Les dix commandements

Seeing Biblically-based movies makes one wonder if the movie makers cracked open a resource like. . . Oh, let's say the Bible.

They're a bit confusion. The Hebrews boys weren't killed but Pharoah because of a prophecy. That's thousands of years in the future, in the New Covenant's life of Christ. You might recall three Magi appearing before Rome's pal Herod and saying they'd seen a star, and Herod's experts chimed in . . . It's part of the pagentry we use around something called Christmas. You may have heard of it. Unless you live in Hollywood. The Hebrew boys were killed because the Hebrews were being fruitful and multiplying and Pharoah was scared of being outnumbered.

And that's scratching the surface.

The older version of this story had its problems, too, being based on novels. The next time you see it, watch the source materials. Scripture comes last. And Charlton Heston hardly fits Scripture's description of Moses as humble.

Anyhow, like the pre-conversion Augustine of Hippo, folks in Hollywood probably see Scripture as a lot of fairy tales and metaphors (they probably can't tell you what a metaphor is but they know it when they see it. They think.

I'd rather they not make movies and TV shows like this at all if they can't get them right.

Watching this version of the story inspired me to reread the source material, ie the Bible..again. This movie was not about entertainment so much as conveying what I thought was a fair rendering of the original story. Dougray Scott's portrayal seemed more consistent with Moses'uncertainty faced with the task given to him. I have always enjoyed the 1956 film and indeed liked Ben Kingsley's performance in 1996, however this one seemed to convey a "reality" not seen in other versions. It's obviously difficult for modern people to ever comprehend the lives of people 3000 years ago..our roots so to speak...I'm happy I got a chance to see this film, which I would describe as an experience...

I read bad reviews of this one after the other before I saw this and I was prepared not to like this. My friend bought this for $5.00 about a year and a half ago and it became one of those DVDs that sits unwatched in storage. Being Easter Sunday and not being able to access either the 1956 version or Ben-Hur, we decided to give this a spin. I was surprised at how good this was. This was a somewhat grittier version of the story, but, as it is explained in a "making-of" documentary extra on the disc, this was the film maker's intent. The production values are excellent as is the music score. The 3-hour film is broken into two parts, thus allowing a natural "intermission". The acting is good, the direction is good and it really holds your attention so what's not to like?

I watched this series out of curiosity,wanting to see if they could possibly and with ALL this modern technology,out do Cecil B. DeMille's classic epic of 1956, starring Charleton Heston,Yul Brenner and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Of course, I was let down. Yes, they had all the Biblical characters correct, but they didn't give us any of the spectacular theatrical scenes, that held your interest throughout the first movie. If you going to have a mini-series, you have to have some "rivoting" scenes, the "Burning bush", Parting the "RED Sea",drowning "Pharohs Armies", "building Sethi's Pyramids", could have been done with todays' technology on the scale of blockbuster movies such as "Lord of the Rings" or the Matrix. Obviously, they didn't want to leave a LASTING impression of "faith and sacrifice", which is much needed in these trouble times.

This was a mess. The continuity was a mess -half the actors spoke with English accents, King Herod looked like he never saw the sun, and the darkest person was Naveen Andrews who, while a fine actor, seemed out of place. Come on. Finally, out of all the great actors with tremendous voices, (James Earl Jones), the voice of God sounded like the local pizza delivery guy.

One good thing was the special effects and showing the darker side of the story. And the actors though, a little overly dramatic at times, did a pretty good job.

I haven't seen the original in a while, but will check it out this week 2 compare.