Last night was the first Seder of the Jewish holiday, Passover. For the next seven days, Jews will swear off leavened bread, eat lots of matzah (preferably with heaping spoonfuls of horseradish) and gather with their families.

The holiday commemorates the Hebrews' escape from slavery under the thumb of the Egyptian Pharaoh, as detailed in the Book of Exodus. Although the holiday has rather violent roots, modern-day family gathering for it tend to be joyous affairs. There's typically a group retelling of the Exodus story followed by a big dinner and then a long break before dessert and the closing portion of the holiday readings. During that break, families usually sit back and relax -- mine does, anyway -- in preparation for more eating. What better way to fill the time than with a movie? I've racked my brain and come up with these (mostly) family-friendly possibilities.

"The Ten Commandments"

This is the quintessential Passover movie, since it basically recounts the story of Exodus. Yes, it's sort of difficult to buy Charlton Heston as Moses, the man who delivered the Hebrews from Egypt and carried the Ten Commandments down from the top of Mount Sinai. It doesn't matter though. This one's a classic, and it should be your starting point for Passover movies if you've never seen it.

"The Prince of Egypt"

This is basically "The Ten Commandments," but jazzed up with musical numbers. The 1998 DreamWorks Animation telling of the story is more abbreviated that the earlier, Heston-starring flick, but it boasts an Oscar winning song from Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, Patrick Stewart as the evil Pharaoh and Val Kilmer as the voices of both Moses and God. Kilmer is already something of a god among men; having him actually play the role in an Exodus story was a masterstroke for DreamWorks.

"The Reaping"

There's no elegant way to say it: "The Reaping" is a weird, weird movie. The supernatural bits deal heavily with the Devil and other aspects of Christianity. However, the high-concept premise finds its roots in Exodus: a small town is terrorized by a series of plagues mirroring those the Egyptians dealt with before Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt. Like I said, weird. But entertaining, provided there are no small children present and your family isn't very squeamish (particularly after eating a large, heavy Passover dinner).

"History of the World, Part I"

Among the many moments in history explored in Mel Brooks' "History of the World, Part I," the story of Exodus doesn't factor in too heavily. However, Moses is indeed a character in the story. When Comicus and his pals are making their escape from the evil Romans, they find their path blocked by a river. Lucky for them, a robed, bearded man with a walking staff raises his arms and parts the waters, just like Moses did with the Red Sea. Too bad for the old guy though, his hands went up because he was being mugged. Damn punk kids. There's also a bit where Moses brings down the Fifteen Commandments-- errr, Ten Commandments (he drops and breaks a tablet).

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"

The reason "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" makes the list should be fairly self-evident. I can sum it up easily enough...

"When Cameron was in Egypt's land... let my Cameron goooooo..."