…okay, loaded question. But I am sitting here at the beginning of “The Ten Commandments” – not a religious thing for me, it’s just that I have never been able to sit through 4 hours of it in the past.
The reason I ask if “Am I completely off my rocker?” is because most of the actors in this movie are obviously white people…
Okay, I am not exactly a historian, nor do I know a lot about the Mediterranean area but it is my best guess that the peoples of that time (and this time) where (are) darker skinned than the pasty people protrayed in this flick.
I also realize that this movie was created in 1956 and Charlton Heston has always been praised for his role in this movie…but sheesh, this the year 2001.
Why not remake it in true historical fashion. Why continue to show a movie that not only depicts “part of the Christian ideals” but aaaack. It bugs me, historical accounts, no matter if they were true or not, should be done in the best fashion, in my opinion.
I am not politically correct nor am I a Christian and I don’t think it’s about being politically correct or being a Christian, it’s about showing a part of history, according to a religion or not, that should be shown to all in the correct light.
So am I off my rocker? I don’t think the movie should fall to dust but I do believe that it is incorrect in “historical” ways and should be redone.
< if this moves to a great debate I will be disappointed… >
The Ten Commandments are as dated as hell, techchick68. Back then, they probably didn’t have enough Semetic extras.
It took the artists long enough to quit portraying Jesus as this aristrocratic blonde Aryan guy, and have him with Semetic dark hair (still not 100%, but getting there).
IMHO, it’s the Euro-centric ideal of “if anything really important happened in history, it’s us that did it.” As someone of European descent, and not ashamed of it either, I have to say that the sooner the West gets out of that particular rut, the better.
I am a pasty white chick…not sure of my heritage as I was adopted. I suspect (and hopefully will know soon) that I am part Irish.
Now, 37 minutes into the movie I am horrified that this movie gets all the acclaim it still gets after almost 50 years.
GAG…I will watch the rest though. I have decided to at least watch it during my laundry and eating dinner and playing on the 'net.
Just think, knowing parts of the story, what they could do with a not so “dramitically soap opera like.” I have seen fictional movies portrayed in such a way that you leave the movie thinking, “was that a real story?”
Anyhow, I guess I am not completely off my rocker after watching it further.
But I think there’s a couple of reasons (WAG’s to be sure). Anytime someone’s tried to remake a Cecil B. DeMille production it’s been a flop. Sure, the costumes are better and they even include more Middle Easterns in the remake, but the latest version of Cleopatra can’t hold a candle to DeMille’s for sheer umph.
Antoher reason is that, despite histroy, a lot of Christians (not all) would be put off by the historically grounded 10 Commandments you’re suggesting. After all, they knew then that people from the Middle East weren’t lily-white. But if I recall correctly, weren’t they at least made up with darker make-up? Seems I recall Moses’s family and later his extended family weren’t as pale as the Egyptians.
[and please. I don’t want to get into a debate about the skin color of the Ancient Egyptians. Even the Egyptian government and Antiquities Department said the ancients weren’t black when the Ramses exhibit was being picketed when it toured this country.]
[hijack] It doesn’t, not by anybody that knows better. It’s one of those movies that gets incorrectly labeled a “classic”. I’m sorry folks, movies don’t deserve respect unless they contain good acting, directing, and writing, and the standards aren’t any lower just because it was made before 1970. [/hijack]
Oh, Moses! Moses! You stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!
I watch it for utterings like that (by Anne Baxter, done in a throaty manner, with much pathos and lots of makeup).
There is a black actress toward the beginning of the movie that offers an Abyssinian necklace in a very seductive manner. Pretty racy for that (the 50’s) time.
Ya aren’t off your rocker, Tech. That was just the way things were done then. The upside is that our notions of racial equanimity have progressed immensely since then, and that allows us to see the obvious discrepancy. So the movie seems dated and cartoonish. It’s a good sign that most folks accept the truth beyond that depiction.
I’d really like to see it remade, with an all-out budget, by Martin Scorcese. He’d give it the Lilting Unspeakable it deserves.
I think this is up there with some movies depicting Mickey Rooney as a tough guy, it always cracks me up.
I think it gets its ‘classic’ status, more for the effects it had in its time period. You’re right, it really looks dated. But, then again, I giggle like crazy when Edward G. Robinson says, ‘Where’s your Moses now, eh?’ I ALWAYS add, my own ‘you dirty rats!’ afterwards.
Even tho brachy and I are sisters, we don’t always like the same thing. I HATE Ann Baxter and her “oh, Moses, Moses, Moses…” It’s enough to make me run screaming from the room. Unfortunately, I was flicking the remote this evening just in time to hear Miss Ann say "oh, Mo… I hate that movie.
The last part, before Moses brings the Ten Commandments down…the wild party, the horrid part of humanity…hahaha, reminds me of any internet party I have ever been to. Wild and fun as hell…
Sorry, but that part just made me giggle.
So far 4 hours and 40 minutes (including commercials). Sheesh, all I am waiting for is the rerun of ER now. What a horrible depiction of a Biblical story. I sure hope someone comes up with something a little more thought provoking. And it’s not even over yet…GADS no wonder I have never sat through this before, I shall not, by God sit through it again for I have seen it and the Lord showed me the awful nature of Hollywood. I am called to watch the news soon, Oh Moses, for there is world strife and weather to learn about, oh yeah and a sports item or two.
