Fun Fact: This is my third time writing this, the reason why
I keep finding myself having to redo it? Mostly because I ended up rambling on
other subjects and not really focusing on why this film is so good. By that I mean
it became a big comparative piece, talking about how this film is better or
worse than The Ten Commandments or Disney. Which is not an unfair comparison to
make but even still that took up the majority of the piece and I don’t want
this to be a reactive series where I say “this movie is really good compared to
this” because a legitimately great movie should be great on its own. Now that
doesn’t mean I won’t be drawing comparisons to work where necessary in this
series, after all context can mean a lot and besides I already did that with
the Ninja Turtles post. But I don’t want that to be the majority of the post,
so I might draw some comparisons
here, just not a lot. So, enough babbling, let’s get to the film.
The Prince of Egypt was directed by Brenda Chapman, Steve
Hickner & Simon Wells and stars Val Kilmer as Moses and Ralph Fiennes as
Rameses. It follows the Moses story, which if you don’t know that tale…Google
it. But I’m assuming you will know it because it’s just one of those tales that
whether you believe it or not has become a big part of western folklore along
with The Ugly Duckling and Jack & The Beanstalk, you’re just kinda expected
to know them. So, with a tale that is as old as time and already has what is
already considered to be the definitive version of this story, directed by one
of the greatest directors of all time and starring one of the greatest actors
of all time? Simple. You look at where that version faltered, make that your
focus, and you make it excellent. In this case, the relationship between the
hero and villain.
Look even if you’re a diehard fan of the original Ten
Commandments kind of dropped the ball when it came to remembering that Moses
and Rameses are supposed to be brothers. Yeah okay, not blood related, but for
the majority of their lives they thought they were and should love each other
like they were. But even when Moses leaves and comes back years later, Rameses
doesn’t really react to seeing his brother for the first time in years. That’s
not the case here. The majority of Moses’ time spent as royalty is spent with his
brother, developing the relationship, showing them bonding while also
establishing what will eventually tear them apart. Even with the two are
royalty, Rameses being the older brother is the one who will inherit the throne
and has a lot to live up to, plus with a father as mentally abusive as you can
get, Rameses kind of has an inferiority complex, always having to live up to
the impossible standards set by his father and any kind of compassion of even
just humanity is a sign of weakness. Meanwhile Moses realising he’s actually
born a slave, goes on the run, finds god (literally) and now with a purpose in
his life means his goal will cause Rameses to lose a fair portion of his power.
So what we have here is two brothers who love each other but have to fight each
other on behalf of their higher power that has manipulated them into being
where they are today.
That’s the major conflict here and it is done to perfection,
you see the legitimate bond the two have growing up and once Moses returns they’re
not instantly at odds. They try to talk to each other, find a compromise, but
both are forced to stand their ground, Rameses through decades of emotional
manipulation and Moses through…well, god, it’s kinda hard to argue with him.
Which is another point to make, even outside of this relationship, the two are
still interesting characters with great conflict, especially Moses. Again, not
to turn this into a reactionary discussion, Moses always seems a little…too
okay with everything god is doing, even with all the killing and suffering
innocent people have to go through. This Moses seems much more at odds, during
the plagues sequence (We’ll talk more about in a minute) he says the line “This
was once my home, all this pain and devastation, how it tortures me inside”.
Moses is humanized in this version instead of being a noble perfect figure to
lead, which not only works for his character but also makes the contrast between
him and god much more effective, he almost seems afraid of doing the lord’s
bidding because, again, it’s god, you don’t really say no to that. As the film
goes on and Moses is forced to commit even more heinous acts you see it break
him down as a man, this is best seen after all the first borns die (Again, we’ll
get to that soon) and he breaks down crying in the streets for a horrific act
that god has made him commit. This Moses is much more identifiable and more
complex as a character and while some might prefer the Charlton Heston version
where he seems unbreakable, I just find this version a little more unique.
By the way, this film doesn’t hold back or censor the
original story. River of Blood, Death of the First Borns, it’s all here. You
just kind of have to respect a movie for adapting a classic disaster of literal
biblical proportions and faithfully adapting it. Well with that being said I don’t
know the ins and outs of the Moses story, but enough to know that it wouldn’t have
surprised me if half of this stuff was cut for the sake of seeming more “child
friendly”. But with that being said that’s not to say the story is told in its
full, a lot of the supporting characters get side-lined or cut out all together
and the ones that remain don’t receive that much development. But again, the
focus is on the two brothers as it should be.
Alright, now getting back to those two sequences I talked
about. Yeah this is film is beautiful. Like, one of the best looking animated
films I’ve ever seen. The blend between traditional animation and CGI works
surprisingly well when very few films are able to achieve that. But even more
so the use of colour is astonishing, I don’t think anyone has ever made brown
look so vibrant and full of life. The cinematography is excellent at creating
unique imagery as well as telling the story visually. But above all else, the
lighting, the contrast of bright colours and shadows is beyond outstanding. It’s
hard to describe, especially when this is a text post so just watch the two
videos of my favourite sequences, the ones discussed above, The Plagues and
Angel of Death.
Which is another thing to praise the film on, using all the
elements of it’s genre, form and medium to tell the story perfectly. Knowing
when to use music to progress the story and develop characters, and what
sequences to be told simply through visuals with minimal-if any-dialogue. These
are all signs of great filmmakers who understand the tools they have and uses
them brilliantly. Let’s not lie, the Moses Story is a long fucking story, and
musicals is one of the few genres that can squeeze entire acts worth of character
development and plot into just 3-4 minutes, this film uses that tactic to take
some of the more elongated sequences and tell it in a visually interesting and
abridged way without losing any of the emotional weight that comes with them,
hell, if anything they’re made even more powerful.
Beyond that, the music is also a great listen, both the
score by Hans Zimmer, which might be his best work just under Lion King,
especially the Burning Bush theme which is one of the most hauntingly beautiful
pieces of work he’s done. The actual soundtrack by Stephen Schwartz is also
superb. While granted I don’t know if I would compare it to some of the Disney
soundtracks of the 90s, mostly the work by Alan Menkin, the music is bombastic,
the lyrics are poignant and its overall memorable, creative and is just another
great element to this film.
Overall this is one of the best films DreamWorks ever made
and it’s a shame they don’t promote it as much. Sure it doesn’t fall under
their usual brand but it’s still a damn well made film and deserves more
attention from both DreamWorks and general audiences. The characters are great,
the music is great and the animation is outstanding as all hell. It’s one of
DreamWorks’ best and it’s one of my favourites.
-Danny
-Danny
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