Never have I ever thought I would see Christian Bale playing Moses, a prominent figure in the abrahamic religion. However in a movie titled Exodus gods and kings directed by Ridley Scoot, Bale plays as Moses who will lead the Hebrew to cross the red sea. Growing up, the story of pharaoh and Moses crossing the red sea was my bedtime story. The young me thought that it was just a made up fiction that only later I learned, the story is quite important in the abrahmic religion. Now the question is, Is exodus : Gods and Kings worth watching?

During the year the movie was released, it received mixed receptions. Some critiqued its historical inaccuracies whilst some critiqued the movie to be racist. Despite all of those, the movie still received its success as it kept being on the list of a box office in some countries. Today, 9 years after its release, I am watching it for the first time. I watched it by renting it on a youtube movie, _{(more on this later)} .

Personally, when watching historical films, I can not help to correct the historical inaccuracies that occur in the story. In a way, it is difficult to enjoy historical movies as is but for Exodus: God and kings, I make an exception. I also understand the sensitivity of the narrative that is presented in the movie hence why I am going to review it based on anything but the story itself.

This 2 hours and 30 minutes film starts with pharaoh sits with his council and his sons to plan an attack for hittites army. Then, The High Priestess uttered a prophecy that would then affected the relationship between Moses (Christian bale ) and Ramesses(Joel Edgerton). The plot follows the similar narrative as what is told in the bible and other abrahmic religion. Only the details here and there would contain differences.

Throughout the film, the visual effect especially when it comes to the plague was outstanding. It was vivid and unreal. It made me feel as though I was seeing the plague happening right in front of my eyes as I stood watching the entire nation fall. I was much more in awe when Scott mentioned that there were 400 frogs used in the set. Though that is not surprising when it comes to Scott who is known to produce epic movies with great visual effects. By far, I have watched about 5 movies by him and they are all on the higher list of my favourite films.

In an interview with ABC news, Christian bale described the moses in exodus gods and kings as a freedom fighter and also unlike what he thought, he was so much more human with its temptations. I never thought I would see the story that way and was intrigued when I watched the interview. Growing up, it was all about black and white but once again, this film reminded me to never see things just as good or bad and even black and white.

Even in the movie, the ramesses weren't always "evil" ; he still had respect for Moses and chose to exile him instead of killing him right away. Though that is different from the actual bible narrative, it puts an interesting spin into the pharaoh's characteristics. The same thing with Moses itself that was portrayed much more human than a prophet/messenger that he is.

Bale also mentioned that Moses was schizophrenic but later in an interview with extra tv, he explained why he made those remarks and asked us the important question, " How would Moses be received today? " If you have 2 hours and 30 minutes to spare, this movie isn't all that eye-sore. It's worth watching if you are a history buff or even into biblical film.