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Ashira L' Adonai...There Can be Miracles if You Believe, 14 November 2008

This 1998 animated smash hit musical about the Biblical Exodus combines all the drama, authenticity of costumes and location, and emotion of the time period from whence mankind was ultimately given the Ten Commandments. The commencement provides a view of an initially arid, serene, and timeless place whose calm is abruptly shattered by the brutality of the ancient Egyptian slave system and the anguished Israelis nearly crushed under its weight. The voice of the late Israeli folk singer Ofra Haza takes over from the gospel choir's vocal lament of the Hebrew's plight, as the young slave mother Yocheved, who along with her older son and daughter (the latter of whom is voiced by Eden Riegel) scurry to protect their infant son and brother from legalized infancticide. When so many women were unable to, Yocheved succeeded, placing her infant son in a basket and leaving him to float on the Nile as her daughter, Miriam struggles to follow it.Through this retelling of the story, a mother's cries over parting with her child at the dawn of time echo through the ages. The journey in this version of the story, is not a smooth one. The basket encounters some realistic hazards of the Nile, including snapping crocodiles, hippopotami, and a fisherman's net before reaching its place of salvation, which ironically, is the royal palace, where the Pharaoh's wife (Helen Mirren) is playing with her toddler princeling at the river's edge. Young Miriam expresses relief at her brother's safety and prays for their eventual reunion and Moses' deliverance of their people from bondage. The Queen's ascenscion of the stairs with the rescued infant in the midst of the slave's continuing toil and agony around the palace is symbolic about the occasional initial subtleness of how Man's prayers may be answered. The Bible leaves us to guess about Moses' life as a prince of Egypt.This film paints a life of carefree recklessness for Moses( Val Kilmer) and his brother, Rameses( a serious and sometimes authoritarian Ralph Fiennes), but suggests Moses' behavior towards the opposite sex was tempered by his adoptive mother as we see in his treatment of the seized Midian girl Tzipporah( Michelle Pfeiffer), who will later have a major impact on his life. While this screenplay takes liberties with the story, it fleshes out a realistic scenario of how Moses may have learned of his true heritage via a chance encounter with his now-grown biological siblings(Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum), and in frustration and rage over their plight, kills a taskmaster in defense of a slave. Fleeing Egypt in devastation, he makes his way to Midian, and en route allows himself to be buried in a sandstorm in a very dramatic scene. True to Biblical form, he saves the daughters of a bison-like Jethro (Danny Glover) from brigands, and is welcomed the Sheik of Midian's tent. Brian Stokes Mitchell's exuberant rendering of " Through Heaven's Eyes" comes into play, chronicling Moses's life among the Midianites and marriage to Tzipporah. While searching for a lost sheep, Moses is addressed by God through the burning bush, and is told the time has come to lead Israel out of bondage. A reluctant Moses confronts his one-time brother at the palace with Tzipporah (in actuality, his brother, Aaron)in tow, and the realistic feelings Moses may have had about seeing his brother again are featured in this scene. But Moses stays focused on his mission. When letting his staff turn to a serpent to demonstrate God's power, he is challenged by magicians Hotep and Huy ( Steve Martin and Martin Short, the film's comic relief), and defeats them. The song "Playing With the Big Boys Now" provides an education about the deities worshipped by the ancient Egyptians. Life for the slaves becomes harder before things improve. But Miriam encourages her brother , and the long-suffering slaves are shielded from the 10 plagues through which t