The Prince of Egypt: two views
Peter Thomas Chattaway
right now is the way that believers and non-believers are responding to
the film _The Prince of Egypt_.
The standard Christian line seems to be, "Aha! Hollywood finally got the
Bible right. They finally displayed God's power." But the standard
secular line seems to be, "What happened to God? Why does this movie
never really convey just what sort of a character he is?"
Below, one typical example from each side of the religious fence. (My own
review, incidentally, may be found on-line at
<http://www.christianweek.org/stories/vol12/no17/culture.htm>.)
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http://www.worldmag.com/world/issue/12-19-98/cultural_1.asp
Of biblical proportions
Skip the product tie-ins, but The Prince of Egypt is a worthwhile film for
WORLD readers and their families
By Gene Edward Veith
When one of Hollywood's major players, DreamWorks, announced plans to make
an animated feature on the life of Moses, many Christians cringed,
expecting a Disneyized, politically correct, New Age caricature of the Old
Testament. When DreamWorks actually consulted conservative Christians
about the project, some Christians saw The Prince of Egypt as an answer to
prayer, an example of God breaking into the secular entertainment
industry. Others, hearing accounts of product tie-ins that attempted to
de-gender God (see WORLD, Nov. 7), remained skeptical.
But now that the much-hyped movie is out, the verdict is in: The Prince of
Egypt is aesthetically, morally, and even theologically a good movie. The
downside -- liberties with the details of Moses' life -- is compensated
for by the beauty and power with which it presents what the Bible does
say. And the best part of the film is its unflinching portrayal of God.
The Prince of Egypt, though suitable for most children, is no mere
kiddie-flick. It is rated PG, for biblical violence: The slaughter of the
Israelite babies (described by the Egyptians with chilling contemporary
resonance in terms of population control) is clearly, though
non-graphically, presented. So are the plagues, including the death of the
firstborn. For all of its amusing musical production numbers, thrilling
chariot races, and spectacular special effects, The Prince actually deals
with issues of character, the transcendence of God, and faith.
Most striking is the film's visual impact. Combining fine art backgrounds
and styles, traditional two-dimensional cartoons, and high-tech
three-dimensional computer animation, The Prince sets new standards in the
art of animation. Whereas the scale of a typical Disney cartoon is small,
tending toward the diminutive and the cute, the scale of The Prince is
vast, tending toward the sublime and the infinite. The awe-inspiring
desert vistas, the gargantuan Egyptian monuments, and landscapes that
dwarf the tiny human beings create a sense of infinity that -- as
Christian artists have long known -- helps set a distinctly religious
tone. The parting of the Red Sea -- the opening up of an ocean, complete
with tidal forces and glimpses of whales in the towering wall of water as
the Hebrews pass through on dry ground -- will take your breath away.
Fidelity to Scripture is vital. The Bible is mostly silent about Moses'
life growing up in the courts of Pharaoh. But it does say that Moses came
to the point of rejecting his Egyptian royal status, choosing rather "to
be mistreated along with the people of God" (Hebrews 11:25). The film
zeroes in on this conflict, in the process humanizing Moses, presenting
him as a young man struggling over his identity, his obligations to his
two families, and his mission from God.
The film's biggest violation of Scripture is having baby Moses in a basket
being drawn out by Pharaoh's wife, rather than by his daughter. Thus Moses
(voiced by Val Kilmer) is portrayed as the brother of pharaoh-to-be
Rameses (Ralph Fiennes). The two race chariots, get each other into
trouble, and share the brotherly bond -- until Moses' real sister, the
slave Miriam (Sandra Bullock) tells him who he really is, a survivor of
Egyptian infanticide. Other extrabiblical details include having Moses
meet his future bride Tzipporah (Michelle Pfeiffer) first as a Midianite
slave.
And yet, when Moses meets God the biblical accuracy -- and the film's
power -- ratchets up. The burning bush sequence is rendered with a sense
of awe and mystery that evokes "holy ground." God's voice is not in the
stentorian tones of a James Earl Jones, more a whispery "still small
voice." But it is forceful and -- in a blow against the feminist
de-gendering of God -- God is also referred to as "he." The words of God
in calling, commissioning, and equipping Moses are straight from the
Bible.
When Moses goes back to Egypt to demand the freedom of God's people, he
finds that his "brother" Rameses has ascended the throne and is now,
because of the hardening of his heart, his enemy. The plagues are somewhat
run together in a montage (which might be confusing for those who do not
already know the story), but they are literal, supernatural, and
definitely miraculous.
For a Christian, the most moving part of the film will be the final
plague, the death of the firstborn. In this sequence, the rich colors that
make most of the movie so attractive to the eye fade to bleak grays and
blacks. The only color is that of the lamb's blood painted on the doorways
of God's people -- a bright red, vivid against the darkness. The angel of
death flows into the homes of the non-believers, wreaking a horrible
judgment, but, in a powerful symbol of the gospel, passes over the homes
marked by the blood of the Lamb.
DreamWorks took great care not to offend Christians, Jews, or Muslims,
leading some to suspect that the movie might turn out to be so inoffensive
that it would be bland, nullifying the Bible's edge. But today's trendy
neo-pagans may well be offended. The God of Abraham and Isaac is presented
as being in stark opposition to the Egyptian pantheon. The priests of Ra
(Steve Martin and Martin Short) are portrayed as sinister but comical
buffoons, who, in their attempts to duplicate the miracles of the true
God, soon get in way over their heads. All spiritual roads do not,
apparently, lead to the same goal, not according to the God of the burning
bush.
But even more offended may be those who believe in today's domesticated,
omni-tolerant god of niceness. Watch for many viewers to criticize the God
in Prince of Egypt as being "too judgmental." They will sympathize with
the human saga of Moses and Rameses struggling with their identities, but
they will be disturbed by this mysterious and utterly transcendent God,
who intervenes into his creation with mighty acts, a God of judgment and
mercy who provides the Passover lamb.
Many people today are quite willing to believe in a nice god under their
control, a projection of their own desires, but The Prince of Egypt -- in
following the text of the Bible -- evokes a God who is "wholly other," set
apart, whose righteousness and infinite power are dangerous to sinful
mortals (unless they are covered by the sacrificial blood). The Prince of
Egypt, of course, is only a Hollywood entertainment, but if it can inject
into the popular culture the barest glimpse of holiness, it may play a
providential role in bringing a biblical worldview into the public
imagination.
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http://cgi.pathfinder.com/ew/se/thisweek/section/1,2132,24622,00.html?type=1&e_sub_id=0
THE YULE TIDE
Box office hopefuls You've Got Mail, Psycho, The Prince of Egypt, and Star
Trek: Insurrection ride in on Hollywood's first big wave of festive
releases.
Review by . . . Owen Gleiberman
. . . The Red Sea Diaries
The amazing fluidity of contemporary animation -- Look! That river ripples
just like real water! -- has, by now, lost its ability to startle, and
that's one reason I greatly enjoyed the beautiful pastel angularity of The
Prince of Egypt. The first animated musical from DreamWorks, it has been
drawn in a variation on the Disney photo-realist style, only here, the
Egyptian setting, with its towering pyramids and intricately chiseled
sphinx, its poker-faced hieroglyphics (which, at one point, come to life
in spectacular pantomime), gives the animators a chance to create a mood
of sunbaked sandstone vastness.
The Prince of Egypt is no more a vulgarization of the Old Testament than
The Ten Commandments was. It may turn the stormy figure of Moses into a
slender, mild-spirited young man (whose wispy beard makes him look like a
draft dodger), but it takes him on a moral journey that's swift, sure, and
compelling. Moses, as a baby, is sent floating down the Nile by his Hebrew
slave parents and is adopted by the dour Pharaoh Seti. As Moses and his
older brother, the jockish, self-doubting Ramses, come of age, they have a
high time tearing around the urban-primitive maze, racing chariots,
dropping water balloons, treating the edifice of civilization as a private
playground. Before long, however, Moses begins to notice who's building
the playground. All around him are broken-backed Hebrews laboring on the
construction of Egypt's stately wonders.
Respectfully DreamWorked, The Prince of Egypt is now the story of a young
man who redeems himself by freeing his people. The voice of Val Kilmer
goes a long way toward lending Moses' gee-whiz ingenuousness some virility
and heft, and Ralph Fiennes plays Ramses with a delicate quaver of
vulnerability. Patrick Stewart makes the Pharaoh an imposing fascist. That
said, there's a nagging disharmony between the grandeur of the tale and
the lazily anachronistic dialogue, which spoon-feeds the audience. When
Moses rears up at Ramses and says, "Let my people go!" I realized that the
famousness of the line was all that prevented the screenwriters from
turning it into something like "Hey, can't you give us Hebrews a break?"
The songs, by Stephen Schwartz, are mostly "operatic" show-tune pap
(though I did enjoy the Carl Orffian opening number), and their lack of
splendor ties in to what's missing from the movie. What The Prince of
Egypt doesn't get at -- it's nothing less than a biblical cornerstone --
is that Moses wasn't simply saving the Hebrews from captivity. He was
elevating mankind to a place closer to God. I'm afraid, though, that the
Big Guy's presence is rather muted here. He does come through with a few
miracles, but even they seem like mere special effects within the magical
world of animation, where visual wonders tend never to cease. In The
Prince of Egypt, the Red Sea parts, and the feeling it gives you isn't
awe; it's closer to deep impact. B -- OG . . .
--
--- Peter T. Chattaway ------------------------ pet...@interchg.ubc.ca ---
No man is an Island, entire of it self... -- John Donne, Meditation XVII
I am a little world made cunningly... -- John Donne, Holy Sonnet V