Surprisingly, many critics are “meh” on the movie, but only Sir Ridley Scott could direct a one-hundred-forty million dollar project like Exodus: Gods and Kings and deliver something that looks like a three-hundred million dollar epic—so magnificent is the film’s production design and its awesome iconic imagery that the stilted acting is but a minor distraction.
The vivid representation of the plagues—in 3D for those who opt in!—is horrifying and visually spectacular, and the money shots involved in parting the Red Sea were worth every shiny coin.
The film’s historically dubious and color-biased casting is getting the usual drubbing in the press, but what’s truly daring is that Scott has managed to make a big studio Biblical movie without any trumped up miracles or any of those hysterical moments of exaltation that are intended in other Biblical adaptations to leave a rapt audience elevated and transformed. There’s none of that in this earthy and surprisingly non-“Biblical” adaptation of the Exodus legend.
From Scott’s surprising choice to visualize the Messenger as a cherubic but petulant little boy to his logical scientific reasoning behind (most of) the plagues, the movie feels less like a sermon and more like a rousing mythical adventure. Which I feel is a good thing, inasmuch as there are plenty of preachy, sermon-y movies that adhere rigidly close to Scripture.
In honor of Sir Ridley’s bold achievement, here are some of my most memorable movies adapted—some strictly, others loosely—from the Bible.
Cecil B. DeMille’s final film is a giant piece of glorious old-fashioned spectacle, a grand summation of the famed egoist’s entire career. He’d filmed a version of this story before in the 1920s, with then-cutting-edge practical effects but featuring a puzzling modern-day framing device. Here, DeMille sticks to the Scripture…for a whopping four hours.
Charlton Heston stars as Moses, in the first of two Biblical-themed movie roles that would define his screen persona (Ben-Hur would follow three years later). Yul Brynner performs Rameses, and the supporting cast includes many names and faces you’ll recognize, but the true stars of the show are the then-innovate and still-quite-impressive old-school special effects that envision the miraculous.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Mel Gibson directs what is essentially a feature-length snuff film depicting, in excruciatingly graphic detail, the final hours of the torture and death of Jesus of Nazareth. The movie is gorgeously photographed, impressively mounted, hauntingly scored, honorably acted, and spoken in Aramaic with English subtitles for absolute verisimilitude.
Also, did I mention the film’s bloody and gut-wrenching depiction of brutal violence is unflinching and unremittingly gory?
Noah (2014)
Darren Aronofsky’s handsomely mounted Old Testament tale has plenty of striking imagery and astonishing visual effects, and boasts a large-scale and realistic production design that exists just within the realm of plausibility while still remaining an awesome sight to behold on a movie screen.
The acting and dialogue are serviceable—never embarrassing, as is frequently the case in many other Biblical adaptations—and the trippy depiction of Noah’s dreams about the Creator give the movie a surrealistic audiovisual kick, but once the film starts dealing with talking rock creatures who help build the Ark and defend it against invading hoards, the whole project transports to a level of bat-shit crazy rarely witnessed in a big-budget studio picture. It’s dour and grim by nature, with an inherently bleak color palette by design, yet it’s never less than engrossing for its sheer cinematic audacity.
Wholly Moses! (1980)
Dudley Moore headlines this mildly amusing comic fable of a baby boy born at the same time as Moses and pushed down the same river Nile in an adjacent basket, and their separate but parallel lives intersect throughout select bits of the Old Testament. Richard Pryor is in fine form as the imperious Pharaoh, and his brief presence is the rare exception to the general rule that Hollywood typically casts such roles with a narrow ethnic palette.
Not quite Python, not quite Mel Brooks, but there are enough spirited cameos and silly sight gags to make this harmless trifle revered by some.
History of the World – Part I (1981)
Leave it to Mel Brooks to portray a cantankerous old Moses whose accidental butterfingers reduces the final number of Commandments from fifteen to ten.
Later, in an unrelated sequence, a fortuitously timed mugging of Moses by some punk with a bow and arrow allows for the revered profit’s upstretched arms to part a stream just in the nick of time for other heroes to flee the Roman Legion below.
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
The finest, funniest and tightest of the three Monty Python feature films was greeted upon its initial release by protestors who misunderstood or didn’t bother to see the actual movie and accused the filmmakers of blasphemy for mocking Jesus.
In fact, the film doesn’t mock Christ at all but instead takes aim at blind cultism and jabs a proper poke at its fickle followers. This all proves to be far more fertile comic terrain for the Python Troupe to explore than merely making fun of the Scripture.
Features what is undoubtedly the most upbeat crucifixion sequence in movie history, reminding us all with a closing song to always look on the bright side of life.
