Movies Banned

Here’s the dilemma. Egypt banned the new Exodus movie saying that not only did it ‘forge historical events’ but it promoted a Zionist point of view.

CNN’s report on this banning of course noted that the original 1956 Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston filmed on site in Egypt, implying that the older regimes [this would be under Nasser] accepted the movie’s premise, but made it open to all Egyptians. This is true with limitations. CNN failed to note that similar, very blatant historical inaccuracies filled the original film as they certainly did, but the new film makes the same errors with no apologies. This is unfortunate as they’ve had nearly 60 years to make some changes.

Are the inaccuracies important or relevant? As a historian, the blatant misuse of history and events is disturbing. As an educator, I cringe at the tremendous influence movies have on audiences. Students will recite a list of what they conceive as historical ‘facts’ which they’ve learned from movies and will not change their perspectives. Movies are right, nothing else really matters. The general absence of critical thinking skills in students and many general audiences gives movie-makers the responsibility of making some attempt at accuracy. Granted, there are times when ‘poetic licence’ is necessary and acceptable. But making an historical film or drama, especially one with political, social, and religious significance requires serious judgment on the part of filmmakers.

The political and religious implications came out with a vengeance. Egypt’s Ministry of Culture quickly banned the movie with adamant comments regarding the film’s points of reference. With the Middle East in its current state of turmoil it can be argued that the filmmakers failed in prudence. Does this lack of thought merely give radical Islamists another bullet? Perhaps it does, they can now wave this red flag in the eyes of the many flocking to their cause, however irrational and violent.

What are some of the inaccuracies? There are many. If and when Moses lived in Egypt, the best records put him nearly 300 years before Ramses, so the two were not contemporaries. Moses and the exodus would have occurred circa 1600 BCE while Ramses was Pharaoh around 1279 BCE. Moses’ contemporary Pharaoh would be Akhenaton [Amenhotep IV] father of Tutankhamen and husband to Nefertiti.

Another major problem, the Israelites were most likely not slaves, certainly not building pyramids. The last pyramids were completed long before Ramses, about 1000 years earlier in 2500 BCE. Evidence is fairly clear that most of the building was done in the off-farming seasons by paid Egyptians rather than slaves. And a majority of Egyptian slaves came from military conquests – a typical practice in the ancient world. Conquest provided slaves. And then the Red Sea. I have been swimming in this very beautiful, idyllic body of water and while it’s true that at times in mid sea there might be waves and some turbulence, on shore and close to shore, it’s calm, blue, and very inviting. Mountains as high as those portrayed do not really line the sea’s shores, there are some sloping desert hills nearby in some places, but those glaring mountains just don’t come in to the picture. I realize this makes great Hollywood suspense, but if they wish to win all audiences, and are attempting to make an historical drama, the filmmakers could be a bit more on target.

These are only three troubling errors. The question remains, why produce this movie now with so many other difficulties facing this part of the world, overlapping to the west and the rest?