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There have been a fair amount of mainstream Christian films released this year including Son of God, Noah, God’s Not Dead, Mom’s Night Out, The Giver, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Well, the last two don’t involve Christianity, but they deal with profoundly Christian themes.
It’s been years since Hollywood has produced a biblical epic, and this year we have three. With that said, I didn’t see Son of God because I wasn’t a fan of History Channel’s The Bible series from which it’s edited. I didn’t see Noah because I read that it’s based on a Gnostic interpretation of the story. However, I did see the third one, Exodus: Gods and Kings.
I know the bare bones of the story of Exodus, and compared to the entire skeleton, considering that the film covers just past the establishment of the Ten Commandments, the filmmakers get into the arms and legs. That does seem decent, but if they had gotten into the rib cage, that means that they would have at least gotten the heart.
Now, I’m not opposed to filmmakers taking artistic license, such as adding new material as long as it doesn’t drastically change the written text or at least it’s meaning. Unfortunately, director Ridley Scott made a movie that got on my nerves.
I’m also not nearly as theologically or biblically educated as Steven Greydanus, so his observations are more thorough and valid than mine. Plus, if you want to stay surprised as to what Scott offers in his interpretation, the spoiling begins below.
Though most screen versions of the Exodus story open with the slaughtering of the Hebrew children and Moses’ (Christian Bale) escape in a basket, the film opens up with Moses as an Egyptian general who’s skeptical about religion, even the beliefs of the Egyptians. Since the Bible doesn’t cover anything between Moses’ adoption and his killing of the guard to free a slave, all screen versions of his adulthood that I’ve seen are fictionalized. Though he’s a religious skeptic, he does believe in God later on, so I don’t find that entirely offensive.
Yet, the killing of the guard isn’t even there. Instead, Moses learns from the Hebrew elder Nun (Ben Kingsley) that he’s adopted, then kills two assassins whom Ramses (Joel Edgerton) sent because his own father Seti (John Turturro) favors Moses over him, and gets exiled because of it.
The brotherly relationship between Moses and Ramses is supposed to be the heart of the film, much like in The Prince of Egypt, but the drama falls flat. We’re told that they grew up like brothers, but we hardly see any interaction between them that lets us care about them.
Things get really loopy when it comes to the depiction of God himself. Malak (Issac Andrews), as God is named in the credits, is portrayed as a tween boy who wants to fiercely punish the Egyptians. Though Greydanus has observed that the boy is an angel, not God himself. Moses sees visions of him after bumping his head during a rock slide as he’s going after lost sheep, giving the impression that Moses could be delusional. Yet, his delusions are refuted when the plagues arrive.
I am disappointed that Moses’ staff is not in the story (so neither is the snake sequence), and that Aaron (Andrew Tarbet) has an even lesser role here than in The Prince of Egypt, but I do find the way the plagues are portrayed fascinating, if unbiblical. No longer are they wondrous miracles. The Nile turns to blood due to a massive crocodile massacre, which causes the frogs to leave the river, which causes flies to swarm all over Egypt due to the rotting frogs, then things get less natural from there.
The darkness covering Egypt and the killing of the firstborns are combined into the same plague, with a dark cloud moving over the landing taking its victims as it goes. Ramses never even pleads to Moses between these plagues. God just keeps letting it come.
Yet before the wrath of God, Moses decides to train Hebrew warriors and cripples Egypt’s resources. Malak tells Moses at the burning bush that he wants a general to set his people free, yet he doesn’t approve of Moses’ skirmish, and neither do I for it betrays the his character from the scriptures. The filmmakers try way too hard to make this already exciting story as exciting as possible.
As for the parting of the Red Sea – it isn’t even there. The sea goes off in a large current, then a bunch of tornadoes form and bring it back in a crashing wave as the Egyptians arrive. When the Hebrews are out of the way, Moses and Ramses are the only ones who survive it. Yes, Moses gets caught in the wave. Did I mention how Hollywood-ized this is?
The only bits of emotional resonance are when Ramses’ infant son dies, simply because such a young, innocent life is taken, and when Moses is reunited with his family which he left in order to free the Hebrews. When he leaves, Zipporah (María Valverde) claims that she would trade her faith for him (really?), and at the end, Moses tells her that she’ll need it more than ever. Ironically, there isn’t much religious relevance either.
The final scene depicts Moses travelling with the Ark of the Covenant in a cart that Malak walks beside. Then, the angel disappears into the crowd, symbolizing how the Hebrews eventually forget about God. Frankly, so do the filmmakers. There are more problems that I have with the movie, but this covers enough of them.
I would recommend The Prince of Egypt instead. It’s not entirely accurate to the scriptures, but it at least stays true to the miracles, its animation and musical numbers are beautiful, and both its true and fictional elements are powerful.
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