 2:11-12, Moses "looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." No such caution in the film: Moses jumps right in to fight the Egyptian. Instead of sensibly fleeing to Midian immediately, as he does in the Bible, he stays in Egypt and is arrested and exiled.
The movie adds a subplot about Joshua coming to Moses to beseech him to return to Egypt to free the Israelites.
In the Bible, Moses complains to the Lord that he is slow of speech, and of a slow tongue; in the film he only says "what words can I speak that they will heed?" DeMille considered having Moses stammer slightly, but Heston could not do it, and settled for speaking very slowly. Modern midrash asserts the relevance of the phrase "divine apostasia", which rehabilitates the term "apostasia" from its heretical or pejorative sense by defining it as an inability to articulate given the tools (or limitations rather) of language. This sense of the term apostasia asserts the moral humility and/or wisdom of silence or hesitance applied to speech and writing.
The story of Zipporah performing an emergency circumcision on her son by Moses (Exodus 4:24-26) is missing in the film.
The film shows four of the Plagues of Egypt: Blood, Hail, Darkness, and Death of the Firstborn, omitting the rest. DeMille could not figure out a way to enact the plagues of frogs, flies and so on, without it coming out as unintentionally humorous.
In the Bible, Moses did not say, "If there is one more plague on Egypt, it will be by your word that God will bring it" as he did in the movie, and Pharaoh did not decree that the firstborn of each house of Israel would die, beginning with the son of Moses. This is taken from a Midrash that expands the Biblical narrative in order to explain the origin of the tenth plague.
In the Bible, God executes the tenth plague alone, not by sending the Angel of Death.
Pharaoh may have drowned with his army in Exodus 15:19 (it is unclear; and if so, he was not Ramesses II). In the movie, he prudently stays in the rear and witnesses the parting of the waters.
In Exodus, the Israelites, led by Miriam, sing and dance to celebrate the death of Pharaoh and the Egyptian army, and their own liberation. In the film, they stand still in stunned silence.
The Biblical story of the attack by the Amalekites and the Battle of Rephidim has been omitted in the film.
The Biblical accounts of God supplying the Israelites with water, manna and quail are missing in the movie.
In the Bible, the reception of the Ten Commandments began as a national revelation, as opposed to the private one depicted in the DeMille film. The story of Moses and seventy Elders of Israel eating and drinking in the presence of God (Exodus 24:9-11) is not found in the film.
The story of Korah and his rebellion, which occurs much later in the Bible narrative, is conflated with that of the Golden Calf in the film. Korah himself plays only an assistant to the ringleader Dathan. Further, in the Bible, Dathan does not die during the Sin of the Golden Calf (nor do his brother Aviram or Korah), but during Korah's rebellion.
In the Bible, God gave Moses not just ten commandments, but 613 Commandments.
10 things I hate about commandments:
Synopsis
Moses supposes his toeses are roses,
But Moses supposes erroneously.
For Moses, he knowses his toeses aren't roses,
As Moses supposes his toeses to be.
Review
Really, if you don't know the story it is about time you moved out of the rock. So Exodus... well it is a good story as mythical nation-foundation stories go. I still do not understand why I should believe it any more than Romulus and Remus founding of Rome or Ulysses founding Lisbon or any other mythical foundation story. Shit, even Romulus and Remus is more believable. Being suckled by a she-wolf takes a smaller leap of imagination. Hebrews living in Egypt for 400 years leave no archaeological evidence behind? A single mention on a single papyrus of the anally retentive Ancient Egyptians, known for their meticulous recording?
However, if the film was simply following the story of the Exodus I would be fine with it. An adaptation of a work of fiction is a great thing if well done. But the film decides to innovate, to add elements that make a hard to believe story impossible to believe. For a film that supposedly consulted a number of historians they did a pretty shit work. The Bible never mentions the name of the Pharaoh, so they pick Rameses II. RAMESES II?! Just the most prosperous, long-lived king of the entire history of Egypt? Known for his love to his Queen Nefertari (not Nefertiri as in the film), being one of the most prolific builders in history and a reign mostly of peace and abundance? A guy who had in the region of 100 children, lived to be 90 and ruled for over 60 years? God was surely not that pissed off with him. It makes very little historical sense, as well as being often wrong in simple historical facts, such as the name of the Queen, the fact that it was him and not his father Sethi who fought the Battle of Kadesh, that the battle ended in a tie and not a victory, that his father died quite young after only 11 years of reign...
I could spend several days poking whole in the historical bollocks of the whole film. Now I could spend some more days discussing the ethical content of the film... Moses does not give a shit about slavery, in the film there are slaves of many nations, but only the Hebrew ones matter. In fact there is a whole feeling that non-Hebrews are almost cannon fodder, their death is unimportant, nothing more than a means to an end, the racial politics of the whole thing are pretty disgusting. The film itself seems to recognise the ethical violence of the last plague by having the Egyptians threaten to kill the Hebrew first-borns before God decides to kill the Egyptians. Well no, that is not what happens in the story... God just does it, he doesn't need provocation.
Now... about the film. The acting is shit. Charlton Heston is a ham, no one gets off well, Yul Bryner is a cardboard cut-out of a tyrant, even the great Edward G. Robinson comes out shit. There are several moments where the dubbing of the voices is off, several moments of simply ridiculous script writing and acting. A cast of thousands does not cover-up for elementary failures Mr. DeMille. Why can't there be one good Bible movie? Come on, the stories have potential, just do it right, leave the hammy acting at home, I know you are playing Moses, but are the dramatic poses really necessary? Are the action hero sequences required? Shit the best film about the Exodus is probably the animated musical Prince of Egypt by Dreamworks. Oh! you have to watch almost 4 hours of this!!! Good riddance.
Final Grade
5/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Differences from the Bible:
There are many differences between the movie story line and the Exodus story as traditionally understood from the Bible. According to the commentary in the DVD, some details are taken from sources such as Josephus, the Sepher ha-Yashar, and the Chronicle of Moses, as well as the Qur'an. Some are fictional inventions.
In the film, the kings of Egypt are all named: Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses II. In the Bible, they are given no names but simply called "Pharaoh."
In the Bible, the wives of the Pharaohs are not even mentioned. In the film, we see a great deal of Queen Nefretiri. Her name is a variant of Nefertari, the Great Royal Wife of Rameses II. But Egyptian records show that Rameses loved Nefertari, while in the film Nefretiri hated him. The Bible says "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart", and the film makes clear that Nefretiri's schemes are the means through which God does this.
The story of Shiphrah and Puah (Exodus 1:15-21) has been omitted in the film. Some Talmudic commentaries identify them as none other than Yokheved and Miriam.
The name of the birth mother of Moses in the Bible is Yokheved (Hebrew) or Jochebed (English). In the movie, this is changed to "Yoshebel." She is shown as a very oppressed and endangered slave working on a construction project under hazardous conditions. This may be problematic, since a strong case can be made that the tribe of Levi was not actually enslaved. Perhaps because of this, at one point Yoshebel states: "We are Levites, appointed shepherds of Israel."
While Pharaoh's daughter is no longer mentioned again after the rescuing story in the Bible, the film follows Bithiah's life well into her later years. The story of her following the Israelites out of Egypt is taken from the Midrash.
In the Bible, Moses was 80 during the Exodus, so Bithiah must have been older still, yet in the film she is portrayed as relatively young and healthy enough to carry a child in the trek away.
Baka (as played by Vincent Price) is never mentioned by name in the Bible, and he is not specifically mistreating Joshua when Moses kills him. In the Bible, Dathan is not mentioned as having been a witness to the killing (though, the Bible does mention that, in another incident after Moses kills an Egyptian, he confronts two quarreling Israelites, one of whom accueses Moses of having killed an Egyptian. The Midrash identifies the Israelites as Dathan and his brother Aviram, which may have been the inspiration for this part of the story).
In the film, on the first Passover night, the Destroyer is seen with a crescent moon in the sky. But Passover always begins in the middle of the Hebrew month of Nissan, during a full moon.
In the film, the young Moses is a successful military commander who defeats a Nubian army and makes the Ethiopians allies of Egypt. This is sourced in Josephus, but is not in the Bible.
In Exodus 2:11-12, Moses "looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." No such caution in the film: Moses jumps right in to fight the Egyptian. Instead of sensibly fleeing to Midian immediately, as he does in the Bible, he stays in Egypt and is arrested and exiled.
The movie adds a subplot about Joshua coming to Moses to beseech him to return to Egypt to free the Israelites.
In the Bible, Moses complains to the Lord that he is slow of speech, and of a slow tongue; in the film he only says "what words can I speak that they will heed?" DeMille considered having Moses stammer slightly, but Heston could not do it, and settled for speaking very slowly. Modern midrash asserts the relevance of the phrase "divine apostasia", which rehabilitates the term "apostasia" from its heretical or pejorative sense by defining it as an inability to articulate given the tools (or limitations rather) of language. This sense of the term apostasia asserts the moral humility and/or wisdom of silence or hesitance applied to speech and writing.
The story of Zipporah performing an emergency circumcision on her son by Moses (Exodus 4:24-26) is missing in the film.
The film shows four of the Plagues of Egypt: Blood, Hail, Darkness, and Death of the Firstborn, omitting the rest. DeMille could not figure out a way to enact the plagues of frogs, flies and so on, without it coming out as unintentionally humorous.
In the Bible, Moses did not say, "If there is one more plague on Egypt, it will be by your word that God will bring it" as he did in the movie, and Pharaoh did not decree that the firstborn of each house of Israel would die, beginning with the son of Moses. This is taken from a Midrash that expands the Biblical narrative in order to explain the origin of the tenth plague.
In the Bible, God executes the tenth plague alone, not by sending the Angel of Death.
Pharaoh may have drowned with his army in Exodus 15:19 (it is unclear; and if so, he was not Ramesses II). In the movie, he prudently stays in the rear and witnesses the parting of the waters.
In Exodus, the Israelites, led by Miriam, sing and dance to celebrate the death of Pharaoh and the Egyptian army, and their own liberation. In the film, they stand still in stunned silence.
The Biblical story of the attack by the Amalekites and the Battle of Rephidim has been omitted in the film.
The Biblical accounts of God supplying the Israelites with water, manna and quail are missing in the movie.
In the Bible, the reception of the Ten Commandments began as a national revelation, as opposed to the private one depicted in the DeMille film. The story of Moses and seventy Elders of Israel eating and drinking in the presence of God (Exodus 24:9-11) is not found in the film.
The story of Korah and his rebellion, which occurs much later in the Bible narrative, is conflated with that of the Golden Calf in the film. Korah himself plays only an assistant to the ringleader Dathan. Further, in the Bible, Dathan does not die during the Sin of the Golden Calf (nor do his brother Aviram or Korah), but during Korah's rebellion.
In the Bible, God gave Moses not just ten commandments, but 613 Commandments.
10 things I hate about commandments:
posted by Francisco Silva @ 1:42 AM
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