Cecil B. DeMille and George Stevens would scoff at these reinventions of the biblical epic,made by agnostics no less, but Exodus and Noah are at least attempts to put miracles in anenvironmental context while keeping God in the mix.
In a set up that’s similar to Scott’s Gladiator, Bale plays Moses, a general in the pharaohSeti’s (John Turturro) army, who trusts him more than he does his son, Ramses (Edgerton).Despite the favouritism, Ramses and Moses are close but when Seti dies and Ramses learns ofa rumour that Moses is of Hebrew descent, he banishes his closest advisor to the desert. Yearspass and Moses, following goats onto a mountain, comes face to face with God, appearing asshepherd boy Malak (played by an all-business Isaac Andrews), who wishes him to perform atask: lead the Hebrew slaves, in captivity for four hundred years, to freedom.
Like Noah before it, Exodus is careful in how it deals with the God question. Moses’smeeting with God is doubted by his wife (Maria Valverde), as it comes after being knockedunconscious. The plagues are explained away by Ewen Bremner’s ‘expert’: the ‘river ofblood’ is caused by the unusual low level of the Nile, exposing rich silt, which then mingleswith the water; the river becomes poisoned, forcing frogs onto land, who then die and rot,bringing with it flies and disease. The parting of the Red Sea is a tidal wave, retreating fromthe shore only to return in devastating fashion catching Ramses’s chariots unawares. Thecommandments are painstakingly chiseledinto the tablets, not zapped by the power of God.
A secular Moses prefers to believe in himself than have faith in some sky god. Later, hesnaps when God urges him to speed up the exodus: “Now you’re impatient? After fourhundred years?” He also accuses God of acting out of revenge, not love. This relationship ismore of a fractious partnership. Bale’s Moses is less a prophet, more a union leader here tofree the workers from oppression: he urges Mendehlson’s cruel overseer to be more humane,while Ramses protests that he would need time to free the slaves, as to do it in one sweepwould be an economic disaster. The attacks on the pharaoh’s monuments feel like industrialsabotage.
Bale is in commanding form, undergoing a transformation as the film progresses, as if talkingwith God physically drains him; by the end, unkempt beard and deadened eyes, he resemblesa raving lunatic. If this is a retreat from Charlton Heston, Edgerton steers away from Brynneras Ramses is given something more than just a heartless king. He eventually loses himself toego and cruelty but has real depth and personality. He loves - a villain with heart. This is adifferent take on DeMille to say the least.
Despite an opening skirmish Exodus isn’t the action-orientated epic it has been sold as (thoseCGI chariots and arrows were beginning to look samey anyway) - this more a philosophicaltalkie in the vein of Kingdom of Heaven but, thankfully, not as dull. The 3D is not onlyneedless, however, it senselessly darkens what should have been glorious images.