Ramses: Joel Edgerton
Seti: John Turturro
Joshua: Aaron Paul
Viceroy Hegep: Ben Mendelsohn
Zipporah: María Valverde
Nun: Ben Kingsley
20th Century Fox
presents a film directed by Ridley Scott. Written by Adam Cooper & Bill
Collage and Jeffrey Caine and Steven Zaillian. Running time: 150 min. Rated
PG-13 (for violence including battle sequences and intense images).
“I’ve never been certain
whether the moral of the Icarus story should only be, as is generally accepted,
‘don’t try to fly too high,’ or whether it might also be thought of as ‘forget
the wax and feathers, and do a better job on the wings.”
― Stanley Kubrick
The films of Ridley Scott
always strive for greatness. He directs almost everything on such a grand scale
that it is inevitable that every once and a while he will, like Icarus, fly too
close to the sun. “Exodus: Gods and Kings” is one of those times when Scott’s
visionary scope has him biting off a little more than he can chew, or more
accurately more than has been chewed for him by his screenwriters.
“Exodus” joins the growing
population of Christian-themed movies filling our metroplexes of late.
Although, it may not truly be as Christian-themed as the Christian-produced
movies that take place in modern times, such as “God is Not Dead” and “Heaven
is Real”. Like Darren Aronofsky’s film “Noah” earlier this year, “Exodus” is
not so much about being Christian as it uses the Bible as a source material for
a special effects extravaganza. Also like “Noah”, it changes a great deal of
its source material. In doing so, it seems to have forgotten to transport much
of the depth of Moses’s story.
We meet Ramses and Moses,
acting as generals in the Pharaoh Seti’s empire. Ramses is Seti’s son and heir;
Seti raised Moses as if he were a son. The two are more like best friends than
brothers, however Seti admits to Moses early on that he might make a better
Pharaoh. Moses takes an assignment placed on Ramses because it is seen as
beneath royalty. It involves investigating the potential uprising of slaves
against Viceroy Hegep and turns into an investigation of an abuse of power by
the viceroy. During his investigation, the group of Hebrews claiming the abuse
informs Moses that he is one of them. They tell him of how he came to be in a
house of royalty, sending his mind reeling. Upon his return to the royal
residence, the viceroy has told Ramses of Moses’s true heritage, and Moses is
banished from Egypt.
The first mistake of
director Scott and his screenwriters is their attempt to make this a story
about the brotherhood/friendship of Moses and Ramses. Due to how their stories
end, it doesn’t have any place to go and feels more like a Hollywood screenplay
school trick to add tension rather than an element that develops naturally from
the story. This is the story of Moses; it should be kept as such. The
brotherhood between protagonist and antagonist is a distraction from the
elements that draw audiences to this story—the rebellion of the Hebrew people
against the oppressive Egyptians and acts of God.
I’m not a terribly religious
person, but it seems to me that it is Moses’s relationship with God that would
hold the most interest for modern audiences. People have great trouble
understanding those Old Testament relationships today. What Scott and his
writing team do with that here is actually rather interesting. God (or his
emissary—the film leaves this in question) is represented as a young boy about
10 years of age. This seems to be a choice by the deity based on Moses’s own
relationship with his son of about the same age, whom he must leave to lead the
Hebrews out of Egypt. I understand this is different than how the Bible depicts
it, but it adds an emotional level to all of Moses’s decisions that only a
parent can understand. Since God is humanity’s parent, there’s good logic at
work here.
I like that Moses and God
don’t always see eye to eye. They both have different plans to free the
Egyptians, and Moses gets first try. When his strategic terrorist tactics fail
to work quickly enough, God brings his plagues. The brotherhood Moses and
Ramses share feeds into Moses’s disapproval of God’s extreme tactics, but I
don’t think the their relationship is necessary for Moses to sympathize with
any man, Egyptian or otherwise.
The seven plagues allow
Scott to give audiences the expected special effects extravaganza of an epic
story. He uses the 3D format well, but it only serves to emphasize to me how
useless 3D is. The movie looks great, but when I think back to remember the
sequences, my memory of them is in 2D. 3D has absolutely no impact on the
storytelling elements of a movie, even in the most capable director’s vision.
It is all gimmick with no substance.
Of course, the film climaxes
with another special effect sequence, which is rendered just as impressively as
it can be. The parting of the Red Sea is a massive sequence that inspires one
of the surprisingly few moments of awe to be found here. Unfortunately, it is
all rendered almost moot by yet another ill-considered insistence by the
screenplay that this moment be about the Moses and Ramses relationship. As the
tide waters close in and the Hebrews dash for their side of the sea, while the
Egyptians turn back for their shore, Moses and Ramses inexplicably leave all
impulses of self-preservation behind and meet in the middle to have a moment. Cue
audible rolling of the audiences eyes. Why? Why is this necessary? Moreover,
how could they possibly survive such an act of stupidity? I mean this is a
story of miracles, but shouldn’t God have just let them both die right there
for such audacity against his power?
No comments:
Post a Comment