| Which is the better film? | ||
|---|---|---|
| The Ten Commandments | The Fall of the Roman Empire | |
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Each is a swords-and-sandals epic centering around a protagonist (Moses/Livius) who begins as a revered general coming off of success in battling one of the longstanding enemies (The Ethiopians/The Germanians) of the empire he serves. (Egypt/Rome) His kingdom's ruler (Pharaoh Sethi/Emperor Marcus Aurelius) serves as a father-figure to him, and the hero starts out in love with a princess of his nation. (Nefretiri/Lucilla) He also has a surrogate brother in the form of the ruler's son (Rameses/Commodus) with whom tensions rise when it is learned he is considering passing power on to the general rather than him. When unforeseen circumstances strike, the prince's ascent is secured and the hero is eventually faced with some form of banishment by him. The hero throughout the story also finds himself tasked with helping groups oppressed by the kingdom (The Hebrew slaves/The Roman vassals) by a wise being. (Yahweh/Marcus Aurelius) Whilst the hero in the end does manage to succeed in outdoing the ruler, his followers at a key point towards the end falter to temptation. And in the end the lead again finds himself walking out into some form of exile.