‘The Ten Commandments’: A Movie Masterpiece Touched by Grace

This commentary revisits a classic film that is marking its 70th anniversary.

(L–R) Eugene Mazzola, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Charlton Heston, director Cecil B. DeMille, and John Carradine on the set of “The Ten Commandments.” Paramount Pictures

For all its spectacle about sociopolitical tyranny, producer-director-narrator Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” (1956) recalls a more threatening spiritual tyranny. Its point? A life of obedience to God’s law isn’t so much about obedience or the law. It’s about life, especially one lived in freedom and truth. A life outside of that obedience is slavery and is as good as death.

Cecil B. DeMille on the set of "The Ten Commandments." Paramount