Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Egyptian Exodus

Turns out you can't even get in:

"Celebrity news: Egypt to ban ‘Exodus’"

“Exodus: Gods and Kings,” the $140 million Hollywood film about the biblical escape of the Jews from Egypt, will not be shown there because it asserts historical falsehoods and spreads a “Zionist view,” the Egyptian culture minister was quoted as saying Friday. A ban would make Egypt the second Arab country in a matter of days to disallow the film, after a reported decision by Morocco to bar its distribution in theaters on Christmas just as “Exodus” was about to premiere.

Egypt’s culture minister, Gaber Asfour, was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying “Exodus,” which stars Christian Bale as Moses, was offensive because of what he called its false portrayal of Moses, and of the Jews as the builders of Egypt’s pyramids.

He was quoted as saying the film “gives a Zionist view of history and contains historical inaccuracies, and that’s why we have decided to ban it.”

That's pretty much a given over here.

The film’s producer, 20th Century Fox, declined to comment." 

No threat to bomb theaters on this one? That's odd.

Related:

"Egypt says it banned Ridley Scott’s biblical epic ‘‘Exodus: Gods & Kings’’ because it gives the wrong idea about Egypt’s history and presents a ‘‘racist’’ image of Jews. The Culture Ministry explained its decision for the first time in a statement Sunday, a few days after the initial ban. It listed a number of reasons, including that the film’s account of the story of Moses was not in line with monotheistic religions. It said the movie inaccurately depicts ancient Egyptians as ‘‘savages’’ who kill and hang Jews, and presents a ‘‘racist’’ depiction of Jews as a people who mounted an armed rebellion. It said religious scriptures instead present Jews as being weak. (AP)."

Well, it can't be both.

Anyway, I'm done kicking around Egypt and the Sunday Globe Specials for now. Incredibly, I'm totally up-to-date after more than a year of neglect.