The Ten Commandments/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Adaptation Displacement: Oh, everyone knows it's an extremely loose adaptation of the book of Exodus, but did you know that this movie is also an extremely loose adaptation of three different novels, the writings of Philo and Josephus, and even The Quran?
  • Complete Monster: Baka the Master Builder has no redeeming qualities. It's for good reason that Moses openly refers to him as the "Master Builder Butcher". Dathan comes pretty close too, but it's still arguable.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: The soundtrack, but especially the freeing of the slaves.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Rameses.
  • Hollywood Homely: The "plain" Sephora, played by Yvonne De Carlo.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Nefretiri becomes bitchier and bitchier as the movie goes on, but it's easy to understand and even sympathize given the conditions, especially when her son dies.
  • Moral Event Horizon: When Rameses orders the death of the firstborn of Israel.
  • Nightmare Fuel: The Angel of Death, assuming the form of an ominous fog.
  • Tear Jerker: In the scene where Moses decides to live as a Hebrew, you can see a man chopping straw. He looks so hopeless
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: The parting of the Red Sea.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Political?: The movie is about godly people seeking freedom from an atheist dictator. In the introduction (theatrical and DVD/Blu-ray releases only), De Mille discusses the central theme of the film as about whether men are free individuals or the property of the state. Remember the era this film was produced in, and consider its possible hidden meanings.
  • The Woobie: Lilia. Almost becomes a sex slave to Baka, separated from Joshua and forced to give in to Dathan to save Joshua, and nearly becomes a human sacrifice. The lyrics to her Leitmotif are "Death cometh to me to set me free".