Director: Cecil B DeMille
Entertainment grade: C+
History grade: C–
The Ten Commandments tells the story of Moses, leader of the Hebrews, considered to have been a prophet by Jews, Christians and Muslims. He is thought to have lived in Egypt, in or around the 14th century BC.
Sources
DeMille himself strolls on screen at the beginning of the film, to explain how he has filled the gaps in the Biblical story of Moses's life with the work of historians such as Josephus and Philo. He claims they had access to ancient documents which have since been destroyed. In reality, there's no evidence that there were ever any such documents, and both Josephus and Philo were writing over a millennium after Moses's death. Other historians of that era, including Tacitus, treated Moses as a legendary figure.
People
One of the reasons that putting a date to Moses's life is so difficult is that the Book of Exodus isn't specific about which pharaohs it describes. The film plumps for the traditional choice of Seti I as Moses's adoptive father and Rameses II as his brother, though there's a slip-up when Moses congratulates Seti on his victory at Kadesh, a battle actually fought by Rameses. As for the love triangle between Moses, Nefretiri and Rameses, that doesn't appear in scriptures or history. Bad luck, Josephus and Philo: DeMille also filled the gaps in Moses's life from a stack of imaginative pulp novels.
Details
It's amazing how much the fashions of New Kingdom Egypt seem to resemble those of 1956. DeMille can just about be forgiven the makeup, because ancient Egyptians did indeed paint their eyelids, lips and nails, but he is pushing it by dressing dancing girls in fluorescent green bikinis. At least the spectacular scenes filmed on location in Egypt and Sinai, with thousands of extras, lend the whole thing a sense of authenticity.
Technology
The film won its only Oscar for rising to the special-effects challenges of religious, rather than historical, imagery — most famously the pillar of fire and the parting of the Red Sea. But there's disappointment in store when Rameses refuses to listen to Moses's plea to let his people go, and Egypt is visited by … four plagues. The other six are only mentioned in passing, because DeMille couldn't work out how to do frogs, flies, lice, boils, locusts or the death of livestock. These days, of course, it would be easy: just set up a camera outside the toilet block at the Glastonbury festival.
Politics
"Are men the property of the state?" thunders DeMille. "Or are they free souls under God? This same battle continues throughout the world today." In his analogy, the repressive pharaohs are the Soviets, while the brave Hebrews are the Americans. The historian wonders with horror whether Moses is supposed to be Joseph McCarthy. At the time of filming, one of the stars, Edward G Robinson, and the composer, Elmer Bernstein, had been persecuted by McCarthy's investigations, and were in the process of being rehabilitated — a process mirrored by the redemption of Robinson's entirely fictional character, Dathan. DeMille, meanwhile, was one of Hollywood's most prominent conservatives. The film's explicit association of Judeo-Christian righteousness with an American mission to bring "freedom" to the world makes it a jaw-dropping piece of propaganda. Doesn't really have much to do with ancient Egypt, though.
Verdict
In terms of accuracy about Moses and his time, The Ten Commandments is patchy, regardless of whether you believe the Biblical version or prefer sceptical history. Nonetheless, it is a fascinating historical film — not for what it says about Moses, but for what it says about the cold war. "Go!" commands Moses. "Proclaim liberty throughout all the lands, unto all the inhabitants thereof!" The original line, attributed to God in Leviticus 25:10, has "land" in the singular. It seems that didn't make the case for spreading American-style freedom and democracy clearly enough.
