The Ten Commandments Film Analysis

The Ten Commandments was released in 1956 and was the largest and final film production director Cecil B. DeMille directed. This biblical representation was brought to life on the big screen by an all-star cast (Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and Vincent Price) and received aw-worthy reviews. This cinematic masterpiece received many awards including the Oscar for best picture in 1957. The film portrays the biblical story of Moses, an adopted Egyptian Prince, and his grueling journey to set his people free. Moses is banished from Egypt. He journeys to Mt. Sinai where he encounters the burning bush and god. It is there that he is tasked by god with setting his people free. Although this film was well ahead of its time, in terms of quality and audience captivation, it was not exactly an accurate depiction of the holy text. This 3 hour and 40 minute film had the tall task of displaying a story that was never told in depth. Writers had no choice but to use they own creativity to engage their audience. Despite its differences, the story has never seen this success and not for lack of trying (Ten Commandments: the musical 2006 and Exodus: Gods and Kings 2014). One of …show more content…
Their goal is to yes tell the story, but ultimately to make money. Writers, Producers and Directors have to take a story and portray it in the most captivating way possible. This means cutting out elements that they have no means to incorporate and adding fillers to hold the audiences’ attention. Critics have the easy job of tearing apart the work of these creations, but actually creating them is a mission. Between budgets, and timing it is a tall order to produce something that is 100% accurate to a previously produced text. This movie was just under 4 hours long and they still had to make decisions to leave things out, otherwise they would have inevitably gone way over budget and the run time would have been