Arts & Entertainment

Dougray Scott as Moses
in the ABC-TV miniseries
The Ten Commandments

Spectacular

New Ten Commandments is
better than the 1956 epic.

Tom Tugend
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

T

he story of the Exodus
makes for great cinema
and stunning visual
effects, as Cecil B. DeMille and
Charlton. Heston proved half a
century ago.
Now, The Ten CommandMents,
with its timeless themes of slav-
ery and freedom, faith and doubt,
adultery and fidelity, battles and
miracles, has been shaped into a
four-hour miniseries by ABC-TV.
It will air in two two-hour
segments April 10 and 11, and
should draw good ratings in the
Passover and Easter season.
The 2006 Ten Commandments
easily outscores the 1956 Heston
epic.
Without commercials, the
miniseries is actually slightly
shorter than the original three-
and-a-quarter-hour film, but is,
by far, the more subtle, credible
and engaging of the two.
In addition, the fact that the
TV show's international ensem-
ble lacks the film's big-star cast
proves to be an advantage rather
than a drawback.
The basic plot is familiar from
the Bible. It starts with the rescue
of baby Moses from slaughter to

56

April 6 • 2006

God's choice of Moses as libera-
tor, the 10 plagues, the giving
of the Ten Commandments at
Mount Sinai, 40 years of wan-
dering in the desert and Moses'
death in sight of the Promised
Land.
Veteran producer Robert
Halmi Sr. and director Robert
Dornhelm have gone to consid-
erable lengths to authenticate
the biblical scholarship, dress
style and physical setting of the
drama, with Morocco substitut-
ing for the Sinai Peninsula. •
The casting draws heavily on
the Bfitish Isles, with Scottish
actor Dougray Scott as Moses;
Linus Roache as his brother,
Aaron; and Welshman Paul Rhys
as Ramses, the stubborn pharaoh.
Scott portrays a complex
Moses, a man chosen against his
will by God and tested almost
beyond endurance, torn by the
punishments he must inflict,
badgered by his stiff-necked
tribe and yet rising to predes-
tined greatness.
Omar Sharif as Jethro, Moses'
father-in-law, may be the most
familiar face to mature viewers.
Argentina's Mia Maestro is an
attractive Tzipporah, Moses' wife,
though Dornhelm largely avoids
DeMille's penchant for making

.114

all Egyptian and Jewish maid-
ens look like America's Next Top
Model hopefuls.
Care has been taken to realisti-
cally depict the hovels and rags
of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt
and the expanses of the Sinai
Desert.
Scriptwriter Ron Hutchinson
has introduced some telling anal-
ogies between the biblical story
and the current human condition
in Moses' constant emphasis that
"to be a free man, you must stop
thinking like a slave and think
like a free man."
The TV drama's faults tend to
be minor — though a bit much
is made of the supposed sibling
rivalry among Moses, Aaron and
Miryam.
Somewhat jarring is the char-
acters' occasional slipping into
anachronistic colloquialisms.
Pharaoh declares, "I will not be
moved" and "I'm willing to bar-
gain:' while Moses asks Ramses,
"Give us out freedom — is that
too much to ask?"
One embarrassing scene has
Moses, like an ancient televange-
list, exhorting his flock after the
Golden Calf episode.
"Will you renew your promise
to God?" shouts Moses.
"Yes," roars the crowd.
"Are you sure?"
((yes:,

Fortunately for nostalgic
DeMille fans, the -miniseries does
not stint on spectaculars.
The parting of the Red Sea
scenario is one even the old mas-
ter would applaud, and the fight
against the Amalekites depicts
masses of Israelite archers
unerringly shooting arrows into
the chests of onrushing enemy
horsemen.
However, the film's bloodiest
scene is reserved for the slaugh-
ter by Moses of the Golden Calf
idolaters, their wives and chil-
dren.
As a bonus feature, ABC-
TV will air the 1956 Ten
Commandments with Heston on
April 15.

Cinema Seder

Film portrays family ritual
meal from hell.

Tom Tugend
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

ust in time for
Passover comes the
comedy When Do We
Eat?, presenting your typical
Jewish family, the Stuckmans,
assembled for a warm seder
celebration.
As the press materials note,
"Even though the Stuckmans
gather for a Passover seder, this
could be any family with any
background." Here is the por-
trait of "any" family:
• Father Ira has a hair-trig-
ger temper, a constant stomach
problem he insists is heartburn
and makes anice living manu-
facturing Christmas ornaments.
• Long-suffering mother
Peggy has had a tent built out-
side the house and roasted a
lamb on an outside spit "just
like Moses" so that her fervently
Orthodox son can eat at the
seder..
• Daughter Nikki is a pro-
fessional sex surrogate who,
with dad's financial backing,
is branching out into cybersex
devices for the homebound.
• Son Ethan, a former high-

❑

The Ten Commandments

airs 9-11 p.m. Monday
and Tuesday, April 10-11,
on ABC.

A scene from When Do We Eat?

tech entrepreneur who went
bust, recently became Chasidic.
The glowingly spiritual young
man splits his time between
talking about the Rebbe and
God and dealing with old sexual
tensions with his second cousin
Vanessa, who spends most of
the seder talking on her cell
phone.
• Jennifer, Ira's daughter from
a previous marriage, is a lesbian
who brings along her African-
American companion, Grace.
Wearing a large crucifix, Grace
tries desperately to infuse some
spirituality into the proceed-
ings.
• Teenage son Zeke is a stoner
and has just picked up a tab
of Ecstasy cut with LSD, called
"touch:of-God X."
•Youngest son Lionel is
autistic. His father insists he's
an "idiot savant" because of his
high video game scores.
• Grandfather Artur, descend-
ed from six generations of
hat makers, frequently extols
the virtues of Ira's siblings
and mother, all killed in the.
Holocaust, usually to imply his
disappointment in Ira.
All in all, a well-adjusted clan,