The appearance of cinemascope in the mid-20th century promoted the filming of blockbusters with religious themes, such as The Ten Commandments, by Cecil B. DeMille. I remember the comments from adults praising the spectacular scene in which a Moses who looked like Charlton Heston parted the waters of the Red Sea. Thus, the chosen people could flee north from the slavery of Egypt, where a ruthless pharaoh who was bald like Yul Brynner ruled.
As the years went by, these biblical blockbusters ended up becoming the stable programming for Holy Week. I remember waiting to see John Huston’s The Bible, trying to understand how he had managed to fit the entire book into three hours of footage. The disappointment came when I saw that it only explained the first chapters of Genesis and stopped at Abraham, the patriarch of the three monotheistic religions.
Returning to The Ten Commandments, the scene of the bush that burned without being consumed on Mount Sinai was also very celebrated, and through which God gave the ten commandments, while launching flames that recorded them on the tables of the law. Since they were not exactly like the ones I had studied in catechism, that confused me. And now I have been even more surprised by a British series that in English is titled The Sixth Commandment and which has been translated as The Fifth Commandment. They were? Is it the sixth or is it the fifth commandment of God’s law? It is evident that it refers to “thou shalt not kill,” but why is there such a numerical discrepancy?
It seems that the answer must be sought precisely in the Bible. God said the commandments without numbering them, followed one after the other, and the different branches of Christianity divided those words as best they could. For Protestants and Anglicans, the first commandment of Catholics is divided into two, while the last two are one. That is why “thou shalt not kill” is the sixth for Anglicans, and this is reflected in the title in English, and it is the fifth for Catholics.
In the series, based on real events, a handsome, pious young man with good cultural training leads an apparent religious life, helping in the church and pretending that he will dedicate himself to being a pastor of souls, while he deceives lonely old men, poisoning them to stay. with your money. He is now a man, now a woman, because he gives her both meat and fish in order to achieve his interests. Whether he is the fifth or the sixth, the fact is that this commandment is constantly broken by the Mosaic race, even killing those who queue to get a little food.
