In the Beginning

"In the Beginning" is a movie(mini) that takes us through the five first books in the Bible. You can expect some visual effects, and average acting.

I did not enjoy the movie, but I didn't either hate it, so watch it once, and let go with that. I rate it 5/10.

The best way to accurately give a review of this look at Genesis and the Bible, is to call it a film based on "literary license" or "poetic license" for the motivation of characters involved.

For example, when one reads Genesis, one can't find a reason to legitimize the deceit Jacob shows in stealing from his brother.

This also lead to the quandary of how it was recorded in the first place. If Jacob was just a selfish thief, why would the first people who recorded the story even say he was justified? This film sets out to give plausible explanations for such questions.

Are they the correct interpretations? Who knows? They certainly fit the criteria of "credibility" for the way in which the stories are recorded.

That's because we not only deal with the stories, but with the people who record them, and who listen to them.

The men make mistakes, but learn from them.

I was most impressed with the saga of Jacob.

The most disappointing to me, was the story of the twelve sons of Jacob. I understand why, though. Very few films have the time to delve into twelve characters. It's natural to show Reuben's first born mistakes, and the cruelty of Simeon. Here, the cruelty of Levi is left out, probably because there is a need to go to the important fourth brother of Judah.

All in all, it's a credible rendition that is worth watching, if only to agree or disagree with.

I enjoyed this though I found the disclaimer at the beginning amusing. I didn't look in my Bible to see how close to the text it was but found the stories involving and the effects passable (I'm usually concerned with reverent truthful approaches to the subject matter). Dramatic license? Sure...but better than most efforts. Joseph's reunion with his father was particularly touching. Enjoy this film...I did!

As typical, the Christianised version tried to 'rationalise' the Biblical story. For example, the parting of the Red Sea is described in the Bible that the Children of Israel travelled on 'dry land' not mud. Aaron's staff swallowed the other staffs - the fact that the snake swallowed other snakes would not have been frightening. Moses and Aaron were 80 and 83 respectively, not 30 & 40. Moses did not age - the final section of Deuteronomy testifies to this. However, these are details. But skipping the revelation at Mount Sinai - that was sacreligious. This is the central event that has shaped the Children of Israel (read Jews) for more than three millenia. This is what separates montheistic Judaism from all other religions - the direct communication between God and two million people. All other religions started with a single charismatic person infusing belief in others. Judaism is based upon the witnessing of the diving revelation by the entire nation. Without this event, what was so bad about the Golden Calf? (Incidentally, the reason why Aaron acquiesed is that his nephew was killed when he protested and that Aaron procrastinated rather than see more bloodshed.) Also, no mention is made of the Biblical reason why the Children of Israel stayed in the desert for 40 years - the spies who betrayed them. Moses was not allowed into the land of Israel because of his miscontruing the command to grant water from the rock (in the final year of wandering after the death of Miriam). I agree with another reader that it's better to focus on a specific event, or dedicate the appropriate amount of time - 10+ hours - to really telling the story, even using the plain text of the Bible. Here we have a disjointed story, poor visual FX, bad makeup (Moses' beard was laughable) and villains who the audience were begged to sympathise with (Rameses II was a typical despot who only let the Israelites go because he was a firstborn and he thought he would die.) My rating - 1 out 5 - at least they got most of the names right.

This is another of those well-intentioned Biblical TV-movies that comes across as a mixture of a Sunday School lesson and Cliff Notes for the Bible. A decent cast is wasted in superficial summaries, and the FX are simply cheesy. Instead of trying to tell everything from Creation to the Chosen People arriving in the Promised Land in two two-hour segments (with a total story time of less than three hours), it might have been better to focus more on one or two stories at most.