The state of Israel is created in 1948, resulting in war with its Arab neighbors. Following World War II, the life of the Jewish nation is uncertain. The United Nations is contemplating taking a vote on creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Until then, many Jews are exiled from much of Europe - especially Germany - and as they have no where to go, they are sent to detention camps among other places Cypress. Ari Ben Canaan, a Palestinian Jew, wants to smuggle as many Jews as possible into Palestine. In his mind, the easiest way to influence the United Nations vote is by sheer numbers residing in Palestine. Ari commandeers a ship with 600 Jews, and after some obstacles, manages to make it to Palestine. Ari grew up in a mixed Arab/Jewish community in Palestine. His best childhood friend, Taha, is Arab and is now leader of the Arab section of the community. Regardless of the United Nations vote, the road to Ari's dream of a peaceful Jewish homeland in Palestine will be a difficult one because despite his own model community, extremist factions, both on the Jewish side and the anti-Zionist side, will never see living together in peace and advocate violence to achieve their own ends. Within this fray is widowed American nurse, Kitty Fremont. Kitty is initially naive about the conflict and hostile toward Ari's means of achieving his goals. However, she ultimately falls in love with him and with his dream despite their religious and cultural differences. I guess when EXODUS was adapted from the Uris novel ( I've not read the book so any criticisms are to do with the book being translated to screen ) the creation of the Jewish State Of Israel and events surrounding would have been fresh in everyone's mind . This leads to a fairly serious problem watching the movie in 2005 and that's factual events are skimmed over with little explanation . Or maybe the facts presented are done so in such a simplistic manner they are totally confusing to a present day audience with no knowledge of the present Israeli Arab conflicts For example the Haganah and Irgun are important to the plot . Do we have any satisfactory explanation to what they are ? There is a brief throwaway line about the differences between the two but it's hardly factual unless you believe the Haganah were a sort of Jewish Greenpeace .Likewise we're shown the bombing of The St David Hotel but it's skated over so slightly as to be deemed offensive . Did you know that many Jews died in the atrocity ? Did you know that after the bombing David Ben Guerion ( Look him up in a search engine - He was far more important than this movie makes out ) described the Irgun as " The enemy of the Jewish people " ? And the prison breakout at Acre seems to be totally Hollywoodized <br/><br/>Okay it's not a documentary , but this simplicity seems to interfere with character motivation where Ari Ben Canaan decides to switch from the Haganah to the Irgun because " We'll need all the men we can get to fight the Arabs " . This unconvincing on screen character motivation combined with the length of the movie gives the whole scenario a feel of pot boiler mini series rather than a historical document , so by the time we're introduced to Ari's best friend from childhood - An Arab of course - and an escaped Nazi war criminal I was expecting Elizabeth Taylor and Jane Seymour to put in an appearance somewhere <br/><br/>I hope I'm not contradicting myself here but I found the tone of the movie very grim and much of this is down to bad things happening to good people and vice versa . Innocent people die while terrorists on both sides survive beyond the final reel , but I know that in real life karma ( The mystical concept that people get what they truly deserve in life ) doesn't exist so maybe I shouldn't criticise too hard . What I do know is that you won't be doing too much laughing watching this movie <br/><br/>EXODUS isn't a total waste of time and has some positives . Even reviewers who have expressed a dislike for the movie have credited the good cast and of course the score . It's also interesting to note that while movies featuring the Irish troubles are nearly always totally Anglophobic ( THE DEVIL'S OWN being a good example ) the Brits here while not exactly being shown as heroes aren't exactly shown as being villains either and a character does praise the conduct of the British Army during the mandate period along with General Sutherland being shown in a very sympathetic light - You don't have to be Jewish to sympathise with the Jews <br/><br/>As for my own opinions of modern day Israelis I would say I respect and admire them more than I actually like them while EXODUS is a film that is very difficult to admire and respect though is not entirely unlikable I was 18 when 'the troubles' began in Northern Ireland and on more than one occasion, as an innocent bystander, my life was put at risk by the indiscriminate actions of both the IRA and the British Army. As a Catholic I suppose my sympathies were perceived to be with the Nationalist/Republican cause which saw an end to British rule in the north of Ireland and which, for many years, carried out a campaign of extreme violence to this end, and while sympathising with the Protestant/'Loyalist' desire to remain part of the United Kingdom, I suppose I have always wanted to see Ireland 'united'. However, as a pacifist I have never been in favour of the use of violence and, regardless of the eventual outcome, have never believed that the death of any individual to be justified. I want to see Ireland united as one country because, while recognizing the divergent cultures living on this island, I do not believe any country should be partitioned. I can't put my hand on my heart and call this national fervour. Somehow it seems more like common sense. The problem is getting these divergent cultures to live together in peace. Politics may be cited as a reason for this divergence but sectarianism is at the heart of it.<br/><br/>Sadly the Irish question is far from unique. Much bloodier, more entrenched and lasting for longer is the conflict in the Middle East and despite having lived through the Irish 'troubles' I confess I am at a loss in understanding the Israel/Palestine conflict. Perhaps the love of land, the sense of national identity and the overwhelming power of religion has somehow passed me by or perhaps I just don't put too much store on history.<br/><br/>Nothing in Otto Preminger's epic "Exodus", which deals with the foundation of the state of Israel 'explains' a conflict which has festered to this day and because I confess to a lack of understanding of the issues involved, I find it hard to put the film into any kind of historical perspective. It was made in 1960 though set in the years just after the end of the Second World War. It ends with Jews and Arabs fighting each other and begins with the Jews staking claim to what they saw as their homeland and struggling to overcome the anti-semitism prevalent in the world at large, (something as relevant in 1960 as when the film was set). It is, therefore, a deeply political film and it sheds, for me, an outsider, no light on why today Jews and Palestians hate each other so much. While I know there are similarities between what is happening in Northern Ireland and what is happening in the Middle East, try as I might I can't equate one with the other.<br/><br/>But you could argue that the film is not about the Israelie/Arab conflict and, of course, it isn't. It is about the genesis of a nation and Preminger treats it as melodrama. The only way to judge this film today, (when I last saw the film I was 16), is to strip it of any preconceived political prejudices and see how effectively Preminger applies his mise-en-scene. Does it work as melodrama, political or otherwise? (As an action film it is decidedly slow and at almost three and half hours almost certainly overlong). I think the answer has to be yes.<br/><br/>There is no disputing Preminger oversimplifies a complex narrative; (maybe that's why I was left in the dark at times), leaving it up to his audience to fill in the blanks. Is Eve Marie Saint's political conscience pricked by her need to mother the Jewish orphan played by Jill Haworth or by the anti-semitic remarks of Peter Lawford, or is she simply bowled over by Paul Newman's piercing blue eyes? Is Sal Mineo's fervour Zionist zeal or a revulsion at what happened to him in the concentration camps? Why is David Opatoshu a freedom fighter (or terrorist depending on your point of view) and his brother, Lee J Cobb, not? Dalton Trumbo's script does not tell us; (I haven't read Leon Uris' novel). This might seem sloppy until you realise that melodramas don't have to make sense, at least not in any conventional 'realistic' way. "Exodus" may be the most 'important' film Preminger ever made in terms of subject matter but he imbues it's issues and conflicts, as much in terms of character as in any wider political sense, with the same weight he applied to such barn-storming movies as "Advise and Consent" and "The Cardinal" and well as such chamber pieces as "Laura" and "Bonjour Tristesse". The film is all of a piece.<br/><br/>No doubt I would feel short-changed if "Exodus" were about the genesis of the present conflict in Northern Ireland or if I was either Jewish or Palestinian. Whether that says more about me than it does about Preminger's undeniably entertaining and troublesome picture I can't honestly say.
Idabbern replied
295 weeks ago