Egypt has banned the Hollywood biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, citing historical inaccuracies, the culture minister said on Friday. The decision comes a day after a similar move by Morocco.

The film, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Christian Bale, relates how Moses helped Israelite slaves flee persecution in Egypt under the Pharaoh Ramses by parting the Red Sea to let them cross safely. The Egyptian culture minister, Gaber Asfour, said the film was rife with mistakes, including an apparent claim that “Moses and the Jews built the pyramids”.

“This totally contradicts proven historical facts,” Asfour said.

“It is a Zionist film,” he said. “It gives a Zionist view of history and contains historical inaccuracies and that’s why we have decided to ban it.”

The ban was decided by a committee comprising the head of the supreme council for culture, Mohammed Afifi, the head of the censorship committee and two history professors, Asfour said.

Afifi said he took issue with the scene showing the parting of the Red Sea in which Moses – a prophet revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike – is seen holding a “sword” like a warrior, instead of a “stick”. Furthermore, he said, the parting of the Red Sea was explained in the movie as a “tidal phenomenon” rather than a divine miracle.

Morocco has also banned the film, despite it having been approved by the state-run Moroccan Cinema Centre, media reported on Thursday, quoting theatre managers. Hassan Belkady, who runs Cinema Rif in Casablanca, told media24 news website that he had been threatened with the closure of his business if he ignored the ban.

“They phoned and threatened they would shut down the theatre if I did not take the film off the schedule,” Belkady said.

In March, Al-Azhar, Egypt’s top Islamic body, banned the screening of Noah, starring Russell Crowe, another Hollywood biblical epic, saying it violated Islam by portraying a prophet. The film triggered controversy in the US, where some Christian institutions criticised Crowe’s unconventional portrayal of Noah.

Exodus has also sparked unkind reviews and upset some Christian groups, with critics saying Scott took too many liberties with the Bible and cast western actors in middle-eastern roles.

Egypt has censored other movies, including the blockbuster The Da Vinci Code after protests from the Orthodox Coptic Church. But it did allow the screening of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ.



The official movie poster for 'Exodus: Gods and Kings.' Photo: IMDb.

Egypt has banned the Hollywood film Exodus: Gods & Kings citing “historical inaccuracies,” one of which being that according to the government, Jewish slaves did not build the pyramids, the BBC reported on Friday.

The head of the country’s censorship board claimed that other historical fallacies include the film’s depiction that an earthquake, not a godly miracle, caused the Red Sea to split as the Hebrew slaves fled.

According to the biblical tale Moses led the Hebrew slaves to freedom after God inflicted ten plagues on Egypt. The bible also describes how the Red Sea was parted by a miracle performed by God through Moses. The splitting of the sea allowed the Israelites to escape from the Egyptian army that chased them down.

Earlier reports said that the film has also been banned in Morocco, according to BBC. The state-run Moroccan Cinema Centre (CCM) had initially allowed the film, but Moroccan business website Medias24.com reported that officials decided to ban screenings of the movie the day before its premiere.

Exodus: Gods and Kings reportedly cost $140 million to make and it pulled in $24.5 million in the box office during its opening weekend. The film stars Christian Bale as Moses.

Morocco banned the Hollywood biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings because it “represents God” which is forbidden under Islam, its distributor said on Saturday.

The distributor said it had received written notice that Ridley Scott’s blockbuster contained a scene that represents God in the form of a “child who gives a revelation to the prophet Moses”.

Initially, cinema owners were informed verbally that the film had been banned, media reports had said.

“I deplore this censorship,” distributor Mounia Layadi Benkirane said in a statement.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, has also banned the movie, citing “historical inaccuracies”.

Moroccan media on Thursday reported that cinema managers had been told not to screen the film, despite its release already having been approved by the state-run Moroccan Cinema Centre (MCC). Hassan Belkady, who runs Cinema Rif in Casablanca, said he had been threatened with the closure of his business if he ignored the ban.

“They phoned and threatened they would shut down the theatre if I did not take the film off the schedule,” Belkady said.

Distributor Benkirane, who also runs the Colisseum cinema in Marrakesh, said Exodus has now been pulled from the schedules.

“The last screening was on Friday night at 21.30. I respect the decision of the MCC board,” she said, but added that she did not understand why the decision was taken. “The child through whom Moses receives the revelation in the film at no time says he is God,” she said, noting that such a film ban is “very rare” in the North African country.

Neither the head of the MCC nor the communications ministry could be immediately contacted to comment on the issue.

Benkirane said the film could have resulted in 35,000 ticket sales in Morocco and earned 1.8 million dirhams. Now the buzz caused by the controversy “will profit only the pirates who continue to peddle the film”, she said.

The 3D Exodus: Gods and Kings, starring Christian Bale as Moses rising up against the Pharaoh Ramses, earned $24.1m in its debut weekend in the US, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Well the movie also misrepresented the bible. Didn't know when I shouted "Haba Nollywood!!!!" in the cinema when I first saw it. Nonsense film.