MovieChat Forums > Exodus (1961) Discussion > Characters and Real Life counterparts

Characters and Real Life counterparts

posted 19 years ago by gobears19872
2 replies | jump to latest

I've read the book and seen the movie. It is obvious some fictional characters are based on Real life people. Lets discuss real life people who you think are represented in the story. Please explain your reasoning. It is likely a character here could be formed from a multitude of people.

Lets begin with Ari Ben Canaan. I believe that the RL person he is based on is the great Israeli general, Moshe Dayan. Both men end up in prison for their Haganah activities and have other similar backgrounds on Kibbutzim. Dayan lost his eye in combat with the Vichy French forces in Syria. Ben Canaan gets wounded in combat with Vichy French forces in Syria during the war. He keeps his eye, but there is still a crucial similarity with the severe injuries suffered by both. Of course we know that Dayan leads the Haganah forces in the War of Independence as does Ben Canaan. A final similitary is their respect for the Arabs. Dayan always respected the Arabs as equals, even though they were enemies. We see Ben Canaan sees things the same way through his friendship with Taha.

[–] rick_swogger 19 years ago

ari= moshe dayan
major PP Malcolm= Orde wingate (novel)
and stretch the pilot at the end of the novel might have been Kirk Kirkorian..
Kirkorian is armenian and the owner of MGM/MIRAGE (not sure) but case can be made.

[–] jep831 17 years ago

There was a real man, whose name I can't recall, who almost single-handedly resurrected Hebrew as a modern spoken language. His name was very similar to that of Ari Ben Canaan, so I think the character was somewhat based on him.

I was wondering if Gan Dafna is based on a real kibbutz. There is a real kibbutz -- whose name I can't recall -- that is named for a young, male hero who died in the Warsaw Ghetto ... that is the closest comparison I can think of.