FILM REVIEW:
Exodus, Gods and Kings.
Once
again, Riddle Scott brings another of his mass productions, a Bible-inspired
epic film, Exodus: Gods and Kings. It is based on the first chapters of the Holy Bible, where Moses, rescued from the Nile waters of Egypt, will become
the savior leader of the Hebrews, after four hundred years of slavery.
To
start with, this is not the first film with this title. Exodus was shot in the
sixties starring Paul Newman in the role of Ari Ben Canaan, based, this time,
on the event that happened on a ship in 1947 with the founding of the State of
Israel.
Although
Riddle Scott goes back to Egyptian Civilization and Hebrew times trying to
reach the Promised Land, the idea remains quite similar in the sense of a town
being forced to leave their homeland without any apparently reason. Once again,
an American film comes up with the idea of the State of Israel in a clear
position of support. In spite of this, the recent film was dedicated to Scott’s
brother who committed suicide in 2012.
Incidentally, the film serves great
entertainment with a brilliant cast and easy to follow plot. Some of the
actors, like Sigourney Weaver in the role of Ramesses’ mother, have either
appeared in previous Scott hits, like she did when she starred as Isabella the
Catholic in the film 1492, the Conquest of Paradise. The characters feel
comfortable with Scott’s directing style and the film’s dramatic tone, although
it is the first time that Christian Bale appears in the main role of one of his
films, which also includes a Spanish cast, since part of the movie was shot in
Fuerteventura, with Maria Valverde performing Sephora, Moses’s wife.
By Almudena Corrales Marbán
TRAILER:
THE CAST:
ABOUT THE TOPIC:
Extracts from the Bible:
This land has been inhabted by groups of people since the very beginning of History, since the so called Fertile Crescent (Creciente Fértil). Its richness has been the cause of great disputes increased with different religious beliefs, from Hebrews to Egyptians, Romans, Jews and Muslims.
The State of Israel:
The State of Israel was proclaimed on 14 May 1948, the culmination of nearly 2,000 years of hopes by Jewish people that they would one day return to the LAND
from which the Romans expelled them. The Holocaust of European Jewry in the Second World War strengthened their determination.
ABOUT THE TOPIC:
Extracts from the Bible:
The Israelites Oppressed
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy[a] in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the LAND
was filled with them.
was filled with them.
8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerousfor us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced LABOR, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh LABOR in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh LABOR in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the DELIVERY stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
The Call and Commission of Moses.7But the LORD said: I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry against their taskmasters, so I know well what they are suffering.8Therefore I have come down* to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them up from that LAND into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.d9Now indeed the outcry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen how the Egyptians are oppressing them.10Now, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.
into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.d9Now indeed the outcry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen how the Egyptians are oppressing them.10Now, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.
11But Moses said to God, “Who am I* that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”12God answered: I will be with you; and this will be your sign* that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God at this mountain.13“But,” said Moses to God, “if I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what do I tell them?”14God replied to Moses: I am who I am.* Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.
This land is mine¡?
This land has been inhabted by groups of people since the very beginning of History, since the so called Fertile Crescent (Creciente Fértil). Its richness has been the cause of great disputes increased with different religious beliefs, from Hebrews to Egyptians, Romans, Jews and Muslims.
The State of Israel:
The State of Israel was proclaimed on 14 May 1948, the culmination of nearly 2,000 years of hopes by Jewish people that they would one day return to the LAND
from which the Romans expelled them. The Holocaust of European Jewry in the Second World War strengthened their determination.
The Balfour Declaration by the British government in 1917, enshrined in a League of Nations mandate in 1920, had said that a "national home for the Jewish people" would be founded in Palestine, while preserving the "civil and religious" rights of non-Jewish communities there. The British could not reconcile the conflicting principles.
On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted (resolution 181) to partition Palestine between a Jewish and an Arab state, with Jerusalem under an international regime. The Jews agreed but the Arabs did not. They called the declaration of the State of Israel "al-Nakba", the catastrophe.
Inter-communal fighting had preceded the declaration and after it, five Arab armies invaded. By the time of an armistice in 1949, the Israelis had extended their territory, leaving Jordan with the West Bank, Egypt with Gaza and Jerusalem divided. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled or had been driven out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7381315.stm
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