The Ten Commandments: Difference between revisions

{{quote|Thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel: let my people go!|'''Moses'''}}

 

 

This 1956 film from [[Paramount]] tells [[The Bible]] story of Moses and the Exodus. Charlton Heston plays Moses. Yul Brynner plays Rameses. They are in a [[Love Triangle]] with Nefretiri (Anne Baxter), whom Moses might have won, had the matter of injustice to Hebrew slaves not come up. Other important characters are, naturally, Moses's brother Aaron (John Carradine); Sephora ([[The Munsters|Yvonne de Carlo]]), daughter of Jethro and Moses's eventual wife; Joshua (Jon Derek); and Liliah (Debra Paget), the woman Joshua loves -- who happens to be the sex slave of the overseer Dathan (Edward G. Robinson), see?

** The current most probable theory is that a climatic variation caused extremely heavy rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands, resulting in the Nile being choked with red, acidic mud. The river became as blood, fish died, frogs left the river, and so on. The same variation resulted in unusually dry weather in the locusts' spawning grounds, hence the plague of locusts, and the enormous sandstorm that hid the sun. The deaths of the firstborn of Egypt? All those dead fish sank, then the water became supersaturated with toxic gasses, and when they came out of solution, the firstborn sons, who alone among the inhabitants of Egypt slept inside, at ground level, smothered. Everyone else was fine because the custom was to sleep outside, on the roof. Imagine [[wikipedia:Lake Nyos#1986 disaster|this]] on a nation-wide scale. They say God works in mysterious ways...

** Although, in [[The Movie]], since Rameses actually sees Moses turn the water into blood, without a volcano being involved, this comes across more as a [[What an Idiot!]] moment.

* [[The Dragon]]: Dathan to both Baka and Rameses.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The Angel of Death. Rather than being a human looking angel (or [[The Grim Reaper]],) it's portrayed as a cloud of bluish fog descending from the sky in the shape of a creepy hand. It makes sense for the Angel to take on this kind of form, given the nature of its job but still, it's incredibly creepy....

** "Better to die before a God than live in shame", according to Rameses. [[Revenge Before Reason|He knew there was a chance his army could die but he ordered them to charge anyway]].

*** Also, after ''seeing with their own eyes'' God part the waters of the sea, the Hebrews are quick to question the existence of Him while waiting for Moses to return from Mount Sinai. [[What an Idiot!|So they decided to forge a golden idol to worship instead]].

* [[Tyrant Takes the Helm]]: Played straight with Rameses succeeding the relatively [[Reasonable Authority Figure|reasonable]] Seti. Technically averted when Dathan is promoted to governor upon Baka's death -- while he is certainly a [[Bad Boss]], he's nowhere near as tyrannical as Baka.

* [[Unperson]]: Sethi proclaims that Moses' name be erased from every carving, and never be spoken again, after learning that he is the one destined to free the Israelites. So let it be written, so let it be done! Obviously, that didn't take.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Academy Award]]

[[Category:Epic Movie]]

[[Category:The Fifties]]

[[Category:Films of the 1950s]]

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