‘Testament: The Story of Moses’ Netflix Series Review - Gods and Kings

After sleep-inducing nonsense like Alexander: The Making of a God and Einstein and the Bomb, the Netflix documentary machine is back with another boring series titled Testament: The Story of Moses. As the title suggests, the docuseries tells the story of Moses - How he became prominent, how he defeated an arrogant pharaoh, and how he gave the world the Ten Commandments. I wish one of those commandments had been, "Thou shalt not make a dull show." I wonder if Moses knew someday his life would be depicted in such a desultory fashion, would he still have performed all those miracles? If only some prophet had warned the filmmakers to not torment the viewers with this show.

Like Alexander: The Making of a God and Einstein and the Bomb, the Testament tells its story through a mixture of talking heads and recreations. This combination of documentary and fiction is an abomination. The talking heads constantly take us out of the recreations, preventing any chances of our investment in the narrative as well as the performances. As I mentioned in my Alexander review, this blend of the two genres gives the filmmakers the license to go for lazy shortcuts. Instead of giving us a clear emotional or narrative line, the series jumps from one event to another in this manner - "This happened, and then this happened, and then this happened..."

Someone says that Moses was conflicted about his identity. This conflict, though, is never seen on the screen. The moment when a mother is separated from her baby is defined as "crushing," but the scene itself is devoid of any emotional power. It looks flat. Director Benjamin Ross doesn't believe in drama. He simply takes his camera and points it toward his actors, who dispense their lines with all the enthusiasm of a high school teenager. Mehmet Kurtulus is probably the only exception. He effectively brings out the Pharaoh's smugness. Everything about him screams unrelenting. Kurtulus, both physically and mentally, appears inflexible.

Ross is literal-minded. He depicts the godly sights without imagination (the depiction of the attack of the frogs fails to generate a single effective image of horror). The burning bush, the splitting of the Red Sea, the attack of the locusts, it all is rendered without any trace of excitement or fervor. Ross is not even good with his actors. When the workers are told they need to work extra hard, they groan in such a way that it feels as if they just found out their dinner has become cold. When Moses (Avi Azulay) whispers God's name into an old woman's ears, she starts singing a song, and you burst into laughter. The background music, though, informs us that this moment is meant to be significant.

Testament spells out every symbolism and every subtext with the help of the talking heads. When three snakes fight, we are told that it means the authority is being challenged. When the Nile River is filled with blood, we are told that the source of life has turned into the source of death. Testament, with its constant chattering, saps your energy as well as imagination. It's a spoon-feeding exercise that leaves you with a stomach ache and a frozen brain. The Pharaoh dismisses Moses's spectacles as paltry tricks, as his magicians are able to perform the same miracles. But how are they able to do what Moses does with, say, a stick or water? No explanation is offered. Testament merely asks for our blind acceptance. Its biggest sin is that it converts a fascinating story into something uninteresting and dull.

Final Score- [3/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times