You just can't make this stuff up.
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Steven Spielberg To Direct Moses Movie For Warner Bros -- Near Commitment
http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/steven-spielberg-moses-movie-gods-and-kings-warner-bros/
[excerpt]
"Meanwhile this marks the second high-profile film Warner Bros is developing on a seminal Jewish hero. Mel Gibson and Joe Eszterhas are collaborating on their pitch to tell the story of Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee, who teamed with his father and four brothers to lead the Jewish revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that had conquered Judea in the 2nd century B.C. Gibson has the first option to direct, and he will produce the film through his Icon Productions banner."
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Michael Hoffman comments:
It would all be terrific if these movies were all going to be strictly in accord with the Bible, rather than the Talmud.
I wouldn't jump to conclusions on Gibson's proposed movie. First, Hollywood execrates him, especially since his Russian inamorata episode; and second, Maccabees is in the Apocrypha, which Catholics accept as Scripture; but if Gibson embroiders it with Hanukkah folderol then we know he is trying to rehabilitate his reputation with the Sanhedrin. But until that happens, he should be given the benefit of the doubt.
With Spielberg - how will he portray the appearance of the Israelites: with the physiognomy of the Lower East Side, or of Max Von Sydow?
And will his "Moses" movie be a thinly veiled parable of Israeli Zionists vs. evil camel jockeys?
Will he play an occult angle vis a vis the Egyptian magic that is the cradle of the sorcery and superstition of the Kabbalah and Talmud?
In the secret writings of the rabbis their canonical texts are referred to as the "burial place of Moses" (in other words, of the nullification of Mosaic law). So in fact, Moses has nothing to do with Orthodox Judaism except as a billboard falsely advertising the religion's alleged Biblical bona fides.
By the way, we should give credit where credit is due: Spielberg was reasonably fair to the Germans depicted in his schmaltzy World War I film "War Horse.”
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Gibson has been planning the Macabee production at least ever since "The Passion" was released. I remember this because certain critics were already lampooning his next project as possibly depicting the Macabees using machine guns to destroy the temple, etc. After a recent re-viewing of "Braveheart," I have a new appreciation for what Gibson attempts to do in his films. Although I have not seen either "The Passion" or "Apocolypto," the scenes from "Braveheart" where he depicts the deeply held Catholic faith of the Scots would not have come from many other producers or directors alive today, specifically the glimpse given of the Catholic priest retrieving the wounded from the battlefield while the fight is raging. The film had its faults, but the respect and honor given to the Catholic faith in that movie was remarkable.
ReplyDeleteSpielberg is another matter. I expect a thorough undercurrent of the Talmud throughout that work, otherwise it wouldn't be made.
Why Spielberg? How can Mel work with him, I don't understand this.
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of Mel though. Hopefully he stays true to his faith and his world view. Braveheart, The Patriot, The Passion, GREAT FILMS!
To Basil
ReplyDeleteSpielberg would not and is not working with Mel Gibson.
The two film projects are entirely separate.