Moses (The Bible Collection)

If you’re going to compare this to the Ten Commandment with Charlton Heston, you might be disappointed. The scenery is nowhere close. The acting is completely different. Here’s the catch; the acting is more convincing. Charlton Heston was more poetic as Ben Kingsley is more realistic. The big moment of The Ten Commandment was at Mt Sinai. Moses’s was at the very end. The Ten Commandments stops with the golden calf and skips to the promise land. Moses show everything in between the golden calf and the crossing of the Jordan River. The Ten Commandments keeps true to the spirit of the book of Exodus. Moses not only keeps true the spirit, but also displays bible accurate details while delivering a wonderful performance by it’s cast. With what I assume is a lower budget film, Moses is a phenomenal work of cinema. Personally I prefer Moses over The Ten Commandments despite its lack to visual appeal. I prefer Moses for the accuracy, realistic performances by all the cast. At nearly the same run time as The Ten Commandment, Moses delivers more biblical detail. For me at least I see Moses does a better job at bringing the story of the Exodus to life. Both movies a fantastic, so don’t get me wrong. So is it the better or less than The Ten Commandments? Neither. I would say they are on the same level. The Ten Commandments is more poetic and Moses is more biblically detailed. Buy this movie with a open mind and prepare yourself for a different portrayal on the Exodus. You won’t be disappointed.

This TNT miniseries is arguably the best film portrayal of Moses for biblical accuracy and entertainment value. Ben Kingsley is a bit old for the role at 52, but he plays Moses with a passionate zeal and human fallibility (anger, stuttering, impatience) that is captivating to behold, if not readily sympathetic for younger viewers who may want more action than character development. If too many Bible films offer one-dimensional heroes and villains rather than Biblical figures with real character arcs, Kingsley is the antidote as a reluctant hero who matures from a misfit plagued by self-doubts into a true leader of men who trusts deeply in God despite his lingering flaws. The other actors are good foils for Kingsley, giving their own nuanced interpretations of the material. Frank Langella and (more briefly) Christopher Lee nail their roles as the two pharaohs of the story, showing stubborn anger and lust for power without descending into cartoon villainy. David Suchet of PBS "Mystery" fame offers a richly textured Aaron and Scottish actor Maurice Roeves ("The Last of the Mohicans") makes a convincing Hebrew foreman who represents all of Israel's doubts and rebellious instincts, even though he's probably the weakest character of the film. Philip Stone, a staple in Stanley Kubrick films, makes a warm and likable Jethro whose character somehow benefits in a grandfatherly way from being just a tad bland. The film has a few minor downsides. It moves slowly in spots and might have benefitted from including more of the action-packed material (attack of the Amalekites anyone?) from Exodus in its second half, rather than several slow-moving character segments in the desert that are apparently meant to explicate the biblical story. The Amalekite battle featuring the staff of Moses would have been welcome here, emphasizing an important element (the ability to defend themselves) in Israel's journey from slavery to nationhood that is otherwise neglected here. Also, the early CGI special effects are muted despite being very good, making them likely to disappoint younger viewers who expects high spectacle -- i.e. a magical special effects atmosphere for the plagues and crossing of the Red Sea -- from any version of this story on film. Finally, the broad outlines of this story are so familiar that the viewer may lose interest in its straightforwardly reverent approach, which eschews Hollywood style to the point of casting plain-looking people dressed in authentic garb rather than supermodels dressed to attract the eye. For all of these reasons, the film might disappoint kids who have been weened on the self-assured Moses of DeMille's "Ten Commandments" spectacle and the animated wizardry of Dreamworks' "Prince of Egypt" film. It may also disappoint those who want to see an edgier agnostic take on this material, such as Hallmark's dreadful 2006 miniseries "The Ten Commandments" and its guilt-ridden Moses (Dougray Scott) who is a one-dimensional nutjob. One may reasonably expect that Ridley Scott's "Exodus," starring the wooden Christian Bale as Moses, will likewise be a disappointment when it hits theaters in December 2014. Yet the film is sensitive in its emotions, subtle in its themes, and brilliant in its characterizations. Its naturalistic and historical style presents real events with real people struggling and often failing to grow in faith with God's help. The overall narrative is coherent and reasonably close to the Bible, dispensing with the birth and childhood of Moses (which took most of the first half of DeMille's 1956 film!) before the opening credits have finished rolling. Marco Frisina's score and Raffaele Mertes' photography are beautiful. Ultimately, however, the film belongs to Kingsley: He's clearly going for broke in an effort to sell his emotions in every scene, and the effort is mostly successful. Rather than declaiming biblical words in high-handed style, Kingsley uses the speech rhythms of powerful orators like Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela (as he relates in interviews) to create an intimate portrait of Israel's first prophet and lawgiver. Despite its fidelity to the source material and its other merits, this photoplay rises or falls on Sir Ben Kingsley's shoulders, and he manages to elevate the film from a dry religious lesson into a performance of deep insight into the thoughts and emotions of the man "who talked to God face to face." His performance in the burning bush and theophany (Ten Commandments) scenes are particularly memorable, emphasizing the film's gift at presenting the supernatural in a naturalistic way. And the confrontations between Kingsley and Langella as the Pharaoh are electric. If you see this movie, you will feel like you know Moses better than in any other film portrayal, and that is perhaps its greatest achievement.

I am a 7th grade World Cultures teacher in North Carolina. In our state curriculum, the Middle East, it's civilizations, geography, and religions are part of our units of study. I showed this movie to all of my classes after we finished our study on the Hebrews. They loved it!! This movie is outstanding, in my opinion. It shows the humanity of Moses, who the Bible mentions was "slow" in speech, and who at first asked "why me?" when God chose him to go back to Egypt. The Pharaoh and the Egyptian culture are displayed in a very authentic way, and the plagues were done in a very effective way. The scene where the Red Sea parts is way better than that of the Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston in my opinion. This movie also shows the journey through Sinai, the Ark of the Covenant, and many other Biblical details. The only drawback is that they do not make the Hebrews look like an entire nation of people, showing only about 100 or so rather than the many thousands that there were in reality. This is a small drawback considering all that this film truly has to offer. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone wanting to watch this for any reason.

Probleme de lecture ,mal copié

This movie is the closest to the real story available. Moses was not Hollywoods earlier depiction of the typical leading man.(see Charlton Heston :) The Bible says that Moses had speech issues which required his brother Aaron to speak for him. He was also a very humble man in spite of his Egyptian upbringing. This movie captures both and follows the Bible very closely. I personally have had a number of moments in my life where God has spoken to me in the wilderness, which he will also do for you if you surrender your all to him and go to the desert and search for him too. My heart goes "pitter patter" when Moses goes out to be alone with God. Unbelievably real portrayal that I would never expect to find in a holywood made movie. God bless you

Bibel identisch

This version of Moses is much better than the classic "Ten Commandments" movie, although it is just as long! Ben Kingsley does an amazing job in the title role. It is unfortunate that the movie is presented in full-screen format (instead of wide-screen), but at least the movie is available in both English and Spanish with subtitles in English, French and Spanish! A warning to parents: younger children may find the murder and death scenes disturbing!

Es gibt einige Filme über die Bibelfigur Moses. Doch diese sind meist in der Machart der großen Hollywoodstudios. Denke man z.B. an die pompöse Hollywoodversion "Die zehn Gebote" mit Charlton Heston oder an den Trickfilm "Der Prinz von Ägypten". Doch diese Verfilmung mit Oscarpreisträger Ben Kingsley in der Hauptrolle kommt dem Moses aus der Bibel schon sehr nahe. Ben Kingsley kann wunderbar große Personen der Menschheitsgeschichte darstellen: wie hier den Moses. Für seine Darstellung des Mahatma Gandhi hat er zurecht den Oscar bekommen. Fazit: Wer eine grandiose an der Bibel angelegte Mosesverfilmung sehen will und kein Hollywood - Machwerk der sollte sich diese DVD unbedingt zulegen.