Saturday, December 19, 1998

DreamWorks gets it right in Moses film

By JUDY TARJANYI

Toledo Blade

A headline on a story about "The Prince of Egypt" in the December issue of Focus on the Family's December magazine reads, "Hollywood Gets One Right," and it appears that, at least as far as some religious groups are concerned, this time they did.

DreamWorks SKG, the studio formed by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, went straight to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders for advice when work began on the animated story of Moses from the biblical book of Exodus.

The homework paid off. Not only is t film being applauded in advance of its Friday release, but DreamWorks has earned high marks by inviting religious representatives into the production process.

Among those who were asked for their input were Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Dr. James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Evangelist Billy Graham; Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations; Rabbi Eric Yoffie of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, and David Harris of the American Jewish Committee.

DreamWorks also consulted two prominent biblical scholars and named an attorney with a background in interfaith relations and religious studies to act as a liaison to the religious community.

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, who was among the Jewish leaders the studio consulted, said he was surprised at the invitation because of Hollywood's uncaring reputation.

"What I found to my amazement was a super-sensitive concern as to how this will be taken and viewed and received. And what I found refreshing at a time when everybody is throwing brickbats at Hollywood was that Jeffrey Katzenberg said to me at one point, 'It's not like buying somebody's property or a novel or a story. This is the Bible. It belongs to everybody and therefore needs to be more sensitive.' "

Foxman said he likes the film's telling of the story of Moses, whose voice is actor Val Kilmer's.

"I found it to be an accurate, uplifting, entertaining film." Although having seen the film in its developmental stages, he wasn't sure how it was going to come out, Foxman said when he did view it, he concluded, "They succeeded."

Tom Neven, editor of Focus on the Family's monthly magazine and the father of two children, ages 9 and 11, said he saw a not-quite-final version of the film in September along with two other Focus staff members. "I loved it," he said. "I can't wait to go back and take my kids to it. I think it's just a really good movie, just on the technical merits alone. It's a real eye-popper, well-done and very engrossing."

Neven said it was good to see a studio that didn't go out of its way to offend people's religious sensibilities. "It was really refreshing to have someone make the effort to try and get things right, to understand the sensibilities of various groups."

Although Muslims also were invited into the process, DreamWorks couldn't do much about their major objection without calling off the project altogether.

CAIR's Hooper explained that his group could not endorse the film because they believe that a realistic portrayal of a prophet could lead people to worship a human being instead of God.

Despite that, he said, he was pleased with the process the studio used to consult experts from various religious groups about the film. He was one of about a dozen other representatives of Islam who were asked for their advice and said he had the sense that they were heard.

Apart from their concerns about portraying the prophet on film, Hooper said Muslims wanted to make sure the story line was not represented in contemporary political terms. "Mr. Katzenberg told me personally he would do everything he could to keep that from happening."

Hooper said he has seen the film and believes it presents an accurate portrayal. As for the depiction of Moses, he said, "We understand that other people have rights to the portrayal of Moses because he's not just a prophet in Islam, but one for Christianity and Judaism as well."

ADL's Foxman said whatever advice religious leaders provided was just that. "There was no commitment that they had to take it, yet they listened to a lot of people.

"... There is a thin line between censorship and advice, and I think they walked it very, very delicately, and I think the result shows a sensitivity without hurting the product, which I think has to be entertaining."

Neven said in his magazine article that one of the changes DreamWorks made in response to comments from religious consultants was to use the word "blood" instead of "mark" to refer to the sign by which the Jews would be spared the final plague.

He said the studio also makes clear in a disclaimer that there were several alterations to the story for artistic or production purposes and refers viewers interested in the story to the biblical book of Exodus.

Another concession to religious sensibilities was the decision not to market the film via Prince of Egypt Burger King toys. As an alternative, Wal-Mart will sell promotional packages with movie tickets, a CD, and souvenir book.

"We're very quick to bash Hollywood and rightly so sometimes when they really do turn out offensive material," Neven said. "When they stick their neck out and do the right thing, I think we should support them in doing that."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)