Actor Christian Bale, who plays Moses in the new film “Exodus: Gods and Kings”, spoke to the Associated Press this past week, saying his character could have been viewed by some as a terrorist in the right context.
“If you’re not religious, you can look at it as one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist,” he said. He indicated that in modern times, Moses might have been the type of man world powers send drones after.
“You look at empire and the attitudes of empire, and perhaps the necessity that for empires to exist… they (must) have actually a hierarchy among people, whether that’s spoken or unspoken. It’s fascinating. And it’s for our times because it’s very human, and Moses was a far more human and fallible character than I had imagined before.”
The film, which opened this weekend, also stars Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver and John Turturro, and was directed by Ridley Scott. It is the latest in a series of Biblical-themed movies to come out of Hollywood, and joins the ranks of “The Ten Commandments” and “Prince of Egypt” in telling the story of the Israelite exodus from Egypt.
In a later round table discussion at the movie release press conference, Bale clarified to religion writers from various media outlets, including Religion News Service, “He was a freedom fighter and the Egyptian empire would have considered him, no doubt, a terrorist. They certainly would have attempted to discredit him as such. And then just talking hypothetically, if the Egyptian empire had the technology we have today, they wouldn’t have sent chariots; they would have sent drones. It was a fairly shallow comment really.”
Bale told AP to prepare for his role, he watched Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” and Mel Brooks’ “History of the World: Part 1”. They helped him find the right balance for his character, so his portrayal of Moses did not become too haughty.
“It’s a very fine line between getting it right and doing an unwished for ‘Life of Brian,'” Bale said. He often found the movie’s discordantly cheerful “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” running through his mind on set.
Bale told AP what makes Moses so appealing to him. “A man of absolutely ridiculously strong conviction who also is capable of debilitating self-doubt just makes for a really fascinating character.”
