I love the theme music for this film and, with such powerful subject material, I expected an epic. I was sorely disappointed. Opinions of the film often seem to depend on the extent to which the reviewer sympathises with the politics as portrayed. However, setting politics aside, this is a really bad film, condemned to death by wooden acting, stilted dialog and poor direction. When 'Karen' unexpectedly dies near the end, I was convinced it was because someone couldn't stand any more of her terrible acting! Even worthies such as Newman and Richardson seem to struggle with the lines they've been given. Newman's speech at Karen's burial is cringe-worthy, and he looks embarrassed to be making it. Even the magnificent theme music is largely wasted, played at apparently arbitrary points during the film including, for example, Newman catching a bus. This film is not the epic it could have been, it's not even average.

While in Israel I met some Russian Jewish teen's refuges at a youth village that did not understand where or why they were in Israel. The best way to help them was to get them to read the book Exodus. I went Into town and bought the book Exodus in Russian. It came in two Volumes. I gave it to one of the Russian teens. The next day she with a few others came to me and asked if the story about the hero's girl friend was true. She had been raped, cut up in small pieces and put in a sack on a mule's back and sent home. I told yes it was, as a few weeks before I stumble on to the monument for the young women.Today, I help Israel with the Israel Longhorn Project but I need your help to do it. Please go to http://longhornproject.org and help.I corrected as best as I can. I am dyslexic. Making it hard to write.

1. This is a movie, folks. Yes, based on a novel, but it was just that - a novel. Uris didn't claim to be writing a history textbook. As with all memorable literature, he tweaked some facts and embroidered his landscape with memorable fictional characters (although yes, many were based on real-life people.) So it's not appropriate to criticize either the novel or the book for not getting every historical fact absolutely right.2. This is a MOVIE, folks. Based on a novel, but it's still a movie. Which meant that the actors were cast for a variety of reasons, one of which was solid bank-ability at the box office. To those who complained that Eva Marie Saint is too old in this film, I'd like to remind them that she was only a few months older (in real life) than Paul Newman was. And having her a bit older than the character in the novel is fine, since she brings a different life perspective than someone in her 20s would have. Especially since she was playing a widow. just mho. 3. What has depressed me is that this IMDb discussion of a movie has brought out the Haters. I don't mean people who hated the movie; I mean people who hate Jews and the State of Israel. Apparently, no amount of art, or even actual history, will ever be enough for some people to stop hating, to get them to stop looking for every possible opportunity to malign any group of people they get something -- however perverse or destructive -- out of hating. 4. My personal opinion of this movie is that it's an excellent MOVIE. It entertains. It teaches us a few basic facts about the creation of Israel that most of us never learned in school. It is well-cast, well-acted, well-directed, and well-photographed. In addition, it has a great score throughout the film (not just the very memorable main theme.) I saw it at a movie theater when I was fairly young, and I've probably seen it on TV over a dozen times since then. I also read the novel (a long time ago), but if I've learned anything over the years, it's that movies and novels are different animals that can't fairly be compared page-for-page, so to speak. Heck - ever read "Gone With The Wind?" In the novel, Scarlett has one child with each of her husbands, but in the movie, she only has the one child, with Rhett. But no one complains about it because it's a damn good movie. And so is "Exodus." It's damn good movie.

Exodus... or how Zionism was romanticized for an American audience to get a broader acceptance in times when good and reliable information was scarce and people still trusted cinema as their source of news as in the times of news reels.This film is pure Zionist propaganda, with terrible stilted acting, triumphalist unreal dialogue and an inane fictional scenario, like all propaganda films tend to be.In short: it's chuck full of romantic bullshit, ergo gratia, a group of Jewish immigrants pull a Masada on a ship off the coast of Cyprus and so on and so forth with an ending that will make any self-respecting viewer's stomach turn or even vomit.How unfortunate that many, if not most, of the places here depicted have been destroyed by the very same people this film tries to sanitize and exult.This film could easily be placed up there (or more appropriately "down there") with the Nazi film Jud Süß ("Süss the Jew")3:30 hours LOOOONG... no wonder comedian Mort Sahl, so they say, when attending the premiere, apparently bored by the lengthy film, stood up after three hours and exclaimed, "Otto, let my people go!" Can't deny that both cinematography and locations were amazing, therefore I'm giving it a generous high mark of 4 stars out of 10.