What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

The Ten Commandments from 1956 with a cast that includes almost every actor in Hollywood at the time


"His God, is God"
- Rameses


It's not often the theme of a three-plus-hour Biblical extravaganza can be summed up in four words, but leave it to a beaten Egyptian pharaoh to succinctly explain the defining meaning of the Moses story.

The Ten Commandments is an odd mix of Hollywood kitsch and Biblical tale that pings from silly to sublime, sometimes, from scene to scene. The bold Technicolor detracts from the solemnity of the subject (as a kid, I first saw it on a black-and-white TV, which is partly why it seemed more serious to me then). Still, when the narrative limns closely to the Bible, the cheesiness of the production fades as the power of the story takes over.

Having been raised without religion and only having read the Bible as an adult (in some updated English version), the movie seems to, generally, follow the Moses tale in the Old Testament, but I defer to anyone with even modest biblical knowledge.

Despite being a mashup of an overblown Hollywood production and Biblical story, and with a lot of 1950s movie-making excess on display, the film still engages throughout its runtime. Perhaps because it has impressive source material (although, Moses didn't get a writing credit) and a ton of story to get through, scenes just keep speeding by.

Sometimes it seems that the production almost overwhelmed famed director Cecil B. Demille, but he managed to somehow corral a cast of thousands, a rambling story with subplots all over the place and a crazy number of special effects to deliver an epic.

The core conflict - the battle of wills and theology between Rameses (Yul Brynner) and Moses (Charlton Heston) - frames the movie right down to the two powerful men wanting the same woman, Queen Nefretiri, played by Anne Baxter exuding an all-consuming lust, often, unrequitedly for Moses.

As Moses's path takes him from Pharaoh's son to a slave, his gradual evolution to prophet parallels Rameses rise to the throne as an Egyptian god on earth (but the god thing in Egypt is hard to keep track of as they had a lot of them back then).
Even though, here, the Egyptian palaces look a bit like modern-day over-priced luxury furniture "galleries'' (a lot of empty space between overwrought items), the power of the Egyptian Empire is impressive for its day (it's 1300 BC or thereabouts), making Moses' attempt to free his people more daunting.

But Rameses keeps losing out to God-made, Moses-prophesized miracle upon miracle. After derisively dismissing Moses' pronouncement that hail and darkness will come at noon, you see the confidence drain out of Rameses as hail begins to rain down, well, at noon.

When Moses warns Rameses that the first-born son of every Egyptian will be killed, and it happens, Rameses has had enough. In disgust, defeat and fear, he doesn't so much free the Israelis as gives up and lets them leave.

Nefretiri, angry because Moses has scorned her (heaven has no rage and all that), goads Rameses to change his mind when she all but tells him he has a small, umm, staff compared to Moses. So inspired, or shamed, Ramses leads the Egyptian army in pursuit of the fleeing Israelis.

When a wall of fire and a parting sea that, then, unparts and destroys Rameses army ends his pursuit effort, he returns to his palace a beaten man who has seen the power of the one God and utters the defining words, "His God, is God."

All that's left is, well, the really big Old Testament stuff. Moses ascends Mount Sinai where God writes the Ten Commandment in his own hand (it's a cool scene). Carrying the sacred tablets, Moses comes down to see, in the mere forty days he's been away, many of the Israelis have lost faith, are living wantonly and praying to a golden calf.

Let's pause here for a second. After God performed ten miracles to free the Israelis from Egypt and created a wall of fire while parting the sea to ensure their escape, they lost faith after forty days. Really? Seeing those events with my own eyes would have been enough to make me a believer for five lifetimes.

In disgust, Moses throws the Tablets with the Commandments at the offending calf, the Israelis wander in the desert for forty years and, finally, see the promised land as Moses is about to die. Whatever your faith, it's a powerful story that draws you in despite all the wacky 1950s movie-making silliness going on around the core Biblical tale.


N.B. Look for the scene where non-believer (in the Egyptian gods) Rameses, having just lost his young son, prays to the Egyptian god of darkness to bring his son back. It is a moving moment of a man now looking for faith, but who fails to find it in his own religion. Later, at the parting-of-the-sea event, he is convinced he has seen the one God, yet he can't acknowledge his new belief to his subjects. It's a powerful commentary on the eternal challenges of faith and identity.

 

[Edward]

View attachment 339994
The Ten Commandments from 1956 with a cast that includes almost every actor in Hollywood at the time


"His God, is God"
- Rameses


It's not often the theme of a three-plus-hour Biblical extravaganza can be summed up in four words, but leave it to a beaten Egyptian pharaoh to succinctly explain the defining meaning of the Moses story.

The Ten Commandments is an odd mix of Hollywood kitsch and Biblical tale that pings from silly to sublime, sometimes, from scene to scene. The bold Technicolor detracts from the solemnity of the subject (as a kid, I first saw it on a black-and-white TV, which is partly why it seemed more serious to me then). Still, when the narrative limns closely to the Bible, the cheesiness of the production fades as the power of the story takes over.

Having been raised without religion and only having read the Bible as an adult (in some updated English version), the movie seems to, generally, follow the Moses tale in the Old Testament, but I defer to anyone with even modest biblical knowledge.

Despite being a mashup of an overblown Hollywood production and Biblical story, and with a lot of 1950s movie-making excess on display, the film still engages throughout its runtime. Perhaps because it has impressive source material (although, Moses didn't get a writing credit) and a ton of story to get through, scenes just keep speeding by.

Sometimes it seems that the production almost overwhelmed famed director Cecil B. Demille, but he managed to somehow corral a cast of thousands, a rambling story with subplots all over the place and a crazy number of special effects to deliver an epic.

The core conflict - the battle of wills and theology between Rameses (Yul Brynner) and Moses (Charlton Heston) - frames the movie right down to the two powerful men wanting the same woman, Queen Nefretiri, played by Anne Baxter exuding an all-consuming lust, often, unrequitedly for Moses.

As Moses's path takes him from Pharaoh's son to a slave, his gradual evolution to prophet parallels Rameses rise to the throne as an Egyptian god on earth (but the god thing in Egypt is hard to keep track of as they had a lot of them back then).
Even though, here, the Egyptian palaces look a bit like modern-day over-priced luxury furniture "galleries'' (a lot of empty space between overwrought items), the power of the Egyptian Empire is impressive for its day (it's 1300 BC or thereabouts), making Moses' attempt to free his people more daunting.

But Rameses keeps losing out to God-made, Moses-prophesized miracle upon miracle. After derisively dismissing Moses' pronouncement that hail and darkness will come at noon, you see the confidence drain out of Rameses as hail begins to rain down, well, at noon.

When Moses warns Rameses that the first-born son of every Egyptian will be killed, and it happens, Rameses has had enough. In disgust, defeat and fear, he doesn't so much free the Israelis as gives up and lets them leave.

Nefretiri, angry because Moses has scorned her (heaven has no rage and all that), goads Rameses to change his mind when she all but tells him he has a small, umm, staff compared to Moses. So inspired, or shamed, Ramses leads the Egyptian army in pursuit of the fleeing Israelis.

When a wall of fire and a parting sea that, then, unparts and destroys Rameses army ends his pursuit effort, he returns to his palace a beaten man who has seen the power of the one God and utters the defining words, "His God, is God."

All that's left is, well, the really big Old Testament stuff. Moses ascends Mount Sinai where God writes the Ten Commandment in his own hand (it's a cool scene). Carrying the sacred tablets, Moses comes down to see, in the mere forty days he's been away, many of the Israelis have lost faith, are living wantonly and praying to a golden calf.

Let's pause here for a second. After God performed ten miracles to free the Israelis from Egypt and created a wall of fire while parting the sea to ensure their escape, they lost faith after forty days. Really? Seeing those events with my own eyes would have been enough to make me a believer for five lifetimes.

In disgust, Moses throws the Tablets with the Commandments at the offending calf, the Israelis wander in the desert for forty years and, finally, see the promised land as Moses is about to die. Whatever your faith, it's a powerful story that draws you in despite all the wacky 1950s movie-making silliness going on around the core Biblical tale.


N.B. Look for the scene where non-believer (in the Egyptian gods) Rameses, having just lost his young son, prays to the Egyptian god of darkness to bring his son back. It is a moving moment of a man now looking for faith, but who fails to find it in his own religion. Later, at the parting-of-the-sea event, he is convinced he has seen the one God, yet he can't acknowledge his new belief to his subjects. It's a powerful commentary on the eternal challenges of faith and identity.

A powerful film in many ways, even aesthetically: to this day, I find it hard not to see the influence of it in any post-1956 image of Moses.

 

[MisterCairo]

In celebration of birthday number 54, the official 101st viewing of Withnail and I.

"To a delightful weekEND in the country!"

 

[Harp]

View attachment 339994
The Ten Commandments from 1956 with a cast that includes almost every actor in Hollywood at the time


"His God, is God"
- Rameses


It's not often the theme of a three-plus-hour Biblical extravaganza can be summed up in four words, but leave it to a beaten Egyptian pharaoh to succinctly explain the defining meaning of the Moses story.

The Ten Commandments is an odd mix of Hollywood kitsch and Biblical tale that pings from silly to sublime, sometimes, from scene to scene. The bold Technicolor detracts from the solemnity of the subject (as a kid, I first saw it on a black-and-white TV, which is partly why it seemed more serious to me then). Still, when the narrative limns closely to the Bible, the cheesiness of the production fades as the power of the story takes over.

Having been raised without religion and only having read the Bible as an adult (in some updated English version), the movie seems to, generally, follow the Moses tale in the Old Testament, but I defer to anyone with even modest biblical knowledge.

Despite being a mashup of an overblown Hollywood production and Biblical story, and with a lot of 1950s movie-making excess on display, the film still engages throughout its runtime. Perhaps because it has impressive source material (although, Moses didn't get a writing credit) and a ton of story to get through, scenes just keep speeding by.

Sometimes it seems that the production almost overwhelmed famed director Cecil B. Demille, but he managed to somehow corral a cast of thousands, a rambling story with subplots all over the place and a crazy number of special effects to deliver an epic.

The core conflict - the battle of wills and theology between Rameses (Yul Brynner) and Moses (Charlton Heston) - frames the movie right down to the two powerful men wanting the same woman, Queen Nefretiri, played by Anne Baxter exuding an all-consuming lust, often, unrequitedly for Moses.

As Moses's path takes him from Pharaoh's son to a slave, his gradual evolution to prophet parallels Rameses rise to the throne as an Egyptian god on earth (but the god thing in Egypt is hard to keep track of as they had a lot of them back then).
Even though, here, the Egyptian palaces look a bit like modern-day over-priced luxury furniture "galleries'' (a lot of empty space between overwrought items), the power of the Egyptian Empire is impressive for its day (it's 1300 BC or thereabouts), making Moses' attempt to free his people more daunting.

But Rameses keeps losing out to God-made, Moses-prophesized miracle upon miracle. After derisively dismissing Moses' pronouncement that hail and darkness will come at noon, you see the confidence drain out of Rameses as hail begins to rain down, well, at noon.

When Moses warns Rameses that the first-born son of every Egyptian will be killed, and it happens, Rameses has had enough. In disgust, defeat and fear, he doesn't so much free the Israelis as gives up and lets them leave.

Nefretiri, angry because Moses has scorned her (heaven has no rage and all that), goads Rameses to change his mind when she all but tells him he has a small, umm, staff compared to Moses. So inspired, or shamed, Ramses leads the Egyptian army in pursuit of the fleeing Israelis.

When a wall of fire and a parting sea that, then, unparts and destroys Rameses army ends his pursuit effort, he returns to his palace a beaten man who has seen the power of the one God and utters the defining words, "His God, is God."

All that's left is, well, the really big Old Testament stuff. Moses ascends Mount Sinai where God writes the Ten Commandment in his own hand (it's a cool scene). Carrying the sacred tablets, Moses comes down to see, in the mere forty days he's been away, many of the Israelis have lost faith, are living wantonly and praying to a golden calf.

Let's pause here for a second. After God performed ten miracles to free the Israelis from Egypt and created a wall of fire while parting the sea to ensure their escape, they lost faith after forty days. Really? Seeing those events with my own eyes would have been enough to make me a believer for five lifetimes.

In disgust, Moses throws the Tablets with the Commandments at the offending calf, the Israelis wander in the desert for forty years and, finally, see the promised land as Moses is about to die. Whatever your faith, it's a powerful story that draws you in despite all the wacky 1950s movie-making silliness going on around the core Biblical tale.


N.B. Look for the scene where non-believer (in the Egyptian gods) Rameses, having just lost his young son, prays to the Egyptian god of darkness to bring his son back. It is a moving moment of a man now looking for faith, but who fails to find it in his own religion. Later, at the parting-of-the-sea event, he is convinced he has seen the one God, yet he can't acknowledge his new belief to his subjects. It's a powerful commentary on the eternal challenges of faith and identity.

Moses was the first guy to break all Ten Commandments. And he did it all at once.
Now only an Irishman could have done that, so, Moses proved that the Irish are the lost tribe of Israel.

 

[Bushman]

Raya and The Last Dragon: extremely cute, to say I enjoyed it would be an understatement. The animation was spectacular, as can be expected, and the voice acting was spot on as always. The animation sequences were also very nostalgia inducing, with hints at both Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars which I found interesting for a movie focusing on SE Asian culture. I picked up on it, yet in the context of the movie, I didn't think it felt at all out of place. I've never listened to Awkwafina's music, but I thoroughly enjoyed the uplifting, hopeful tone she brought to the character of Sisu, which contrasted well with the dour, and focused attitude of the title character, Raya, voiced by Kelly Marie Tran. All I can say is: sequel when?

 

[Brandrea33]

Just watched Lord of War again recently.

Not a Nicholas Cage fan per se, but in this movie he is outstanding.

 

[Worf]

View attachment 339994
The Ten Commandments from 1956 with a cast that includes almost every actor in Hollywood at the time


"His God, is God"
- Rameses


It's not often the theme of a three-plus-hour Biblical extravaganza can be summed up in four words, but leave it to a beaten Egyptian pharaoh to succinctly explain the defining meaning of the Moses story.

The Ten Commandments is an odd mix of Hollywood kitsch and Biblical tale that pings from silly to sublime, sometimes, from scene to scene. The bold Technicolor detracts from the solemnity of the subject (as a kid, I first saw it on a black-and-white TV, which is partly why it seemed more serious to me then). Still, when the narrative limns closely to the Bible, the cheesiness of the production fades as the power of the story takes over.

Having been raised without religion and only having read the Bible as an adult (in some updated English version), the movie seems to, generally, follow the Moses tale in the Old Testament, but I defer to anyone with even modest biblical knowledge.

Despite being a mashup of an overblown Hollywood production and Biblical story, and with a lot of 1950s movie-making excess on display, the film still engages throughout its runtime. Perhaps because it has impressive source material (although, Moses didn't get a writing credit) and a ton of story to get through, scenes just keep speeding by.

Sometimes it seems that the production almost overwhelmed famed director Cecil B. Demille, but he managed to somehow corral a cast of thousands, a rambling story with subplots all over the place and a crazy number of special effects to deliver an epic.

The core conflict - the battle of wills and theology between Rameses (Yul Brynner) and Moses (Charlton Heston) - frames the movie right down to the two powerful men wanting the same woman, Queen Nefretiri, played by Anne Baxter exuding an all-consuming lust, often, unrequitedly for Moses.

As Moses's path takes him from Pharaoh's son to a slave, his gradual evolution to prophet parallels Rameses rise to the throne as an Egyptian god on earth (but the god thing in Egypt is hard to keep track of as they had a lot of them back then).
Even though, here, the Egyptian palaces look a bit like modern-day over-priced luxury furniture "galleries'' (a lot of empty space between overwrought items), the power of the Egyptian Empire is impressive for its day (it's 1300 BC or thereabouts), making Moses' attempt to free his people more daunting.

But Rameses keeps losing out to God-made, Moses-prophesized miracle upon miracle. After derisively dismissing Moses' pronouncement that hail and darkness will come at noon, you see the confidence drain out of Rameses as hail begins to rain down, well, at noon.

When Moses warns Rameses that the first-born son of every Egyptian will be killed, and it happens, Rameses has had enough. In disgust, defeat and fear, he doesn't so much free the Israelis as gives up and lets them leave.

Nefretiri, angry because Moses has scorned her (heaven has no rage and all that), goads Rameses to change his mind when she all but tells him he has a small, umm, staff compared to Moses. So inspired, or shamed, Ramses leads the Egyptian army in pursuit of the fleeing Israelis.

When a wall of fire and a parting sea that, then, unparts and destroys Rameses army ends his pursuit effort, he returns to his palace a beaten man who has seen the power of the one God and utters the defining words, "His God, is God."

All that's left is, well, the really big Old Testament stuff. Moses ascends Mount Sinai where God writes the Ten Commandment in his own hand (it's a cool scene). Carrying the sacred tablets, Moses comes down to see, in the mere forty days he's been away, many of the Israelis have lost faith, are living wantonly and praying to a golden calf.

Let's pause here for a second. After God performed ten miracles to free the Israelis from Egypt and created a wall of fire while parting the sea to ensure their escape, they lost faith after forty days. Really? Seeing those events with my own eyes would have been enough to make me a believer for five lifetimes.

In disgust, Moses throws the Tablets with the Commandments at the offending calf, the Israelis wander in the desert for forty years and, finally, see the promised land as Moses is about to die. Whatever your faith, it's a powerful story that draws you in despite all the wacky 1950s movie-making silliness going on around the core Biblical tale.


N.B. Look for the scene where non-believer (in the Egyptian gods) Rameses, having just lost his young son, prays to the Egyptian god of darkness to bring his son back. It is a moving moment of a man now looking for faith, but who fails to find it in his own religion. Later, at the parting-of-the-sea event, he is convinced he has seen the one God, yet he can't acknowledge his new belief to his subjects. It's a powerful commentary on the eternal challenges of faith and identity.

As I said in a previous review... I find this movie unwatchable. Talk about wooden acting, particularly from the lead. So wooden in fact that DeMille actually puts colored stills on screen at time. No heart, no feeling, no empathy at all. It doesn't hold a candle to "Ben Hur" wherein Heston proves he CAN act with feeling and subtlety. I used to watch it every Easter... till I developed a brain. What a turd.

So let it be written, so let it be done....

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

As I said in a previous review... I find this movie unwatchable. Talk about wooden acting, particularly from the lead. So wooden in fact that DeMille actually puts colored stills on screen at time. No heart, no feeling, no empathy at all. It doesn't hold a candle to "Ben Hur" wherein Heston proves he CAN act with feeling and subtlety. I used to watch it every Easter... till I developed a brain. What a turd.

So let it be written, so let it be done....

Worf

I get that much of it was cheesy, but I'm more forgiving of the effort and saw more good in it than you. But no argument, "Ben Hur" is the much-more superior movie of the two.

 

[Edward]

Ben Hur is an undoubted classic from a period when Hollywood made a lot of really fascinating Biblical epics that weren't directly Biblical stories, but set in and around them. I remember The Robe being another one I quite enjoyed. All a bit overblown melodrama by today's standards, but for me at least that doesn't ruin them. If you ever hear him interviewed and they get onto it, Mark Gatiss from The League of Gentlemen fame is fascinating on this; he is, in his own words, "not a believer, but I love Jesus pictures, it's such a great story." (He's quite sincere on that, it's not mockery.) He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the genre. It's an interesting period of cinema that has been hinted at on rare occasion since, (Christian Bale's run at Moses and the plagues a few years ago, Noah - neither without their controversies, of course) when riffing off elements of Biblical stories was something Hollywood could sell much more so than now.

In celebration of birthday number 54, the official 101st viewing of Withnail and I.

"To a delightful weekEND in the country!"

View attachment 340014



View attachment 340015

"Monty, you terrible ****" Dear old Richard Griffiths, wonderful character actor.

Happy birthday, old man.

Just watched Lord of War again recently.

Not a Nicholas Cage fan per se, but in this movie he is outstanding.

Cage can be outstanding with the right material. Leaving Las Vegas was a tour de force. He was also key to the quality of Honeymoon in Vegas, which predated Indecent Proposal by a full year and told broadly the same story in a vastly superior way.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I love The Ten Commandments. I first saw it in the mid-sixties, back when it was rereleased to theaters every few years, long before it became ABC's annual Easter weekend spectacular. I was 12 and studying for my bar mitzvah, and here was an actual JEWISH Biblical epic: Ben Hur is arguably a better movie... but its ultimate hero is Jesus. Um, that just doesn't work for a Jewish audience.

I am not blind to its MANY faults - the staginess, wretched excess, campy overacting, awful line readings, etc. It includes actors who should never appear in period pieces (Edward G. Robinson: "Nyah! Where's your god now, Moses? I'll give you a god of gold, a god you can see! Nyah!"), exhausting, overcooked dialog (Anne Baxter: "Moses, Moses, Moses, you stubborn, adorable, impossible fool!"), and loads of stuff that's just an embarrassment to modern audiences (there's not an actual dark-skinned Semite anywhere in sight). But as creaky as it is, it's got awesome costumes, beautiful actors, still-impressive effects, a decent adaptation/expansion of the Bible story, and represents the epitome of old-school Hollywood epic moviemaking.



Don't get me wrong: Ben Hur is a good film, though William Wyler's always fantastic direction of actors is nearly lost in the bloated production. (Fun trivia: Wyler told Chuck Heston that Judah and Messala were just old buddies; he told Stephen Boyd that they'd been lovers - the next time you watch, notice how they interact!) And its solemnity is tiring; I prefer really off-the-chain, whacko fifties ancient world epics like The Prodigal, The Egyptian, and especially Land of the Pharaohs.

Interesting resource: The Ancient Egypt Film Site

 

[MisterCairo]

Ben Hur is an undoubted classic from a period when Hollywood made a lot of really fascinating Biblical epics that weren't directly Biblical stories, but set in and around them. I remember The Robe being another one I quite enjoyed. All a bit overblown melodrama by today's standards, but for me at least that doesn't ruin them. If you ever hear him interviewed and they get onto it, Mark Gatiss from The League of Gentlemen fame is fascinating on this; he is, in his own words, "not a believer, but I love Jesus pictures, it's such a great story." (He's quite sincere on that, it's not mockery.) He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the genre. It's an interesting period of cinema that has been hinted at on rare occasion since, (Christian Bale's run at Moses and the plagues a few years ago, Noah - neither without their controversies, of course) when riffing off elements of Biblical stories was something Hollywood could sell much more so than now.



"Monty, you terrible ****" Dear old Richard Griffiths, wonderful character actor.

Happy birthday, old man.



Cage can be outstanding with the right material. Leaving Las Vegas was a tour de force. He was also key to the quality of Honeymoon in Vegas, which predated Indecent Proposal by a full year and told broadly the same story in a vastly superior way.

You are not that far behind me, young padawan!!!

 

[Edward]

(there's not an actual dark-skinned Semite anywhere in sight).

Maybe Ridley Scott was right and there just never were any Egyptian actors famous enough for the roles...

It's interesting how our expectations have (rightly) changed over time as audiences. I was just last night watching a Doctor Who serial first shown in 1963, involving Aztecs. Nothing significantly 'wrong' historically or anything, but I couldn't shake off the notion that only the B&W filmstock was shielding me from some very unfortunate 'brownface'.

 

[Edward]

You are not that far behind me, young padawan!!!

Ha, I was using the phrase rather in the manner of les Anglias - I've lived here so long, I'm going native!

 

[Bushman]

It's interesting how our expectations have (rightly) changed over time as audiences. I was just last night watching a Doctor Who serial first shown in 1963, involving Aztecs. Nothing significantly 'wrong' historically or anything, but I couldn't shake off the notion that only the B&W filmstock was shielding me from some very unfortunate 'brownface'.

On the other hand, it could also be argued that perhaps expectations changed a little too much. A common complaint nowadays is that Ancient Egypt movies have a tendency to "white wash" Egypt, when Ancient Egypt was a melting pot of Mediterranean peoples. The darkest skinned people there would have been Nubian, and these were a people who historically often went to war with Ancient Egypt, particularly in what is now the Sudan region. Even today, Egyptians are closer to being Middle Eastern than what we'd traditionally consider to be "African."

The latest uproar was caused by Gal Gadot being cast in the upcoming Cleopatra remake. Now, mind you, Cleopatra ruled during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, and the Ptolemy family hailed from Greece with a family tree that resembled a wreath. Gal Gadot, being of Mediterranean descent, is the perfect casting choice for a Mediterranean-born Queen of Egypt.

 

[Edward]

On the other hand, it could also be argued that perhaps expectations changed a little too much. A common complaint nowadays is that Ancient Egypt movies have a tendency to "white wash" Egypt, when Ancient Egypt was a melting pot of Mediterranean peoples. The darkest skinned people there would have been Nubian, and these were a people who historically often went to war with Ancient Egypt, particularly in what is now the Sudan region. Even today, Egyptians are closer to being Middle Eastern than what we'd traditionally consider to be "African."

The latest uproar was caused by Gal Gadot being cast in the upcoming Cleopatra remake. Now, mind you, Cleopatra ruled during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, and the Ptolemy family hailed from Greece with a family tree that resembled a wreath. Gal Gadot, being of Mediterranean descent, is the perfect casting choice for a Mediterranean-born Queen of Egypt.

That's true enough, though surely still a world away from lilywhite folks being cast in these roles. Gal Gadot is a good casting in the role, much more so than Liz Taylor!

Didn't know they were remaking that one, actually. I wonder will it be as long this time?

 

[Bushman]

Didn't know they were remaking that one, actually. I wonder will it be as long this time?

Hollywood hasn't been shying away from 3hr movies as much in the last couple years, though their need to re-adopt the intermission is pressing.

 

[Harp]

The latest uproar was caused by Gal Gadot being cast in the upcoming Cleopatra remake. Now, mind you, Cleopatra ruled during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, and the Ptolemy family hailed from Greece with a family tree that resembled a wreath. Gal Gadot, being of Mediterranean descent, is the perfect casting choice for a Mediterranean-born Queen of Egypt.

Cleopatra may have hailed Hellenic descent but Gal Godot is Jewish, not Mediterranean but more Red Sea.
Not that I object to her cast as Cleo though...

 

[Bushman]

Cleopatra may have hailed Hellenic descent but Gal Godot is Jewish, not Mediterranean but more Red Sea.
Not that I object to her cast as Cleo though...

It was my understanding she was Israeli, which borders the Mediterranean.

 

[MisterCairo]

Ha, I was using the phrase rather in the manner of les Anglias - I've lived here so long, I'm going native!

 

[MisterCairo]

Cleopatra may have hailed Hellenic descent but Gal Godot is Jewish, not Mediterranean but more Red Sea.
Not that I object to her cast as Cleo though...

I may not be an expert in geography, but Israel borders the Med. Having sailed with the RCN in 2007 in the eastern Med, and having been lit up by an Israeli fighter, I'd say Mediterranean was not an inappropriate descriptor, if not what is traditionally thought of (Italian, Greek, etc.).

FYI - Jewish describes a religion, not a geographic origin.