Ben-Hur (1959)

 

No, they don't make them like this one anymore. An epic film on such a scale? Sure, you could argue that 'Lord of the Rings' did this again, or even 'Gladiator', but it's not really the same thing if you can do without massive sets and thousands of extras. Yes, I know, financially, that would be almost impossible nowadays, but hey. 

'Ben-Hur' is also just a great film for a number of reasons, even if it is not without a few faults. 

The new young tribune to Judea, Messala, returns home after being educated and sharpened by Rome. Seeing as Judea has a lot of trouble with insurrection, he is to squash this opposition. He meets up with his childhood friend Judah Ben-Hur and asks him to help betray the Jewish conspirators, but Judah refuses. This does not go over well with Messala, and when a silly accident (a slipping roof tile) wounds the new consul, Messala smells an opportunity. He sends Judah's mother and sister to the dungeons and Judah himself to the galleys. 

Three years later, and Judah is still alive, driven on by his hatred for Messala. During a naval battle, he saves the Roman consul Arrius, who eventually takes Judah back to Rome, adopts him as his son and trains him as a charioteer. But Judah is still bent on going back to Jerusalem and finding his family. On the way, he meets up with an Arabian emir that has extremely fine racehorses, but they need a decent trainer and charioteer. Together, they hatch a plan to race in Jerusalem against Messala, in order to teach the Romans a lesson. 

All the while this is happening, the life of Jesus Christ plays out left and right, by the way. Judah meets him when he is taken to Tirus, to be chained to a ship. Also, Pontius Pilate becomes the new consul for Judea. 

Yes, you can see where this is going. 

It all culminates in a chariot race, where Messala is mortally wounded and Judah is victorious. But then Judah learns from a vindictive and dying Messala that his mother and sister are lepers and still alive. Now Judah finds them again and this intertwines with Jesus' trial and crucifixion, leading to the miraculous healing of both his mother and sister. 

This is one of those films that the term 'opulent' was invented for. Holy fudgenuggets, everything is pure eyecandy: the sets, the costumes, the decor, the locations... By golly. You can marvel at the recreation of parts of Jerusalem, or the Circus/Hippodrome. Heck, even the too stylized potrayal of Rome is a feast for the eyes. 

Not only that, but the casting and acting is spot on. Yes, Charlton Heston is great as Judah Ben-Hur, as a man driven by a need for vengeance (even though at the end he realizes vengeance would only bring him and everyone down with him), but he has a more than worthy opponent in Stephen Boyd as Messala. At times, it is a little one-sided as in: "Romans bad, Jews good", but Boyd plays the cocky and hurt Messala with such vigour, you can't help but like the way how he steals the show. 

But this is a boys' film, so the female characters are sorely underdeveloped. Yes, a product of its time, but it does feel a little 'uncomfortable' at times. Especially the almost blind devotion of love interest Esther is a little too subservient, when she could have been a more interesting character. 

Also: if you needed a 'sleazy' character in a film, they usually called on Frank Thring, and he is a gleefully decadent Pontius Pilate. You can tell he was revelling in the role and plays it to the hilt. Good stuff.

This film moves at a nice pace, and you get a spectacular naval battle first. The piece de resistance is still coming, but that overshadows the fact that this battle is very well done and pretty bloody tense as well. But of course, the one thing everyone is in awe of - and rightfully so - is the chariot race where Messala an Judah face off. It is still incredibly impressive to see to this day. It's exhilarating and even more so when you realize they did everything in camera. The amount of preparation, stunt coordination, practice: oy vey, it is mindboggling. You can feel the pain of the charioteers that crash, you can sense the sweat and the breath of the horses, you literally sit at the edge of your seat as if it were a real race where your favourites face off against one another. 

No wonder this is one of the best loved and most hailed parts of any film in history. 

But there are some minor problems with this film as well. You will need to be openminded enough to take some of the overacting a number of people do. Yes, it was the 50s, so there is quite a lot of scenery-chewing. Heston himself is pretty good at that, mostly when he has to have a deep emotional response. Discovering his mother and sister in the Valley of the Lepers where he is hiding behind a rock will show you what I mean. It's a little OTT. 

After the chariot race, there still is about 30 minutes of film left and that part drags enormously. It's because it comes after this extremely exhilarating scene, but it is also just plain boring. It's just Judah running after Christ on the Via Dolorosa and the pacing is suddenly so slow, that everything grinds to a halt. That is a real shame, as it makes you feel like the film is less good than it actually is, especially seeing as the roughly 3 hours prior had a pretty snappy pace. 

What also doesn't feel in its place, is the interweaving of Jesus' story. It's fine when he pops up left and right, because the time period fits and sure, you could see that the story of Judah happens at around the same time, but this isn't a story about Jesus, it's about Judah Ben-Hur. Thus, the prologue (the birth of Christ) and the ending (the crucifixion) feel needlessly tacked on and out of place. It's not a huge problem, but it makes for a disjointed feel. Especially the opening seems like it's from another film entirely. 

But minor criticism aside, this is a brilliant film in almost every way. You don't need to be a religious person to enjoy this. You just need to be someone who likes films and you will find a treasure trove of goodness here. It has (for the most part) great pacing, great actors, wonderful visuals and a nice dose of action and suspense. This is more than deservedly hailed as a classic and still stands proudly to this day.