Ladies and gentlemen, young and old,
this may seem an unusual procedure,
speaking to you before the picture begins,
but we have an unusual subject - the story of the birth of freedom.
The story of Moses.
As many of you know, the Holy Bible omits some 30 years of Moses' life,
from the time he was a three-month-old baby
and was found in the bulrushes by Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh,
and adopted into the court of Egypt until he learned that he was Hebrew
and killed the Egyptian.
To fill in those missing years we turned to ancient historians
such as Philo and Josephus.
Philo wrote at the time that Jesus of Nazareth walked the Earth,
and Josephus wrote some 50 years later
and watched the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.
These historians had access to documents long since destroyed
or perhaps lost, like the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The theme of this picture is whether men are to be ruled by God's law,
or whether they are to be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Rameses.
Are men the property of the state
or are they free souls under God?
This same battle continues throughout the world today.
Our intention was not to create a story,
but to be worthy of the divinely inspired story
created 3,000 years ago.
The five books of Moses.
The story takes three hours and 39 minutes to unfold.
There will be an intermission.
Thank you for your attention.
And God said, "Let there be light. "
And there was light.
And from this light God created life upon Earth.
And man was given dominion over all things upon this Earth,
and the power to choose between good and evil,
but each sought to do his own will
because he knew not the light of God's law.
Man took dominion over man.
The conquered were made to serve the conqueror.
The weak were made to serve the strong.
And freedom was gone from the world.
So did the Egyptians cause the children of Israel
to serve with rigour,
and their lives were made bitter with hard bondage
and their cry came up unto God and God heard them.
And cast into Egypt,
into the lowly hut of Amram and Yochabel, the seed of a man
upon whose mind and heart would be written
God's law and God's commandments.
One man to stand alone against an empire.
Divine one, last night our astrologers saw an evil star
enter into the house of Egypt.
Meaning war?
What nation would dare draw the sword against us?
The enemy to fear is in Egypt.
What?
The Hebrew slaves in the land of Goshen.
I number my enemies by their swords, not by their chains, High Priest.
Chains have been forged into swords before now.
There is a prophecy of a deliverer. The star proclaims his birth.
Then, let the Hebrews die.
Slaves are wealth, Commander.
The more slaves we have, the more bricks we make.
I would see fewer bricks made and fewer Hebrews in Goshen.
It is our eastern gate.
Since this deliverer is amongst their newborn,
only their newborn need die.
Every newborn Hebrew man child shall die.
So let it be written, so let it be done.
So speaks Rameses the First.
No! Oh...
Oh, no!
Please! Please! No!
God of Abraham, take my child into thy hands,
that he may live to thy service.
We have not even given him a name.
God will give him a name.
Follow it, Miriam. Watch it from the reeds.
See where the Lord will lead him.
Yes, Mother.
- Why didn't you say no? - She didn't think of it.
Here! Throw!
- You're getting fat. - Too many sesame cakes!
Catch a lotus and you catch a wish.
What will you wish for, gold or a man?
Gold, of course.
- That'll get any man! - It won't fill an empty heart.
Quiet, you chattering geese.
Memnet, you're only happy when you're miserable.
You fools! Talk of empty hearts before the Pharaoh's daughter.
What is there in her heart but the memory of a dead husband?
It wasn't with bad feelings, Memnet.
Look, there's something here!
Be sure it's not a crocodile!
Bithiah can charm tears from a crocodile.
What is it, Bithiah?
Only a drifting basket.
- Shall we come and help you get it? - Memnet, send the girls away.
Now see what you've done. Back to the palace, all of you.
- All of you. Musicians, too. - We wouldn't hurt Bithiah.
Bithiah's tired of you and so am I.
- You're tired of everything. - Go on. Off you go.
Go on. Hurry up! You've hurt her enough.
- What have you found? - The answer to my prayers.
You prayed for a basket?
No... I prayed for a son.
Your husband is in the house of the dead.
He has asked the Nile god to bring me this beautiful boy.
Do you know the pattern of this cloth?
If my son is covered in it...
it is royal robe.
Royal? It is the cloth of a Hebrew slave.
He was put upon the water to save him from your father's edict.
I am the Pharaoh's daughter and this is my son.
He shall be reared in my house as the Prince of the Two Lands.
My mother and her mother were branded to the Pharaoh's service.
I will not see a son of slaves made a prince of Egypt.
You WILL see it, Memnet.
You will see him walk with his head among the eagles.
You will serve him as you serve me.
Fill the ark with water. Sink it into silence.
Raise your hands, Memnet.
What you have buried in the Nile shall remain buried in your heart.
- Swear it. - I will be silent.
The day you break that oath will be the last your eyes shall ever see.
You will be the glory of Egypt, my son.
Mighty in words and deeds. Kings shall bow before you.
Your name will live when the pyramids are dust.
And...
because I drew you from the water, you shall be called Moses.
He proclaims his coming from afar, does he not, my son?
Such favour with the people can be dangerous, Great Sethi.
To whom, Rameses? To me or to you?
Fame can turn a prince against his Pharaoh.
Envy can turn a brother against his brother.
Envy is for the weak.
Beauty is for the strong. That is what you have in mind.
If you mean Nefretiri, yes, my father.
Is it her beauty that attracts you
or the fact that she must marry the man I choose to succeed me?
I am the son of your body.
Who else could be your heir?
The man best able to rule Egypt will follow me.
I owe that to my fathers... not to my sons.
- Then I shall follow you. - Shall you?
Do not let ambition shave your prince's lock.
I sent Moses to destroy a city. He returns in triumph.
I sent you to build a city. Where is it?
It will rise when I have put fear into the Hebrew slaves who build it.
But this I know, my father...
no pretended brother will ever have your crown...
or Nefretiri.
Indeed?
Whoever I choose shall have my crown...
AND Nefretiri.
I think I see him, Memnet.
Yes, I can see him!
Listen, Memnet. Listen.
The trumpets tell all the world he's come back to me.
Hear them.
And all those shouts are drowned by the beating of my heart.
Do you hear, Memnet? A whole city calls his name.
I hear them, Nefretiri.
The Lord Moses, Prince of Egypt, son of the Pharaoh's sister,
beloved of the Nile god, commander of the Southern Host.
Welcome home!
Prince Moses!
Blessings be upon you. He has brought down the pride of Ethiopia.
The old windbag!
- I agree with him. - May your name be exalted on Earth,
even as the sun is exalted in the heavens.
Welcome to my sister's son. We have heard how you took ibis from the Nile
to kill venomous serpents when you laid siege to the city of Sabba.
May my arms stay strong in your service.
Who is this fair young god come into the house of Pharaoh?
No need to tell you how I share her joy at your return.
No need, my brother.
Great one, I bring you Ethiopia!
Command them to kneel before Pharaoh.
Command what YOU have conquered.
I bring the Ethiopian king and his sister in friendship,
as an ally to guard our southern gates.
My son has dealt wisely with you, Ethiopia. Welcome as a friend.
Great king, I will ask but one favour of your friendship.
This green stone from our mountains...
that I may give it to your Prince of Egypt... for he is kind...
as well as wise.
It is pleasing to the gods to see a man honoured by his enemies.
And such a beautiful enemy!
See to their comfort.
Divine one, here is the full count of Ethiopia's tribute.
Bearers!
I am sending down the Nile 20 barges of such wealth as you see here.
Logs of ebony and trees of myrrą, all for your new treasure city.
A handsome tribute indeed, Moses.
- But I have no new treasure city. - And you will have none.
The slaves die rather than bend their backs in your service.
Why?
They believe a deliverer has come to lead them from their bondage.
Deliverer?!
He has been foretold since my father's time.
Now you make him an excuse for your failure.
I do not make excuses.
If you doubt me, let Moses build a city.
No! No. He's just trying to keep Moses away from you, Sethi.
Or you, perhaps.
I think our roosters would crow more softly on another roof.
Stand before me, both of you.
Would you please your Pharaoh, Moses?
- Your wish is my will. - Then you build my city.
A wise decision. A noble task.
Rameses, do you believe this slave deliverer is a myth?
What I believe is of no account.
What matters is the slaves believe in him.
Of course, of course.
Then you, too, shall go to Goshen.
Learn if this deliverer be a myth or a man.
If a myth, bring him in a bottle. If a man, bring him to me in chains.
So let it be written, so let it be done.
Your fragrance is like the wine of Babylon.
I could...
But you are the throne princess and by the Pharaoh's law,
you can marry only a Pharaoh.
I SHALL marry a Pharaoh...
you.
Rameses might not like that idea.
Sethi might. When you were gone, I kept your name on his lips.
But unless you succeed, you'll be prince of some province
and I'll be Rameses' wife.
Build a city for him and Sethi will deny you nothing.
I will build the city for love of Sethi, not the throne of Egypt.
But I am Egypt.
Now the flame you lighted burns close to the throne.
Your tongue would dig your grave, Memnet.
A conqueror already conquered?
The first face I looked for and the last I find. Mother.
I was thanking the gods for your safe return.
But I find you in grave danger here.
Intoxicating danger, Mother.
Marry her if you can, my son, but never fall in love with her.
I'll be less trouble than the Hebrews of Goshen.
You've guzzled enough. Bring those bricks up and get on.
You, there's other swine to water.
Get those bricks back on.
- Here! Waterlily! - My name is Lilia.
To me you are a lily and I want water.
Joshua...
Joshua, I thought you'd never come down.
Water before love, my girl.
Does it take the whole Nile to quench your thirst?
No, just your lips.
Careful, my love. Dathan's eyes can see through stone.
Dathan is a vulture feeding on the flesh of his own people.
When he looks at me, I'm afraid.
If he touches you, I'll strangle him.
And bring death to 1,000 others?
Is life in bondage better than death?
Joshua, we must have hope.
God will send us the deliverer.
Hope? On the heels of every hope walks Dathan.
You're Dathan, the Hebrew overseer.
CHIEF Hebrew overseer, mighty one.
Baka, the master builder, has told me that I can rely on you.
I am warmed by his favour.
Rely on you to sell your own mother for a price.
And who am I to deny the word of the master builder?
Where is this would-be deliverer who would set the Hebrews free?
Who can say, immortal prince?
They do not confide in me.
- But it is possible to learn. - No doubt.
You have rat's ears and a ferret's nose.
To use in your service, son of Pharaoh.
Add to them the eyes of a weasel and find me this deliverer.
Old woman! Old woman!
More grease under the centre stone.
- Yochabel! - Help me!
Stop the stone!
Keep pulling up there.
Yochabel is caught. Stop the stone!
- Pull! - You'll kill her! Stop the stone!
We don't stop a moving block for an old woman.
Lay on the lash! Keep it moving!
Stop the stone! Stop the stone!
Hold the ropes!
- Cut the old woman loose. - You'll die in a limepit.
- Joshua! - Run to the prince and beg mercy.
Mercy from Rameses?!
No, the Prince Moses, there on the pavilion.
After her! After her!
Stop her!
Stop that girl!
The water girl, stop her!
Stop her!
Mercy, Prince Moses!
- Mercy, Prince Moses! - Come here.
- Mercy? What have you done? - Not for myself, Lord Prince.
For a slave who saved Yochabel and me from death between the blocks.
A delicate flower to be pressed between stone blocks.
How were you saved?
- A stonecutter struck the overseer. - There can be one punishment.
Blood makes poor mortar. Come.
Prince Moses!
Get away, you!
Would you bury the old woman alive in a tomb of rock?
My noble one, it caught. I had not the strength to free myself.
Your shoulder should not bear a burden, old woman.
The Lord has renewed my strength and lightened my burdens.
He would have done better to remove them.
They use the old ones to grease the stones, Lord Prince.
If they are killed, it is no loss.
Are you a builder or a butcher?
If we stopped when a grease woman falls, the city would never rise.
The slaves must be driven.
Their work lags for lack of food.
- You seem strong. - I am a stonecutter.
- Pharoahs like their images deep. - Hold your whip!
You know it is death to strike an Egyptian?
I know it.
- Yet you struck him? - To save the woman.
- What is she to you? - An old woman.
Lord Prince, send him to his death.
The man has courage. You do not speak like a slave.
God made men. Men made slaves.
Which god?
The God of Abraham, the almighty God.
If he is almighty, why does he leave you in bondage?
He will choose the hour of our freedom and our deliverer.
- This man speaks treason. - It is not treason to want freedom.
Release him.
Difficulty with the slaves, my brother?
None that could not be cured by a ration of grain and a day of rest.
A day of rest?
When your horses tire, they're rested.
When they hunger, they're fed.
Slaves draw stone and brick. My horses draw the next Pharaoh.
- Is any grain stored in Goshen? - None that you would dare take.
The temple granaries are full.
Bring the push-pull men and some women with baskets.
I will... great prince.
I warn you, Moses, the temple grain belongs to the gods.
What the gods can digest will not sour in the belly of a slave.
You, back where you belong!
I have the prince's orders. Get 100 women with baskets.
Elisheba, bring your basket.
Push-pullers, follow me.
Out of the way!
Break open the bins.
Out of the way. Stand back.
A- ha!
Well, well.
- Divine one... - Hmm?
- There! - Oh!
- My jackals have your hounds at bay. - Dogs at bay are dangerous.
When they walk upright and feed on temple grain.
You don't like Moses, but the city's being built and I'm winning the game,
so don't interrupt us with trifles.
Before your city is finished these trifles will surprise you.
Life is full of surprises.
And today I have one for you, my kitten.
And Rameses.
You crocodile!
Triples. You've lost. I'll never let you win again.
Aha! You thought that by losing to me you would win for Moses.
Well, crowns can be lost by smiles and dimples.
- And so is patience. - Yours.
Are my jubilee plans complete?
All but your proclamation for the marriage of Rameses to Nefretiri.
No.
Are you sure it will be Rameses?
Who else could succeed you?
Moses, of course.
Because of Moses there is no wheat in the temple granaries.
You don't look any leaner.
- You're both generous with advice. - Will you take mine?
I will choose my own successor.
Did you lose your head, my sweet?
You were to bring me the head of the jackal who would free the slaves.
The slaves do not need a deliverer. They have Moses.
Is that a riddle?
He gives them the priest's grain and one day in seven to rest.
They call it the day of Moses.
- He makes himself a god. - I prefer him as a man.
You would prefer him as Pharaoh.
- Are you afraid of Moses? - Yes.
Ethiopia and Goshen are in his hands and you are in between them.
He would not raise the slaves against me. I've been his father.
Ambition knows no father.
Moses could no more betray you than I could.
He can tell me that when he arrives.
- He will not be here, my father. - What?
I sent for both of you.
His word is that he cannot attend you, being pressed by other matters.
Did you hear that? Other matters?
My escort.
I will ride with you, my son,
to see what rears itself in Goshen, a city or treason.
You lying adder! You'll destroy yourself with your own venom
if you try to turn Sethi against Moses.
You would turn Sethi against me.