A week before its planned New Year's Eve release, Egypt banned the Hollywood epic Exodus: God and Kings, ostensibly for historical inaccuracies, a decision that sparked controversy over the country's censorship laws. Exodus: God and Kings is a biblically inspired film directed by British director Ridley Scott and stars Christian Bale as Moses and Joel Edgerton as the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II. It is an interpretation of the Jewish exodus from Egypt led by Moses and related in the Book of Exodus. Supporters of the ban see it as the right decision, describing the film as a “Zionist malignant plot” to show that Jews are the pyramid builders, not the ancient Egyptians, while others see it as a ridiculous interpretation with many historical errors. Meanwhile, some see the film as being banned for political reasons, to satisfy anti-Israeli sentiment in Egypt, and not to clash with Al-Azhar Institution. The film personifies the prophet Moses, as played by actor Christian Bale. Al-Azhar prohibits the personification of any prophet or messenger. A third group swings between both points of view, saying that the film not only contains historical mistakes, but casting errors as well. Art critic Tarek Al-Shenawi said that banning the film for historical mistakes is the government's claim, but he sees the decision as the Ministry of Culture's attempt to avoiding a clash with Al-Azhar. He went on saying that 10 years ago, the “Passion of the Christ” movie was shown in theatres and had many historical mistakes in it, yet no one moved a finger. “It all goes with what the regime wants,” Al-Shenawi says. Author and intellectual Youssef Al-Qaeid opposes the ban, saying it will not prevent people seeing the film; on the contrary, many will want to watch it and will be influenced by it. “Although I am always against anything Zionist, I would prefer to screen the film in Egypt and counter its false claims by producing a similar film, a documentary or a book that shows the falsification of history made,” he suggested. Egyptian Minister of Culture Gaber Asfour told Al-Ahram Weekly that Ridley Scott's blockbuster is filled with historical inaccuracies and mistakes, including an apparent claim that Moses and the Jews built the pyramids. “This totally contradicts proven historical facts,” Asfour said. “It is a Zionist film,” he asserted. “It gives a Zionist view of history and contains historical inaccuracies, and that's why we decided to ban it,” Asfour concluded. For his part Ministry of Culture advisor Mohamed Baghdadi told Al-Ahram Weekly that Al-Azhar had no hand in banning the film, and it was not shown to any specialist there. “The reasons of the ban do not have any religious purpose,” he said. According to a statement by the Ministry of Culture, of which the Weekly received a copy, HAMA Film Production, the service company in charge of the movie's filming in Egypt, deceived the ministry through submitting a filming request to produce a documentary about tourism in Egypt, and did not present the original scenario of the film. Upon the request it presented, it was given filming approval. The ministry statement said that the committee in charge of reviewing the film before screening in Egypt sent a detailed report to the Minister of Culture, pointing to several historical errors that offend Egypt and its civilisation, amounting to an attempt to Judaicise ancient Egyptian civilisation. The report said the movie shows the Jews as the original builders of the pyramids, which is far from reality. The period covered in the film contradicts with that when Moses existed: around 2,540 BC, almost 500 years before Abraham's time. Pharaoh Ramses II was not the Pharaoh of the Exodus, as the film claims. The film shows Moses as the head of Aaron's army, not as a messenger of God, while it depicts God in the form of a young child who gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The film also shows ancient Egyptians as barbarians who kill the Jews and disfigure their corpses in streets in a disgusting and offensive manner. At the end of its report, the committee said: “We wished to approve the film screening in Egypt for the victory of the freedom of creativity and expression, but screening it would spread false thoughts and ideas about Egypt and its great civilisation among a generation that obtains most of its knowledge and culture from these movies. We recommend banning the film in Egypt.” Baghdadi told the Weekly that despite the committee's recommendation, Asfour assigned another scientific and art committee, headed by Mohamed Afifi, head of the Supreme Council of Culture, to watch the film and write another report. The second committee approved the first report, and also recommend banning the film. The $140 million film has found itself in hot water, facing criticism abroad. The most recurrent criticism was over the cast's lack of ethnic diversity. All the main characters are white actors, although the setting is ancient Egypt, where the public should be depicted with dark skin. According to an archaeologist who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Arab community did not arrive to Egypt until 640 AD. Hebrew captives of Assyria found on the walls of the Assyria King Sennacherib's temple were depicted with corn pepper hair. In the film, Christian Bale plays Moses, while Joel Edgerton stars as Pharaoh Ramses II. Sigourney Weaver plays Queen Tuya. All are white actors. Ridley Scott, the film's director and producer, responded to criticism by telling Variety magazine in an interview: “I can't mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohamed so-and-so from such-and-such … I'm just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn't even come up.” Newly released, the film topped the US box office, according to weekend estimates, overtaking the third instalment of “The Hunger Games” following three weeks at number one. According to a BBC report, the film has met mixed reviews. Time called it a “cinematically uninspired retelling of the Moses story” while Vulture said that it was “as uneven as Ridley Scott's career”. The New York Times described it as “both woefully insufficient and much too much”. “I think Hollywood is learning that putting epic, biblical stories on the big screen comes at a pretty heavy price. It's not easy to do this,” box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian told the BBC.
