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Ten Commandments (The): The Complete Miniseries
R1 - America - Echo Bridge Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Rob Hunt (27th February 2007). |
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The Show
 One of the most well-remembered stories of the Hebrew Bible, the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments given to him, and the Israelites, by God is deeply set into Western culture. Alongside other stories such as that of Adam and Eve in the garden of creation, and of Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat (and indeed, the theatre play of the same name), the Ten Commandments has stood out, for a few reasons. Perhaps most influential in its contribution to culture, it has been the basis for films both on the big screen (Cecil B. Demille's "The Ten Commandments") and the small (Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Dekalog"), both arguably masterpieces. This miniseries lays down as much back-story as is needed, alongside snippets of narration to fill in some blanks. The story picks up pretty much where "Joseph" left off. The Israelites are in Egypt and the Pharaoh has changed. Joseph has died, and the numberous Israelites (who have multiplied in numbers) are slaves. The Pharaoh Rameses is worried by this growth and the resulting power that may be attained by the slaves, and decrees that all new born (Hebrew) male babies shall be slaughtered. At this time, born to one of the Hebrew families is a young boy, who is hid by his mother - eventually laid down in a papyrus basket (the origins of the everyday item known as the "Moses basket") and placed on the River Nile. The Pharaoh's daughter is out to bathe in the Nile when she comes across the basket (and child) and after having it brought out of the water by one of her attendants, she has the child looked after by a Hebrew nurse (coincidentally also the baby's real mother) before the child is slightly older, at which point the child goes back to the Pharaoh's daughter, and becomes part of the Egyptian establishment. The story of Moses' life is set in motion. Later on down the line, after more story has been told, Moses is on a quest from God; he is to free His people from slavery to Pharaoh. The time of "Exodus" for the Hebrew people is nearing... Although entitled "The Ten Commandments", like a lot of Biblical stories the actual ten commandments are meaningless if taken on their own. A bunch of people, in a desert, with their leader climbing a mountain to receive stone tablets from God, explaining the Law, is fairly comprehensible, but asks many questions: Who are these people? Why are they being given the Law? What are they doing in the middle of a desert? Through putting the story in context, more of these questions are answered, and the story begins to make more sense. The makers of this miniseries have appreciated this in bringing a new version to the screen - and have brought a lot of other questions in through extra plot devices and characters. All of this amounts to a lot of material to work with, and it seems that if anything, the pace is a little fast to begin with - slowing down as the series progresses, but never really becoming too slow. We miss out some of the more difficult Biblical material (difficult in terms of reading - e.g. genealogies) but retain the crucial key points, and, in this version, no skimping on the plagues. One of the other reasons this story is well known is that it, like others that follow in the books of Leviticus, NUmbers and Deuteronomy, contains a high level of violence that is hard to swallow, both for religious and non-religious people alike. These books are certainly not pleasant, and this production has the honesty to keep true to it, and so there is blood and there is killing. As far as my Biblical knowledge goes on the matter, the creators seem to have taken some liberties when it comes to the violence later on in the series, but the addition of more characterisation and the character of Menerith to the proceedings is certainly welcome - if only for giving the story more depth. Other than these additions, the TV series stays fairly close to the book of Exodus, with minor, less-significant changes here and there. The cast is fairly strong, and whilst both the acting and the screnplay have their weaknesses, this is a solid production. The cinematography is quite impressive, and the effects are quite well done. The parting of the Red Sea is impressive, updating the visual effects fairly well (although the path below looks a little too CGI at a glance, which is a shame). It could be argued this is the most spectacular shot, which is partially ironic as it's also the most unlikely to have happened as shown*. The film is a good rendition of an older story, and worth a watch if you are interested in it. By no means is it excellent, but then for many people, nothing is ever going to come close to the classic rendition by Charlton Heston in De Mille's 1956 epic. *It's unsure how the Red Sea ever became associated with this part of the Biblical text. The Masoretic Hebrew in the text is Yam Suph (Yam translates to 'sea' or 'coast'; Suph to 'reeds') - giving a 'sea of reeds' - and not the dramatic embellishment provided by "Hollywood" adaptations. For more information, see the following two resources: Atheist Resource Rebuilding the Matrix, Denis Alexander (2001) (e.g. p.437)
Video
I would have been shocked to find this as anything other than a DVD-9; a ~3 hour film would deserve nothing less. What we have is presented in a ratio of 1.78:1, anamorphically enhanced, and the picture is strong. Detail is reasonably sharp, and the quality is by and large impressive - but considering it was intended for television, I'm not surprised at the occasional softness; there's ittle here I would personally take issue with. The series is presented in two parts, split exactly half way through (and split halfway through the parting of the 'Red Sea' scene!).
Audio
This series is presented in a choice of either Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 Stereo. I have to admit, I took the 2.0 Stereo route, primarily because I didn't have access to a 5.1 surround system for the purposes of this review. Equally, the 2.0 Stereo track is perfectly fine for the job - sound is clear, dialogue is crisp and music and effects are at a good level. I can imagine the 5.1 track is better, but if it sounds awful then I would recommend the 2.0 Stereo - it does all that is needed.
Extras
The layout of the menus for this release is pretty well done. The music used as the theme for the film itself accompanies the screens, and it isn't all that bad. There is one sole extra on this set and it is a promotional featurette (presumably aired around the time of the miniseries broadcast) on the making of "The Ten Commandments", running 22 minutes and 51 seconds. The featurette is fairly run-of-the-mill, but does include some interviews hinting at why some things were included that are not in the historical text. Including interviews with the majority of the main characters, I felt this ran a little short - as I'm sure there was some material the characters could have covered given a longer running time. However, this still has a couple of interesting points to make. There are also a couple of trailers upon start-up. These are for "The Curse of King Tut's Tomb" (1:59) and "Blackbeard" (2:14). Whilst the first seemed similiar to a Mummy/Indiana Jones hybrid, the second did look like it had been created to attempt to ride the wave of success of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. I have to admit, neither looked amazing, but they could both equally be enjoyable. One thing that can be said is it is nice that they advertise other TV series (i.e. related programmes to that of the actual set, rather than completely unrelated trailers).
Overall
This is quite an interesting effort - something that, for me, brought something unique to the story of the ten commandments - but not quite in the same level of 'greatness' as previous creations. Still, a solid miniseries, that was watchable (for most if not all) and didn't really outstay its welcome. Could be worth a rental if you think it looks good.
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