Caesar, the main character and protagonist in Planet of the Apes (2017) played by Andy Serkis. Image © Twentieth Century Fox.

War for the Planet of the Apes: 8 undeniable parallels to the story of Moses

By Joe Pemberton

When I saw War For The Planet Of The Apes, I enjoyed it as a date movie. (Popcorn, Coke Zero, and the company of my wife.) But I woke in the morning thinking, “why did Caesar die after he saved everybody? He never made it to the new land?”

Then with each scene replaying through my mind, the following realization unfolded…

Caesar is an archetype of Moses

Caesar, the main protagonist ape character, is an archetype (a pattern) of the Moses in the Old Testament Bible account.

1. Like Moses, Caesar is the son of royalty. Caesar is the first simian to inherit human intellect, language, and the advanced use of tools.
2. Like Moses, Caesar is adopted. Moses adopted by the Egyptian royalty. Caesar adopted by a human who raised him as his own son.
3. Like Moses, Caesar becomes exhausted from pushing for a peaceful outcome. He decides he can’t make peace between human and apes and so he must deliver his people from slavery.
4. Like Moses, Caesar saves a slave from his master’s whip and takes the lashing himself.
5. In the Bible when one of the devastating plagues come Pharoah’s firstborn son dies. In the Apes the Colonel, played by Woody Harrelson, also loses his firstborn.
6. Caesar leads the apes to freedom when they’re pursued by an overwhelming human army. In the Apes the attacking army is completely consumed by snow and water. In the Bible, the Egyptian army pursues the Jews through the sea and is completely engulfed.
7. Caesar and Moses lead their people across a desert to a promised land.
8. Caesar and Moses never enter the promised land but each die within sight of it.

Moses is an archetype of Jesus

Moses is also an archetype of Christ. Jesus was an orphan, adopted by Joseph. Jesus never followed his own will, but served a higher purpose. When Jesus was called on to fix the worlds’ injustices He rose to challenge. Jesus’ mission is to redeem mankind from their slavery to the effects of sin.