AllMovie

Ben Kingsley portrays a very human Moses in this worthy production about the Old Testament figure. Unlike the heroic Moses of Charlton Heston in Cecil B. DeMille's lavish 1954 motion picture The Ten Commandments, the Moses of Kingsley in this Roger Young TV miniseries is ordinary, flawed, even timid at times. He stammers before Pharaoh. He cringes before the burning bush. He begs God not to bind him to the task of liberating the Jews. He anguishes at the report that only he survived the slaughter of first-born Jewish males. But Moses carries on, summoning a resolve born of his faith, as Kingsley demonstrates convincingly. Kingsley's Indian and Jewish heritage works well for him in Moses. Bearded and dark-skinned, with jet black hair, he looks the part of a Middle Eastern holy man. That he lacks the sinew and stature of Heston only enhances his performance, for his deeds become all the more impressive by comparison to his appearance. Christopher Lee and Frank Langella, though both wholly occidental, make fine father and son pharaohs -- haughty, uncompromising surrogates of Egypt's supreme being, Ra. Perhaps their acting background (each having once portrayed Dracula) gave them special insight into the undercurrents of the soul that can capsize a man's humanity. For the most part, the rest of the actors also perform with distinction. Although the film eschews the pomp and splendor of the 1954 DeMille production, it does use special effects to advantage when the time comes to part the Red Sea or turn a wooden rod into a cobra. All daytime scenes are tinted in amber, like Egypt and the Middle Eastern landscape. Night scenes take on a bluish patina. But there is a similarity between the colorful DeMille production and this one: God speaks to Moses in a deep, resonant voice. Perhaps He liked this production just as much as the earlier one.