Actually @emperorsfoot I'm very glad this got brought up because I've been looking for an excuse for years to pick apart Lindsay Ellis' tweet. I *know* that what she's saying is not a direct criticism of the movie but of the movie's fans, but something about it has been nagging me for so long you don't even know. There's an element of the story that seems to fly right over people's head and that I never see brought up in any discussion of PoE: Rameses is the one who calls for the tenth plague.
Now, I will not make ANY commentary on the biblical text and its various readings or implications. Scripture is far too important for me to dare pick it apart and give my two cents in this context and on this platform, so what follow is PURELY a commentary on the movie itself:
Rameses is the one who explicitly, textually condemns the firstborns to death in PoE. It's not a matter of interpretation, it's a fact of the movie.
This line here is the Lord's line in the biblical text. Giving it to Rameses very deliberately gives him responsibility over destiny. It's also followed by this (forgive the pisspoor gif quality)
This is as close to a freaking DIAGRAM as you're gonna get.
Rameses is pointing his finger, copying Seti's mural -> Seti's finger points to the innocent children -> the innocent children are put to death -> Rameses' son is right under them, the literal next in line.
Rameses, by imitating his father in ordering the death of innocents, puts a curse on the innocents among his people.
As a reminder, one of Rameses' core problems is that he is convinced being Pharaoh makes him capable of dictating the terms of reality ("you will be what I say you are" "if I say day is night it will be written" "it shall be as I say") - and in this particular case, he gets his wish. He says "there shall be a great cry in all of Egypt" and all of Egypt screams. That's also why the Hebrews' safety has to be bought with the blood of a lamb this time around, when they were safe for the previous plagues without condition: Pharaoh has the power of life and death on his tongue (something Moses directly acknowledges when Aaron is despairing), and a judgment so powerful has been unleashed that it cannot be escaped by anyone unless a death is substituted for a death.
The message of (that part of) the movie is not and has never been "massacring children is okay sometimes," rather it's the cosmic law: "death begets death." If you build on blood or ask for it, you WILL reap blood.
(That's why the first plague is the Nile turning to blood, because it's returning the blood of the Hebrew babies. It's not subtle either, the visual language is very clear.)
And finally, here's how Moses reacts to Rameses' curse and the devastation that follows.
It's tragic, heartwrenching. It's mourned more deeply than anything else in the movie.
And it's entirely Rameses' fault for passing the sentence.
