Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Testament: The Story Of Moses’ On Netflix, A Docudrama Version of ‘The Ten Commandments’

Testament: The Story Of Moses is what Netflix calls a “docudrama”, in other words, a documentary-scripted hybrid series that tells the story of Moses (Avi Azulay). Producers Emre Sahin and Kelly McPherson, as well as director Benjamin Ross, use both expert interviews and extensive scripted reenactments to give the story of the prophet who led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt.

TESTAMENT: THE STORY OF MOSES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: After a disclaimer stating that the contributions of the people interviewed for Testament: The Story Of Moses are there to help a narrative, but don’t make a consensus, we see a man staring at a mountain. “The Bible speaks of a lonely shepherd called to a mysterious mountain,” says narrator Charles Dance (Game Of Thrones).

The Gist: The three episodes follow the story in the order you might think: The first episode touches on when Moses was cast into the Nile by his mother when the Pharoah ordered the death of all Israelite male babies; he was retrieved from the river and adopted by on of the Pharoah’s daughters. He grew up as a prince, but he knew he was different, and after he murdered an Egyptian taskmaster for whipping an Israelite, he set off into the desert to escape being captured.

He finds an oasis in the village of Midian, and gains the trust of its leader, Jethro (Oberon K.A. Adjepong). He eventually marries his daughter Zipporah (Dominique Tipper) and settles into the life of a humble shepherd. But he constantly sees light coming from Mount Sinai, and a voice saying “Show them the way.”

Eventually, he tells Zipporah that he has to find out what that voice is. It turns out to be God (Clarke Peters), or at least the one that the Hebrews think is the only god. Through a bush that’s burning but not being consumed, God tells Moses about his origins and that he must go back to Egypt and lead the Hebrews out of slavery. When Moses expresses a lack of confidence that he can do it, God tells him to find his brother Aaron (Ishai Golan).

Episode two is about Moses’ confrontation with the new Pharoah (Mehmet Kurtulus), who is the brother of the woman who adopted him, telling him to “let my people go,” and the ten plagues the Pharoah inflicted on the Hebrews. The third episode is about the Exodus, including when Moses parted the Red Sea, and Moses being bestowed the Ten Commandments.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Of course, the film The Ten Commandments comes to mind, but the “docudrama” format of Testament reminds us of Queen Cleopatra and Alexander: The Making Of A God.

Our Take: In most of these hybrid docudramas, the talking head portion either kills the narrative momentum of the scripted portion or the talking head stuff feels like it could be lifted right out, it contributes so little to the production. In Testament: The Story of Moses, it feels like a good balance has been struck. It could be because the producers and Ross tried to concentrate on the part of Moses’ story that took place in the years right before he found out he was the prophet that he became, with flashbacks to scenes of Moses growing up as Egyptian royalty who never felt like he belonged.

The scenes do feel like they’re part of a continuous narrative, instead of vignettes, which is something that’s rare to see in this format, and given that the interviewees the producers talk to are from various denominations, we get a nicely rounded picture of why the story of Moses and the Exodus is so universal and revered.

Azulay plays Moses as the flawed man he knows he is; he has murdered someone, and he hid his real identity from his wife and children during his years in Midian. Even when God calls on him to help free the Hebrews from Egypt, he has plenty of doubts that he is capable of doing it, and makes sure that he has help from his brother Aaron and sister Miriam (Reymonde Amsellem). In other words, he’s not the growling, confident Moses that the Charlton Heston version became in The Ten Commandments; he’s a human being who is often overwhelmed by the responsibility he’s been given.

Because the story of Exodus is so widely known, there aren’t going to be any surprises in this story. But the nuances presented by both the experts and the scripted ends of this series will certainly bring the story into a bit of a more modern context.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: The princess that adopted Moses says, “My son has returned. It’s Moses.”

Sleeper Star: We don’t know about you, but if the voice of Clarke Peters came out of a burning bush, we’d certainly listen. He’s the most authoritative-sounding voice of God not named Morgan Freeman.

Most Pilot-y Line: One of the experts mentions the name that God gives Moses to prove to the Hebrews that he’s Yaweh’s messenger, and she says, “What kind of name is that? It’s a verb. God is a verb.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Testament: The Story Of Moses is one of the better “docudrama” series we’ve seen since this hybrid style of series came into vogue, mainly due to good acting, cohesive storytelling, and expert interviews that add to the narrative instead of interrupting it.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.