The 20th Century Fox-distributed Exodus: God and Kings, the latest film adaptation of the biblical epic, will begin screening in cinemas on December 12, 2014. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film stars Christian Bale as Moses and Joel Edgerton as his Egyptian stepbrother Ramses II. As written by Steven Zaillian, Bill Collage and Adam Cooper, the movie's storyline explores the conflict and struggle between these two leaders in the Hebrew's fight for freedom from the yoke of Egyptian slavery.
As told in the Old Testament's Book of Exodus, an Israelite orphan named Moses was raised by the Egyptian royal family as one of their own. Eventually however, Moses was chosen by the Hebrew God to lead the 600,000 enslaved Israelites out of Egypt and to deliver them to their Promised Land.
Others in the cast include Aaron Paul as Joshua, John Turturro as Pharoah Seti, Ben Kingsley as Nun, Sigourney Weaver as Moses stepmother and Egyptian Queen Tuyo, Maria Valverde as Zipporah, Indira Varma as Miriam, Hiam Abbas as Bithia, Kevork Malikyan as Jethro, and Anton Alexander as Dathan.
The all-white casting for the lead roles is currently the object of much online protest. Though the events in the film took place in Egypt, white actors have been cast to play clearly non-white roles. Fans have taken to Twitter to join the #BoycottExodusMovie movement to show their disappointment with Hollywood.
Ryan Harding of Sojourners observed, "...Throughout the history of European imperialism and colonialism this type of indoctrination was present. Depictions of white only Biblical figures (including prophets, angels, Jesus, etc.) were intentionally used to subconsciously indoctrinate the false belief of white divinity (and therefore superiority) upon the minds of the oppressed and conquered."
