The Ten Commandments 1956, Essay Example

Many film directors have tried to produce films that almost tell the story of the Bible as accurate as it is in the Bible. However, sometimes, the movie slightly falls short of the intended accuracy. This essay will give an in-depth analysis of the similarities and differences between the bible text and the Ten Commandments film of 1956. It will also examine possible reasons behind the director’s choice of deviating from the original biblical text and how the differences affect our comprehension of the story. Moreover, the essay will reflect on whether films indeed represent biblical stories well enough and the implication of their production in studying traditions like Judaism, which is emphasized in the Hebrew Bible.

The film, just like the biblical text, begins the story of the Ten Commandments with infant Moses being carefully put in a basket and let to float in the Nile by his mother and ends with the old and dying Moses taking his first and the last look at Canaan.[1]  Also, in both the film and the Bible, Moses is raised in the palace by the King’s daughter. When Moses finally accepts God’s calling to lead His people out of Egypt, he is helped by his brother Aaron who acts as his spokesman. Moses is given the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai in both the film and in the Bible. Additionally, similar to the Bible narration, the plagues only affect the Egyptians, whereas the Hebrews remain unharmed. There are also several differences between the film and the biblical narrative of the Ten Commandments. First, the Bible hardly mentions Moses’s life as a young adult. Additionally, unlike in the movie, the Bible does not say whether Moses and Nefritiri were ever in love.[2] Besides, whereas the Bible mentions ten plagues that befell Egypt, the film only shows four diseases; the plagues of blood, darkness, hail, and the death of the firstborn sons of Egyptians only. In the Bible’s account, God implemented the tenth plague alone and did not send the angel of death, as shown in the film. However, the film shows the destroyer doing his job with a crescent moon in the sky, but the Passover always begins during the full moon. Furthermore, the Bible does not use the names of the Egyptian Kings and only refers to them as Pharaohs, whereas in the film, the Kings are referred to as Ramesses.[3] Also, the Bible begins the reception of the Ten Commandments as a national revelation where Moses dines with the seventy elders of Israel in God’s presence (Exodus 24:9-11), the scene is, however, omitted in the film. Moreover, in the Bible, Korah’s rebellion occurs much later, but in the movie, Korah rebels during the episode of the golden calf.

Moreover, during the exodus, under the leadership of Miriam, the Israelites sing and dance in celebration of the death of Pharaoh and his army. In contrast, in the film, they are silent. Also, the film omits the biblical story of God feeding the Israelites with manna and water. When God punished the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for forty years, in the Bible, it was because they did not believe He would deliver the Promised Land to them, but the film shows that they were punished for worshiping the golden calf.

Nonetheless, there are reasons behind the omissions of scenes. For example, some plagues were omitted because, at that time, the producer could not figure out the best way of enacting them. When the film shows the crescent moon instead of the full moon, during the Passover, viewers may get the wrong impression that the Passover was celebrated by during the crescent moon, whereas it was observed during the full moon. Thus the implication of such deviations leads to wrong impressions of what is actually in the Bible.

The second part of the essay will examine whether the story in the film is presented as a Jewish story or as a universal one. It will also evaluate whether the story is in line with, or if it conflicts the Jewish traditions. Moreover, it will reveal whether the film skips parts of the biblical story that are important to Jewish understanding and whether the characters are presented in a Jewish manner. Also, the essay will analyze any representations that may strike anti-Semitic viewers and the reason behind the film director’s choice to represent the Jews, Judaism, and the Jewish teachings the way he does.

The film of the Ten Commandments is portrayed as a Jewish story where the Jews believe in their unseen God and are slaves of the Egyptians.[4] They believe their God created the whole world and everything in it in six days and rested on the seventh as illustrated in module 3; lecture 2. The Jews try their best to live according to the will of their God and avoid idol worship leading to increased hatred from the Egyptians. It is not merely a universal story where an inferior group of people is captured and mistreated by a superior one. In as much as the film shows the Israelites celebrating the Passover, there is a contradiction such that, in the movie, it is celebrated in the presence of a crescent moon. At the same time, Jews observe the Passover during the full moon. In the film, Moses, a Jew, is portrayed as a hero who saves and protects his people against the Egyptian King. The film tries to show that the Jews are necessarily part of Christianity since both have similar narratives, experiences, and traditions about the ancient law. It is important to note that the film skips several parts of the story that are mentioned in the scripture.[5] For instance, the motion picture does not show the part where Zipporah circumcises Moses at an inn. Some plagues have also been skipped. Circumcision is an essential part of the Jewish culture, and this is emphasized when Moses’ wife circumcises him when he falls sick even though he is old. Soon after, he recovers, and this serves as a lesson to the Jews on just how vital the rite is. Thus, the lack of a scene in the film omits a very significant part of the Jewish tradition.

The characters in the film are presented in a Jewish manner. For example, module 2, lecture 1, describes a Jew as someone born of a Jewish mother, and the movie, just like in the bible story, presents Moses’ mother as a Jew.  Traditionally, and in the Bible, Jews are depicted as God’s people who are full of compassion. Moses, in the film, just like in the Bible, feels sorry when he sees a fellow Hebrew being mistreated by an Egyptian. He kills the Egyptian. Moreover, the Hebrew characters in the film show love to the Egyptians and help them with food and water during the hard times as they experienced the plagues.[6] Also, in module two, lecture1, when Hillel and Shammai are asked to stand on one foot and teach the whole tradition, Shammai responds by saying that the entire Torah teaches individuals not to do unto others what they consider hateful. Thus, Jews are loving people.  When representing the Jews through his characters, the film director chose to stick to the Bible’s storyline and depicted them as humane people to emphasize the Jewish teachings of loving others and faithfully obeying the Ten Commandments.

Bibliography

Calabria, O. F. M., and D. Michael. “The Movie Mogul, Moses and Muslims: Islamic Elements in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956).” Journal of Religion & Film 19, no. 1 (2015): 44.

Kozlovic, Anton K. “The Construction of a Christ-figure within the 1956 and 1923 Versions of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments.” Journal of Religion & Film 10, no. 1 (2016): 2.

Kozlovic, Anton Karl. “Meek, Mystical, or Monumental?: Competing Representations of Moses within Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956 & 1923).” Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities 7, no. 3 (2015): 45-62.

MacOdrum Library. Accessed January 14, 2020. http://catalogue.library.carleton.ca/record=b4419194.The Ten Commandments, n.d.

[1] MacOdrum Library. Accessed January 14, 2020. http://catalogue.library.carleton.ca/record=b4419194.The Ten Commandments, n.d.

[2] O. F. M. Calabria and D. Michael. “The Movie Mogul, Moses and Muslims: Islamic Elements in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956).” Journal of Religion & Film 19, no. 1 (2015): 44.

[3] Anton Karl Kozlovic . “Meek, Mystical, or Monumental?: Competing Representations of Moses within Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956 & 1923).” Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities 7, no. 3 (2015): 45-62.

[4] Anton K. Kozlovic “The Construction of a Christ-figure within the 1956 and 1923 Versions of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments.” Journal of Religion & Film 10, no. 1 (2016): 2.

[5] MacOdrum Library..The Ten Commandments, n.d.

[6] O. F. M. Calabria, and D. Michael. Journal of Religion & Film 19, no. 1 (2015): 44