But aside from this issue, Exodus-filmed in London’s Pinewood Studios, Spain and the Canary Islands-does seem to care about fidelity to the time, region and culture in which it is set.Ĥ.

The filmmakers, most notably Ridley Scott, say this was driven by entrenched industry habits in which big budgets ($140 million) and big box office hopes are concerned. For a film so committed to realism, the casting of white people in all the major roles is indeed problematic. Hittites battle scene could have been a few minutes shorter).ģ. Speaking of DeMille-whose The Ten Commandments (1956) is an arduous four hours long-Scott’s Exodus clocks in at a brisk two-and-a-half hours, displaying admirable editing and storytelling economy for a tale so loaded with plot (though the opening Egyptians vs. This approach would call foul on all sorts of things: Moses wielding a sword but not a staff Moses being chatty but Aaron having almost no lines Moses killing lots of people and fighting in the Egyptian army no “staff-to-snake” scene no repeated utterances of “let my people go” no “baby Moses in the Nile” scene and every other deviation the film takes from the narrative in Exodus 1-14.Ģ. I’m not saying Ridley Scott is Moses, mind you just that Christian audiences can sometimes act like Ramses: stubborn, grumpy, vengeful, closed-minded and unwilling to listen to someone they’ve already decided is an enemy.įor Christian audiences, one approach to Exodus: Gods and Kings would be to distrust and dismiss it at the outset, looking only for what it gets wrong, embellishes, excludes, or underemphasizes. The Christian filmgoers are a bit like Ramses: hardhearted, skeptical and maybe a bit jealous, looking for every reason to punish the secular outsider who has the nerve to tell a story that isn’t theirs. The relationship reminded me a bit of the dynamic between Christian filmgoers and “secular” Hollywood films, like Exodus, which attempt to adapt the Bible. Christian Bale in 'Exodus: Gods and Kings'

Gods, Kings & Slaves by R. Venketesh