THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) *** If you're willing to take the story of Moses at anything relative to face value (I am, though I have some difficulty particularly with the plagues--though there are also plenty of things outside my window that I have difficulty with. So I embrace Moses but fail the literalism test), it's easy enough to see the hand of God in the life of Moses. Of course once the conversation turns to the devine, as Gandhi once said, there will be as many religions are there are individuals. I applaud Cecil B. de Mille's reliance on ancient historians Philo and Josephus to fill in the blanks in the Moses story, but am less excited about his failure to apply the concerns of Biblical scholars to the material that results. After Spinoza, for example, I would think that anyone would have some difficulty supporting the position that Moses personally wrote the Torah, at least without resorting to reliance on the inherent limitations of human reason, which I've never heard anyone do. Little matter, I think, my concerns are trifles by my own standards even if they may not be by anyone else's. Certainly de Mille would have risked controversy and outrage by suggesting that Moses might not have written the books, but the result does seem to be that he wants people to talk about and embrace the events depicted, but not think about them. Well, that might be the best road to Faith, who knows? de Mille keeps the film entertaining well past the three hour mark, which is at least one of his primary duties, and he illuminates important matters involving faith (with God), individualism (as opposed to social conformity), passion and long-shots. Pardon me, again, but it seems that passion might well have had something to do with the wild popularity of the film. Debra Paget, Yvonne de Carlo and Anne Baxter are all beautiful, bright, and appealing. Charlton Heston, John Derek, and Yul Brynner are handsome and virile. If de Mille was slightly lax in interpreting the historical likelihood of each aspect of the Torah, he didn't fail in contemplating the complex web of seduction strategies! For all that, the main reason the film works is Heston. As a young man he depicts raw power and energy, as he moves into the cosmic flow he generates something far greater. He's a tough guy, but on every level. Fearing neither man nor fate he never seems to be either chasing or running from destiny, he just kind of somehow lets it take ahold of him, and when he feels something there he moves with it. A true testament to Faith--the historic reality and the film--but also interesting are the depictions of sin. Vincent Price is absolutely despicable as the proto-bureaucrat, and Edward G. Robinson positively insidious as the proto-corporate toady. Some of that prophecy stuff must have rubbed off on ol' Cecil! For all the well-deserved accolades of the parting of the Red Sea scene, I have to say that I was even more moved by the scene in DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt . I mean no disrespect, but I think that point is that if you can't have God's hand on the controls-like Moses-it's helpful to keep abreast of ever-improving technology!
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