“Exodus: Gods and Kings” Movie Review

Moses seems to be a movie darling.  Clinging onto big screen for as long as the birth of cinemas is Moses.  The great Hebrew prophet, according to the Bible, lived for 120 years.  Hollywood, on the other hand, has been making movies about Moses for just about that long.  Ever since 1903's "Moses in the Bullrushes" to Scott Ridley's 2014 "Exodus: Gods and Kings," it seems that every decade there is a Moses' movie surfacing.  Many will remember Moses as the star of 1998's animated "The Prince of Egypt." While others will always associate Moses with the burly and stentorian voiced Charleston Heston from 1956's "The Ten Commandments." Thus, "Exodus: Gods and Kings," which tells the story from Moses' younger days to his calling to lead the Israelites to the 10 plagues climaxing with the parting of the Red Sea is a familiar script in Hollywood as well as to many religious groups, such as Christians, Jews and Muslims.  So, what has Ridley brought to the table the warrants the movie's release? 

For starters, moviegoers who have had been burnt by the disappointment of Darren Aronofsky's "Noah," released earlier in the year, can breathe signs of relief.  Nowhere is "Exodus: Gods and Kngs" close to Aronofsky's sacrilegious "Noah."  In "Noah," the Biblical patriarch was portrayed as a crazed homicidal maniac who hallucinated God's will after drinking a potion given to him by Methuselah. Humanity itself is depicted as a blight upon the earth and the director himself bragged that his movie was "the least Biblical biblical film ever made."  "Exodus: Gods and Kings," at least, follows the chronological unfolding of the Bible storyline without twisting the plots in poetic exaggerations. 

With the $140 million budget, "Exodus: Gods and Kings" has the generous liberty to create some stunning and awestruck moments.  With the help of thousands of CGI artists and 3D technology, the supernatural onslaught of frogs, flies, hail and bloody water confronts the viewer viscerally in a way that written words or picture books cannot. Similarly, the climactic "parting of the Red Sea" sequence is absolutely epic and awe-inspiring. Further, the jewellery, the makeup, the costumes, the photography, the architecture, the sets were exquisitely intricate, researched and gorgeous depicted.  They are so engaging real that you would think you are looking at the bona fide items at the British museum. 

But the movie has its flaws, conscientious of space, I will only elucidate three major criticisms.

1. "Exodus: Gods and Kings" Downplays the Role of God

What is the major point of the story of Exodus?  According to Ridley, the reason why Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt was because of the oppression of the Israelites as slaves.  But according to the Bible, the deliverance of the Israelites was a foil to showcase that the LORD is God; and He is the Father where Israel is His first born.  Repeated through the Exodus narrative we read of this insistent desire of God to make known that He is God and not Pharaoh.

However, Ridley does the opposite of the Bible's intent by depicted God as a little impish British schoolboy, who often looks like he's just woke up from his afternoon nap after playing with his Legos.  While the Biblical Exodus cannot wait to bring out the grandeur, holiness, power and the gravitas of the Almighty, God in Ridley's depiction is anemic, flippant and who is grammatical shaky in his speeches. Most telling is burning bush scene, instead of Moses taking off his scandals before the awesome presence of the Almighty, he is lying in a pool of mud with a broken foot.   

Ridley's God in many ways is the product of our post-modern society.  The movie's closing scene with God walking beside the ark and was almost trembled by the hordes of passing Israelites is most telling.  God is just a boy in the crowd easily trembled and forgotten.  This is completely the antithesis of the God as presented in the Bible.

2.  "Exodus: Gods and Kings" Elevates Humanism in Subtle Ways

Though Ridley doesn't resort to blatant humanism, a nuanced humanism flourished throughout the movie.  With regards to the plagues, Ridley is carefully to allow for the supernatural particularly in the depiction of the ultimate killing of the Egyptian first born.  And he does highlight the supernatural-ness in terms of the plagues' timing and scope.  However, according to Ridley, every one of the remaining nine plagues seem to have a naturalistic cause.  Further, by substituting Moses' rod for a sword is a subtle way that seems to suggest that Moses has a bigger (and more active) role in the deliverance of Israel that purported by Scripture.

Also, Ridley's humanistic slant is most evident in what he subtracts and adds from the Biblical narratives.  By deliberately omitting the whole ordeal of Moses' battle of the staffs with that of the Egypt's magicians, Ridley eradicates the things that point to God's prowess.  Instead, Ridley spends considerable time showing how Moses training the Israelites for guerrilla warfare; an attempt to up the ante on Moses' (and human's) efforts in the Exodus' story.

3.  "Exodus: Gods and Kings" Reveals Ridley's Liberal Grasp of Scripture    

The movie's opening scene is revealing:  "Exodus: Gods and Kings" opens by telling us that the story was set in 1300 BCE.  However, an analysis of Scripture, correlating the known dates for secular events recorded therein with all the internal biblical data regarding the passage of time, supports an earlier date for the Exodus, a couple of centuries earlier, around 1445 to 1491 BCE.  1300 BCE is often the date favored by scholars of a more liberal persuasion and such theological underpinnings show throughout the movie.

As a result of such a flippant view of Scriptural authority, Biblical discrepancies follow:  Instead of Moses being raised by his mother, he was raised by Miriam.  Aaron who was supposed to be the spokesman for Moses literally had no lines in the movie.  The cloud that separated between the Israelites and the Egyptians as they were en route out of Egypt was missing.  Moses' repeated negotiations with the Pharaoh was curtailed down to one.  The fingers of God penning the tablets of stone were replaced with Moses chiselling out the words.  Moses being overwhelmed by the waters of Red Sea was a frivolous Ridley creation.  Ultimately, such discrepancies reveal Ridley shaky grasp of Scriptural authority that somehow marred the movie for those who are familiar with the Scriptures.

Thus, in closing, one can sum up "Exodus: Gods and Kings" in one sentence:  big cinematic efforts and gorgeous photography, but small on God and shaky on the Bible.  Moses has had a long afterlife in the movies, unfortunately, this is not his best redivivus.  

 

 

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