One of the biggest films of this holiday season is Ridley Scott’s
“Exodus: God’s and Kings”, a cinematic portrayal of the Hebrew’s deliverance
from slavery in Egypt...at least, it is supposed to be. The film, while
artistically excellent, is seriously and fundamentally flawed. I do not expect
movies based on books (even the Bible) to play out exactly as on the page. I do however expect
such films to be consistent with the core story and spirit of the source
material. While there are many problems with the movie, Ridley Scott’s film is
a colossal failure at such consistency particularly in two vital areas: the
character of Moses and the character of God.
Moses. The movie’s Moses (Christian Bale) is a
soldier. While still in Pharaoh’s household, he serves as a war general (not
implausible and consistent with various Jewish traditions).When he returns to
Egypt after his exile in Midian, he attempts to get things moving toward
freedom by creating and training a force of Hebrew freedom fighters who go on a
destructive if not particularly effective campaign of guerrilla-war style
sabotage. Moses does not carry the “staff of God” important in the biblical
account, but the sword from his Egyptian army days gets plenty of screen-time.
Whatever he might have been in the early days of his adult life, the biblical
Moses did not remain a soldier, but he became a servant. Biblical Moses was so acutely aware of his own
human inadequacy for the task of leading Israel that he was not comfortable to so much as open his mouth in the presence of Pharaoh, never mind
hold a sword to Pharaoh's neck as movie Moses does during their first post-Midian
on-screen confrontation. The biblical Moses doesn’t need a sword – when he gets
started, he is like a god to Pharaoh: unyielding, persistent, and not
questioning that the great I AM of Israel will work wonders to mightily redeem
his people.
God. The angel of the Lord who serves as Yahweh’s
messenger/representative (indistinguishable to many viewers from Yahweh
himself) is immediately distasteful: a pre-adolescent British boy with a cruel
scowl and a bad attitude who seems to be playing dice – literally, as well as
figuratively with Moses, the Israelites, and the Egyptians. One cannot sense
any of the grace, mercy, and redeeming love that drove Yahweh’s mission to save
his people. He does not give Pharaoh repeated opportunities through Moses to
let the people go: Moses appeals to Ramses in some form a maximum of three
times. Furthermore, the Scriptural “mighty hand and outstretched arm” of Yahweh
is absent: the plagues, at least in part, are portrayed as having wholly
naturalistic explanations, the parting of the Red Sea is more of a tidal
abnormality caused apparently by a falling meteor, and Moses is left to chisel
out the Ten Commandments as God serves him tea (no, seriously...). The title
card said that God had not forgotten his people and at one point Moses
repeatedly roars “God is with us!”, but the viewer might well wonder how either
of these are genuinely depicted on screen.
Is Exodus as bad as 2014's earlier (un)Biblical
epic, Noah? Aronofsky's film starring
Russell Crowe as a divinely appointed psychotic animal rights activist was
laced with dark and dangerous Gnostic and Kabbalistic content but was so
hilariously bizarre it could not be taken seriously. It would take a lot for Exodus to be as bad as Noah. On another level, though, it may very
well be worse, precisely because of it's believability and the skill with which
it is portrayed. Unlike Noah, Exodus can be taken seriously. Therein
lies both its problem, and its potential. After Noah's release, there was a massive global spike in people reading
the book of Genesis online. I
overheard young people talking about biblical themes in public places. Although
no one responded to my own drive to get people to meet up with me to discuss
the movie and discover the real story, I was able to have several good
conversations outside my local cinema after showings. What gospel opportunity might Exodus present? Many, I think.
Exodus is cinematically epic,
artistically beautiful, well cast, well acted, complex, engaging and
thought-provoking, at once both devastating and triumphant. It also bears deep
scars of liberal theological influence and horribly distorts the characters of
both Moses and God. I went to see this movie. You don’t have to (might I
recommend The Hobbit:Battle of
the Five Armies or Unbroken instead?). I'm not saying you should
lauch a hostile Facebook campaign, boycott the film, picket outside cinemas,
vandalise billboards, or on the less extreme side try to keep other people from
watching it. Instead, this is an opportunity to point people from the film
(which they probably have watched or plan to) toward the Scriptures. Don't
excoriate the movie to the point you forget to exploit potential gospel
opportunities and neglect effective evangelistic engagement.
This was printed in the worship bulletin of
Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) on 04 January 2015. Starting 11 January, I
will be delivering a mini-series from Exodus entitled "Wonders: The Power
of Exodus's God and King" - if you know anyone nearby who might be
interested, point them our way!
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