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‘The Exodus Decoded' substantiates bible facts
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BY: ALAN SMASON, Staff Reporter
Documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici is a latter-day Sherlock Holmes, famed archaeologist Howard Carter, and "Star Wars” creator George Lucas all rolled into one.
The 53-year-old Israeli-born Jacobovici's latest project, "The Exodus Decoded,” is a richly-detailed search for incontrovertible proof that the biblical story of Exodus and the formation of the Jewish people actually occurred.
Observant Jews and others whose faith is irrefutable most likely have no need for such a documentary.
Yet, for those with room for doubt, this provocative one-hour presentation Sun., Aug. 20, on The History Channel may well provide some answers.
Using what Jacobovici, a two-time Emmy winner, refers to as "investigative archaeology,” the extraordinary $3.7 million production offers scientific explanations for the Ten Plagues, the parting and crossing of the "Red Sea,” and the most likely location for Mt. Sinai.
"Connecting the dots is something that detectives do,” explains the filmmaker in a CJN phone interview from his home in Toronto. "You need someone to put it all together, or they miss the big picture. What I did was connect the dots.”
The task took seven years of Jacobovici's life and required filming in Israel, Egypt and Greece. The final cut is compelling and riveting. Many of the archaeological finds he presents during the documentary required sleuthing and old-fashioned detective work and, in some cases, improbable luck.
For example, while Jacobovici is not able to produce the fabled Lost Ark of the Covenant, he did find an incredible rendering of it in gold which, he suggests, was probably carved by a follower of Moses.
"When I saw that Ark of the Covenant, I almost fell off my chair,” Jacobovici says. Housed in the National Museum of Athens, the importance of this relic was unknown to authorities until Jacobovici delved deep into its meaning. The case he presents is grounded in biblical fact and archaeological certainty.
The director also seems to have nailed down the specific time for the Exodus: 1500 B.C.E., corresponding to the reign of Ahmose, not Ramses II, as popularly believed. The difference is approximately 230 years, he figures, but "once you've got the right pharaoh and once you've got the right date, the archaelogical heavens open up.”
Jacobovici elicited help from Academy Award-winner James Cameron ("Titantic” and "Terminator 2”), who adds credibility to the project by introducing the viewer to Jacobovici in a series of four filmed vignettes. Cameron is also executive producer of the film.
Stylistically, the film's production values are superb. It was Jacobovici who brings all of the elements together into a 3-D computer-generated graphics environment. "I wanted a documentary inside a special effect,” he notes.
The resulting superimposed images of artifacts, relics, scholars, and spokespeople emerge from inside a dazzling imagined world Jacobovici has created for the viewer. According to the director, the bulk of the production costs were tied up in the rendering of these special effects.
"The Exodus Decoded” has "deepened my faith and my understanding and made it (the Bible) tangible to me,” says the filmmaker. He hopes that the special television event will have the same effect on others.
"The Exodus Decoded” airs Sun., Aug. 20, at 8 p.m. on The History Channel.
The 53-year-old Israeli-born Jacobovici's latest project, "The Exodus Decoded,” is a richly-detailed search for incontrovertible proof that the biblical story of Exodus and the formation of the Jewish people actually occurred.
Observant Jews and others whose faith is irrefutable most likely have no need for such a documentary.
Yet, for those with room for doubt, this provocative one-hour presentation Sun., Aug. 20, on The History Channel may well provide some answers.
Using what Jacobovici, a two-time Emmy winner, refers to as "investigative archaeology,” the extraordinary $3.7 million production offers scientific explanations for the Ten Plagues, the parting and crossing of the "Red Sea,” and the most likely location for Mt. Sinai.
"Connecting the dots is something that detectives do,” explains the filmmaker in a CJN phone interview from his home in Toronto. "You need someone to put it all together, or they miss the big picture. What I did was connect the dots.”
The task took seven years of Jacobovici's life and required filming in Israel, Egypt and Greece. The final cut is compelling and riveting. Many of the archaeological finds he presents during the documentary required sleuthing and old-fashioned detective work and, in some cases, improbable luck.
For example, while Jacobovici is not able to produce the fabled Lost Ark of the Covenant, he did find an incredible rendering of it in gold which, he suggests, was probably carved by a follower of Moses.
"When I saw that Ark of the Covenant, I almost fell off my chair,” Jacobovici says. Housed in the National Museum of Athens, the importance of this relic was unknown to authorities until Jacobovici delved deep into its meaning. The case he presents is grounded in biblical fact and archaeological certainty.
The director also seems to have nailed down the specific time for the Exodus: 1500 B.C.E., corresponding to the reign of Ahmose, not Ramses II, as popularly believed. The difference is approximately 230 years, he figures, but "once you've got the right pharaoh and once you've got the right date, the archaelogical heavens open up.”
Jacobovici elicited help from Academy Award-winner James Cameron ("Titantic” and "Terminator 2”), who adds credibility to the project by introducing the viewer to Jacobovici in a series of four filmed vignettes. Cameron is also executive producer of the film.
Stylistically, the film's production values are superb. It was Jacobovici who brings all of the elements together into a 3-D computer-generated graphics environment. "I wanted a documentary inside a special effect,” he notes.
The resulting superimposed images of artifacts, relics, scholars, and spokespeople emerge from inside a dazzling imagined world Jacobovici has created for the viewer. According to the director, the bulk of the production costs were tied up in the rendering of these special effects.
"The Exodus Decoded” has "deepened my faith and my understanding and made it (the Bible) tangible to me,” says the filmmaker. He hopes that the special television event will have the same effect on others.
"The Exodus Decoded” airs Sun., Aug. 20, at 8 p.m. on The History Channel.
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