Review: The Ten Commandments (Remake)

Film: The Ten Commandments
Director: Robert Dornhelm and Geoffrey Madeja
Cast: Dougray Scott as Moses, Linus Roache as Aaron, Naveen Andrews as Menerith, Mía Maestro as Zipporah, Paul Rhys as Ramses, Richard O’Brien as Anander, Silas Carson as Jered, Padma Lakshmi as Princess Bithia, Susan Lynch as Miriam, Claire Bloom as Rani and Omar Sharif as Jethro
Music Composed by- Jason Camiolo and Randy Edelman
Cinematography-Edward J.Pei

Directors Jason Camiolo and Randy Edelman’s ‘The Ten Commandments’ is actually a poor attempt at remaking director Cecil B DeMille’s magnificent classic ‘The Ten Commandments’.

However, to their credit, directors Camiolo and Edelman attempt to narrate the whole story of Moses in greater detail and with more precision than Cecil Demille.

This latest version is quite different from the earlier one. While in Cecil Demille’s version, Moses rises as a powerful prince and the Pharoah even considers making him a heir to his throne before he gets banished into the desert, in this version, Moses is shown killing an Egyptian overseer attempting to outrage the modesty of a Hebrew slave and then, fleeing into the desert, fearing punishment.

This isn’t the only place where the story differs from the earlier version. At several points, the new version is quite different from Cecil Demille’s version.

While the new version might be more accurate in narrating what actually happened, there can be no disputing the fact that Cecil B Demille is clearly the more impressive one and the primary reason for that is the manner in which the story is narrated.

Firstly, the newer version is devoid of grandeur. It looks like a poorer version of the original ‘Ten Commandments’.

Secondly, the original had Elmer Bernstein’s music as one of its pillars. Jason Camiolo and Randy Edelman’s music for this new version is nowhere close to being as impressive as the music one heard in the original.

Thirdly, the story in the newer version is told in a great hurry as they seek to cover most of the events that happened in Moses’s life. However, for those who have already watched Cecil B DeMille’s version, this kind of gets annoying. One tends to get the feeling that important details while narrating landmark developments in Moses’ life have been given a miss.

This apart, only a few actors come up with convincing performances. Dougray Scott takes time to settle into the role of Moses but after a while, is convincing and comes up with a neat performance. Naveen Andrews as Menerith is impressive as is Omar Sharif as Jethro.

Paul Rhys as Ramses is initially impressive but one tends to feel sorry for him as he’s got a very limited role to play in the film.

To even consider remaking a classic like ‘The Ten Commandments’ requires great courage and one has to give directors Jason Camiolo and Randy Edelman credit for it. However, one cannot but admit that this version is a sad attempt at narrating the story of Moses.