Actor Christian Bale sure had some interesting things to say about his role as the Old Testament hero Moses. He told reporters recently that to prepare for the upcoming Ridley Scott epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, he read a book about the figure’s life as well as accounts about the hero in the Quran, Bible and Torah. His takeaway:
I think the man was likely schizophrenic and was one of the most barbaric individuals that I ever read about in my life. He’s a very troubled and tumultuous man and mercurial. But the biggest surprise was the nature of God. He was equally very mercurial.
It’s not exactly the Sunday school version of the Hebrew leader. Unsurprisingly, his character analysis isn’t exactly sitting well with some Christian critics. Of course, the Bible paints a far-from perfect picture of Moses, a man who killed an Egyptian slave master out of vengeance before leading his people out of Egypt. But, considering the fallout from some creative liberties taken with the character of Noah in Darren Aronofsky’s recent Biblical blockbuster, using words like “schizophrenic” and “barbaric” to describe one of the Bible’s most well-known characters may cause some blowback …
