Egypt, the land of pharaohs and pyramids, has recently banned the movie, "Exodus: Gods and Kings." The epic film, which was based on the Bible's Book of Exodus that starred Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton has been prohibited because of historical inaccuracies.
In spite of its Hollywood dragging influence, Egypt's censors were reportedly unimpressed with the claim of the film that an earthquake triggered the famous "Parting of the Red Sea," instead of a divine miracle by Moses. The Independent UK reported another reason that forced Egypt to ban "Exodus: Gods and Kings" was the scene that depicted the Jews building the Pyramids.
"Exodus: Gods and Kings" was directed by Ridley Scott, who was also the British director of the movie, "Gladiator." The film featured Hollywood actors Christian Bale, who played the role of Moses, and Joel Edgerton, who was cast as Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses.
Egypt was not the only nation banning "Exodus: Gods and Kings," because the film was also forbidden to be shown in Morocco, Yahoo! News reported. However, it was unclear why officials decided to ban the film.
Even if the state-run Moroccan Cinema Centre (CCM) had given the film the go signal (green light), a Moroccan business Web site called Medias24.com reported that officials had chosen to ban "Exodus: Gods and Kings" from being screened the day before its debut.
Aside from Egypt banning "Exodus: Gods and Kings," rumors have spread that Morocco, a large Muslim nation, banned the film because Muslims believed that Moses is a prophet therefore he should not be depicted on the silver screen. According to Morocco World News, the authorities cancelled Ridley Scott's epic film scheduled for Wednesday in Morocco Mall Theater.
The cancellation was announced by IMAX Morocco Mall through a Facebook post as the authorities banned the screening of the film.
It seemed that the film is indeed a controversial one. After Egypt and Morocco banned "Exodus: Gods and Kings", experts said it will likely be prohibited in most Arab nations due to its depiction of prophets, which is a major contradiction to Islamic teachings.
Though banned by Egypt and Morocco, "Exodus: Gods and Kings," has braved a series of criticisms and controversies in the US and elsewhere regarding the portrayal of the characters from the Bible and the casting controversies reported last month. Some film critics even created the hashtag "#BoycottExodusMovie" on social media.
Reacting to months of criticism over apparent lack of ethnic diversity of the film, British director Ridley denied the outrage and stressed that if white actors had not filled most of the key roles, his epic would never have got off the ground, as said on Variety.
Despite Egypt and Morocco banning the $140 million film, "Exodus: Gods and Kings," it earned $24.5 million on its premiere weekend, after mixed reviews by critics.
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