Note: This is #37 in my 52 Classic Movies in 52 Weeks challenge for 2009.
Well, that was epic. To boil it down, Ben-Hur tells the story of Judah Ben-Hur (Charton Heston), a contemporary of Jesus Christ who enjoyed the luxuries of the Roman Empire until he chooses to stand against the politics of his long-time Roman friend, Messala (Stephen Boyd). When Messala sees a chance to frame Ben-Hur for an attack on a local political official, he takes it and sentences his one-time friend to a shortened lifetime of slavery on a Roman war galley. Ben-Hur’s mother and sister are also imprisoned on the same charge. Obsessed with revenge, Ben-Hur vows to return and punish his enemy, and the balance of the movie sees him wrestling with both his circumstances and his hate. Though Christ only makes a few cameos in the movie, His influence is felt throughout the film, both in the religious reformations He is enacting and through the spiritual awakening that takes place in Ben-Hur simply on the basis of their brief contact.
Charlton Heston’s acting may have edged up against hammy more than a few times, but there are none the less several impressive things about Ben-Hur. The effort put into costumes and sets alone was pretty spectacular, easily on par with anything you’d see in modern movies like The Lord of the Rings. A few colloquialisms aside, the movie really looks like it’s taking place in its own world and gives you a sense of history. There’s also the famous chariot race scene where Ben-Hur and Messala have their final showdown in a contest that made me think, perhaps not coincidentally, of the “Greased Lightning” scene in Grease. Still, it’s a pretty fantastic sequence and I can see how audiences at the time were wowed by its scope and action.
So at 3 and a half hours long Ben-Hur isn’t something you’re likely to just pop in on a whim, but it’s really pretty good if you’re prepared for an epic set in another time and place.
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