Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Ridley Scott Movie 'Exodus: Gods & Kings' Banned In Egypt: Biblical Moses Epic Can't Part Censorship Board

Egypt has reportedly banned the new Ridley Scott biblical Moses epic Exodus: Gods & Kings, which stars Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton. Egyptian censors have cited "historical inaccuracies" - rather than the whole 'white dudes playing Egyptians' thing - for the ban, saying that problems with the portrayal of Moses as a military general rather than a simple prophet, the parting of the Red Sea and the way the ancient Egyptians persecuted their Jews, are the main reasons. The biblical epic has also reportedly been banned in Morocco, and follows in the footsteps of films such as Darren Aronofsky's Noah and Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code being banned in Egypt.

Deadline.com report that Egyptian Head of Censorship Abdul Sattar Fathi told local reporters: "One of the key historical mistakes made by this film is that it claims the Jews were the ones who built the Pyramids."

He went on to say: "The film treats Moses as an army general, not as a prophet. Furthermore, it shows ancient Egyptians as a mob group persecuting peaceful Jews. Our board has refused this out of respect for Egyptians' feelings."

As the BBC explain, "According to the book of Exodus, Jewish slaves were led to freedom by Moses after God inflicted a series of plagues on Egypt. The Pyramids are believed to have been built about 1,000 years before the story of the Exodus."

Egypt's Minister of Culture Gaber Asfour - who, says Deadline, initially supported the film's release - has apparently changed his attitude towards the movie. Deadline quote Asfour as saying that Exodus "totally contradicts proven historical facts," and "gives a Zionist view of history and contains historical inaccuracies and that's why we have decided to ban it."

The news of the Egyptian ban comes as Morocco's state run Moroccan Cinema Centre have also seemingly banned Scott's epic. Yahoo! News report that Moroccan cinema owners had been "verbally" instructed to pull the film from their schedules.

The Independent says Exodus: Gods & Kings "gives us a lucid but linear and stolid account of the Moses story," and adds that Bale's performance as Moses is "full blooded" and that Egerton's Rameses is the "pick of the performances".

The movie is out now: check out the trailer for it below.