Why 'The Ten Commandments' Is Still One of the Best Movies Ever Made

Cecil B. DeMille epic film is as much a paeon to freedom as theism.

I recently rewatched one of my favorite movies with my family: The Ten Commandments (1956).

It’s a movie I’ve probably seen close to ten times, but it’s one that never gets old to me. Indeed, every time I watch I notice things I’ve missed before, including entirely new themes. Until my last viewing, I never realized that the film, directed by the great Cecil B. DeMille, is as much a paeon to freedom as theism.

This shouldn’t surprise us, perhaps. After all, the story is largely about the Hebrews being broken free from the bondage of their Egyptian rulers. The narrator explains at the very beginning that what viewers are about to see is “the story of the birth of freedom.”

But this film is about more than the Hebrews breaking free from their enslavement. Like the American ethos of 1776, it’s made clear that freedom is a universal right. It isn’t just about the Hebrew people, and Moses (played marvelously by Charlton Heston) makes this clear before he leads his people out of Egypt, when he invites his Egyptian mother Bithiah and her retainers to join them.

Bithiah: In fear of your God, they have set me free. May a stranger enter?

Moses: There are no strangers among those who seek God's mercy.

Bithiah: My bearers?

Moses: All who thirst for freedom may come with us. The darkness of death will pass over us tonight, and tomorrow the light of freedom will shine upon us as we go forth from Egypt.

The film is about much more than freedom.

It’s also about truth, which shines greater than not just power but love. Moses’s fall from royal prince to impoverished exile is driven by his insistence to know what is true. It costs him dearly, but viewers do not doubt that it was the right thing to do. Indeed, we see this thirst for truth is why Moses is so loved, even by the Egyptian family who exile him.

Unlike Ramses, who thirsts only for power and personal honor, Moses is able to discern what is true and false. He rejects the earthly honors and desires—including the love of Nefretiri, the lusty daughter of Pharaoh who literally kills for him. (Fun Fact: Anne Baxter, who plays Nefretiri, was the granddaughter of the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright, pen pal of Ayn Rand.)

Moses’s rejection of Nefretiri—who in her own words he spurns “like a strumpet in the street”—is just one illustration of how Moses is able to reject things that glitter and find things that have a value beyond the material world.

Sephora, the daughter of a shepherd, is a contrast to Nefretiri in all ways except her beauty. But her beauty, unlike Nefretiri’s, goes beyond the senses. Viewers see this in a lovely monologue, when Sephora humbly compares her own coarseness to Moses’s former lover, who she compares to a jewel.

“A jewel has brilliant fire, but it gives no warmth. Our hands are not so soft, but they can serve. Our bodies not so white, but they are strong. Our lips are not perfumed, but they speak the truth. Love is not an art to us. It's life to us. We are not dressed in gold and fine linen. Strength and honor are our clothing. Our tents are not the columned halls of Egypt, but our children play happily before them. We can offer you little... but we offer all we have.”

Moses marries Sephora and they have a child, but even her love can’t keep Moses from his purpose: serving the God of Abraham, who after 400 years seeks to use Moses to free his chosen people.

The Ten Commandments is a special movie. I rank in my top ten of all-time. To my surprise, even my 6-year-old couldn’t get enough of it. He loved it, and had a great many questions.

Do yourself a favor and watch this one if you haven’t yet. And if you have, well, don’t be afraid to give it another go.