Saturday, April 08, 2006

Ten Commandments on ABC

This Monday and Tuesday, ABC will air a new television series called "The Ten Commandments." The site starts with this line:
One biblical figure is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike. His name is Moses (Dougray Scott, Arabian Nights), the man who rose in power to defend a people, to free them, and to live in history like no other…
The trailer for the mini-series should be ready to view soon by clicking here. Until then, you can go to the ABC site and view their "Top Five" upcoming shows.

The director promises this show to be most historically accurate presentation of the life of Moses to date. However, at the same time, he says things like this:
I am doing my interpretation of Exodus. The great thing about the Bible is that it’s interpreted every day in a different way.

Our version will leave the viewer with a totally new interpretation of who Moses was and the importance of the Commandments themselves.
But then he says this:
This will be the most biblically accurate telling of the story to date. I insisted on accuracy. Even before the cameras started to roll there was a great deal of research put into the writing of the screenplay. We utilized the expertise of learned scholars from both the Christian and Jewish faiths, and we incorporated newly uncovered facts, both archeological and biblical, into the storytelling. These biblical experts also lent their expertise to the recreation of Egypt, the wilderness, and provided detailed descriptions of wardrobe and religious paraphernalia. The accuracy continues into the way we have designed the film. The era of Ramses II was one of the riches times in Egypt’s history, so the sets have to be built huge. You can’t cheat on these elements. Some films recently rely on CGI for the crowd scenes. In our production, we have approximately 20,000 extras, all dressed in detailed costumes.

1 comment:

Jim Pemberton said...

It sounds like the director's "accuracy" is limited to the design department and his revisionism is factored into plot and character development (intellectual compartmentalization). Otherwise, I would say that either his intellectual conflict is strong enough to bring his intelligence into serious doubt or he is intentionally misguiding the potential audience.