If you want to know more about the Exodus, then movies like The Prince of Egypt are probably not the way to go.
See, Dreamworks took lots of artistic license in capturing the essence of the story, but they weren’t so hot for a literal, visual translation of the Biblical narrative.
Let’s see, where to begin…
- Moses is not reunited with his mother as an infant (his mother was the one who nursed him)
- Moses speaks flawlessly (he was actually a stutterer)
- Moses kills the Egyptian by accident rather than murdering him
- Aaron is reluctant to support Moses (he actually spoke on his behalf)
- Basically everything in the Passover ritual is…well…passed over
I could go on.
We all know the Exodus story, or, at least some version of it. The real question is “not what happened”, but why does this story inspire us so much? Of all the stories that the human race has told, why does this story mean so much to people? How could this story lead to countless movies, musical compositions, paintings, and even the first episode of the 80’s cartoon Thundercats?
I believe this story speaks so much to us, because the history of humanity has been one of constant uprooting. We started our human journey in the Savannah of Africa, and pushed ourselves beyond the stretches of the human psyche to far flung places around the world. In the heart of every person, there is an ancient memory of our leaving home.
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