Exodus: Gods and Kings.What can one say?
In print you can isolate the nicer themes from the Exodus story and impute nobleness to the cause. Exodus and human liberation, a low humming of African-American Spirituals in the background.
The actual narrative is much darker than that. Plagues, suffering, death.
It doesn't matter that it never happened. Fictive narratives can have great power, and Exodus is the gold standard in fictions that have echoed down the centuries.
The movie has more than its share of disturbing moments. The one that caught me by the collar was the confrontation between Ramses and Moses, a distraught Pharaoh clutching his dead infant and tossing out the challenge: is this your god?
God, it so happens, is portrayed as a petulant child, Malak (Isaac Andrews). Stewie Griffin enfleshed!
Then there are the truly weird moments. Who'd have thought that Moses carried a sword with Excalibur properties?
I found myself rooting for the Egyptians more than once.
Is this your god?
No.
Except, Stewie is consistent.
ReplyDeleteI found myself rooting for the Egyptians more than once.
ReplyDeleteAs well you should have: I noted the very wise Pharaoh at the beginning at the movie, concerned about his nation and people, listening to his top advisors and generals to make a decision. The Egyptians built quite the civilization. What did the Israelites do?
Anyway, the movie was spectacular in 3d, which is the only way it should be watched.
I made up a different scenario for Moses going back to Zipporah with those hundreds of thousands of Israelites in the background:
"Honey, I'm home!"
"Who are they?"
"Relatives. And they're staying for dinner!"