By Sarah El Deeb
CAIRO (AP) --Egypt on Sunday said it banned Ridley Scott's biblical epic "Exodus: Gods & Kings" because the Hollywood blockbuster distorts Egypt's history and presents a "racist" image of Jews.
The Culture Ministry explained its decision for the first time in a statement issued a few days after the ban was announced. It said the film put forth a reading of Egypt's history that is at odds with the story of Moses told by the world's monotheistic religions. Egypt is a conservative country with a Muslim majority and a sizable Christian minority.
Censors objected to the "intentional gross historical fallacies that offend Egypt and its pharaonic ancient history in yet another attempt to Judaize Egyptian civilization, which confirms the international Zionist fingerprints all over the film," the statement said.
The ministry said the movie inaccurately depicts ancient Egyptians as "savages" who kill and hang Jews, arguing that hanging did not exist in ancient Egypt. It said the film also presents a "racist" depiction of Jews as a people who mounted an armed rebellion. The ministry said religious scriptures present Jews as weak and oppressed.
The statement also objected to the depiction of God as a child, which also drew criticism in the West.
The ministry said it had convened two committees — one of censors and one of archaeologists — to review the film. The committee of archeologists agreed with the decision to ban the film because it showed "a false and wrong mental image of Egypt's history," the ministry said.
Artistic works dealing with religion are often banned in the Muslim world because religious scholars argue that the depiction of prophets is unacceptable. Such works are also often at odds with the Islamic portrayal of biblical prophets, which itself often diverges from their portrayal in Judaism and Christianity. According to Islam, for example, Jesus was not crucified, and the prophet Abraham was ordered to sacrifice Ishmael, not Isaac.
"Noah," another Hollywood biblical epic, was banned in Egypt and much of the Muslim world due to its depiction of prophets and fears it would offend viewers. Perceived insults to Islam have in the past sparked protests and deadly violence.
Muslim countries have also censored movies over graphic sex scenes and portrayals of homosexuality.
The United Arab Emirates also decided to ban "Exodus: Gods & Kings." Juma al-Leem, of the National Media Council, told The Associated Press the movie contained historical and religious errors that are not in Islam or in the Bible. "We respect all religions, not just Islam," al-Leem said.
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Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy in Dubai contributed to this report.
Local school staple “Lost on a Mountain in Maine” from 1939 hits the big screen nationwide
Most Maine schoolchildren know about the boy lost for more than a week in 1939 after climbing the state's tallest mountain. Now the rest of the U.S. is getting in on the story.
Opening in 650 movie theaters on Friday, "Lost on a Mountain in Maine" tells the harrowing tale of 12-year-old Donn Fendler, who spent nine days on Mount Katahdin and the surrounding wilderness before being rescued. The gripping story of survival commanded the nation's attention in the days before World War II and the boy's grit earned an award from the president.
For decades, Fendler and Joseph B. Egan's book, published the same year as the rescue, has been required reading in many Maine classrooms, like third-grade teacher Kimberly Nielsen's.
"I love that the overarching theme is that Donn never gave up. He just never quits. He goes and goes," said Nielsen, a teacher at Crooked River Elementary School in Casco, who also read the book multiple times with her own kids.
Separated from his hiking group in bad weather atop Mount Katahdin, Fendler used techniques learned as a Boy Scout to survive. He made his way through the woods to the east branch of the Penobscot River, where he was found more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from where he started. Bruised and cut, starved and without pants or shoes, he survived nine days by eating berries and lost 15 pounds (7 kilograms).
The boy's peril sparked a massive search and was the focus of newspaper headlines and nightly radio broadcasts. Hundreds of volunteers streamed into the region to help.
The movie builds on the children's book, as told by Fendler to Egan, by drawing upon additional interviews and archival footage to reinforce the importance of family, faith and community during difficult times,... Read More