Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Rated: PG-13
Christian Bale appears as Moses in this Ridley Scott film dedicated to the director’s brother Tony, a fatality of suicide in 2012. Admired for his stunning battle scenes in both Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, here Scott’s cinematic prowess extends neither to character development nor to dramatic elements such as Moses’ banishment after Ramses becomes king and learns military-general Moses was adopted and is Hebrew. Some years later, God appears to Moses promising 10 plagues upon Egypt that will abate only after Moses leads God’s chosen people, the Hebrew slaves, to freedom. Filmed in 3D, scenes such as the parting of the Red Sea are breathtaking, but various groups have declared a boycott in the wake of actor Bale insisting that Moses was both barbaric and schizophrenic.
