I guess when EXODUS was adapted from the Uris novel ( I've not read the book so any criticisms are to do with the book being translated to screen ) the creation of the Jewish State Of Israel and events surrounding would have been fresh in everyone's mind . This leads to a fairly serious problem watching the movie in 2005 and that's factual events are skimmed over with little explanation . Or maybe the facts presented are done so in such a simplistic manner they are totally confusing to a present day audience with no knowledge of the present Israeli Arab conflicts For example the Haganah and Irgun are important to the plot . Do we have any satisfactory explanation to what they are ? There is a brief throwaway line about the differences between the two but it's hardly factual unless you believe the Haganah were a sort of Jewish Greenpeace .Likewise we're shown the bombing of The St David Hotel but it's skated over so slightly as to be deemed offensive . Did you know that many Jews died in the atrocity ? Did you know that after the bombing David Ben Guerion ( Look him up in a search engine - He was far more important than this movie makes out ) described the Irgun as " The enemy of the Jewish people " ? And the prison breakout at Acre seems to be totally Hollywoodized
Okay it's not a documentary , but this simplicity seems to interfere with character motivation where Ari Ben Canaan decides to switch from the Haganah to the Irgun because " We'll need all the men we can get to fight the Arabs " . This unconvincing on screen character motivation combined with the length of the movie gives the whole scenario a feel of pot boiler mini series rather than a historical document , so by the time we're introduced to Ari's best friend from childhood - An Arab of course - and an escaped Nazi war criminal I was expecting Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Seymour to put in an appearance somewhere
I hope I'm not contradicting myself here but I found the tone of the movie very grim and much of this is down to bad things happening to good people and vice versa . Innocent people die while terrorists on both sides survive beyond the final reel , but I know that in real life karma ( The mystical concept that people get what they truly deserve in life ) doesn't exist so maybe I shouldn't criticise too hard . What I do know is that you won't be doing too much laughing watching this movie
EXODUS isn't a total waste of time and has some positives . Even reviewers who have expressed a dislike for the movie have credited the good cast and of course the score . It's also interesting to note that while movies featuring the Irish troubles are nearly always totally Anglophobic ( THE DEVIL'S OWN being a good example ) the Brits here while not exactly being shown as heroes aren't exactly shown as being villains either and a character does praise the conduct of the British Army during the mandate period along with General Sutherland being shown in a very sympathetic light - You don't have to be Jewish to sympathise with the Jews
As for my own opinions of modern day Israelis I would say I respect and admire them more than I actually like them while EXODUS is a film that is very difficult to admire and respect though is not entirely unlikable
Okay it's not a documentary , but this simplicity seems to interfere with character motivation where Ari Ben Canaan decides to switch from the Haganah to the Irgun because " We'll need all the men we can get to fight the Arabs " . This unconvincing on screen character motivation combined with the length of the movie gives the whole scenario a feel of pot boiler mini series rather than a historical document , so by the time we're introduced to Ari's best friend from childhood - An Arab of course - and an escaped Nazi war criminal I was expecting Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Seymour to put in an appearance somewhere
I hope I'm not contradicting myself here but I found the tone of the movie very grim and much of this is down to bad things happening to good people and vice versa . Innocent people die while terrorists on both sides survive beyond the final reel , but I know that in real life karma ( The mystical concept that people get what they truly deserve in life ) doesn't exist so maybe I shouldn't criticise too hard . What I do know is that you won't be doing too much laughing watching this movie
EXODUS isn't a total waste of time and has some positives . Even reviewers who have expressed a dislike for the movie have credited the good cast and of course the score . It's also interesting to note that while movies featuring the Irish troubles are nearly always totally Anglophobic ( THE DEVIL'S OWN being a good example ) the Brits here while not exactly being shown as heroes aren't exactly shown as being villains either and a character does praise the conduct of the British Army during the mandate period along with General Sutherland being shown in a very sympathetic light - You don't have to be Jewish to sympathise with the Jews
As for my own opinions of modern day Israelis I would say I respect and admire them more than I actually like them while EXODUS is a film that is very difficult to admire and respect though is not entirely unlikable