The Good: Looks good, Timeless story, Amazing DVD presentation.
The Bad: All the blood looks quite fake
The Basics: With generally likable characters engaged in a search for family and revenge, Ben-Hur is a long movie with a surprisingly intimate focus on the title character.
As I make it through the final few films I have yet to see for my ambitious Best Picture Project (check it out by clicking here!), I find myself watching a number of older movies that I might not have otherwise watched. The real surprise for me in sitting down to watch some of them, though, has been the fact that I have seen some of them. As it turns out, "Ben-Hur," which I thought was going to be new-to-me is actually a film I had seen once before in syndication on an Easter in my childhood. In fact, the only thing that surprised me in the four-disc DVD presentation of Ben-Hur was that the mammoth film opened with seven minutes of nothing happening (no kidding, it's an overture with artwork from the Sistine Chapel and the MGM logo for the first seven minutes).
For those unfamiliar with Ben-Hur ("A Tale Of Christ"), the film is set in biblical times as something of a parallel story to the rise of Jesus Christ. While Jesus is off teaching and gathering support for his philosophy, Judah Ben-Hur encounters trials and tribulations in Rome with moments that are tangential to Christ's story. This film is based upon the bible as well as a novel by General Lew Wallace, but as always it is worth noting that this review is solely of the film, not the source material upon which it is based.
Twenty-six years after the birth of Christ, Messala is made the tribune of the Roman province of Judea. There, he calls upon his childhood friend Judah Ben-Hur to find out who the rabblerousers in the province are. Ben-Hur declines, despite their old friendship, and he returns home where he flirts with his slave's daughter, Esther. When the new Roman Governor arrives, a tile falls off the roof at Ben-Hur's estate, spooks the governor's horse and Ben-Hur and his family are arrested as traitors to the Roman Empire. After three years rowing as a slave on a Roman ship, Ben-Hur's ship encounters a Macedonian fleet and when his ship is destroyed, he saves the life of the ship's captain, the Consol Arrius. In saving his life, Ben-Hur earns a place as Arrius's slave, as opposed to a criminal outside his mercies.
After a year, adopted by Arrius, Ben-Hur returns to Judea, where Pontius Pilate replaces Messala as Governor. Messala, in the meantime, has become a champion in the Roman circuses as a chariot-racer and Ben-Hur is challenged to race against his old friend and win. Learning the fates of his sister, mother and Esther, Ben-Hur decides to race in the chariot races and defeat Messala and regain all he has lost.
Outside the setting and the occasional references to Judah being Jewish instead of Roman, Ben-Hur is a remarkably average character story of a man whose life is stripped away from him and he must work to take it back. Over the three hour, forty minutes of Ben-Hur, the scope and scale of the character work are sometimes distracted from, but essentially the movie stays focused on the title character. As a man of wealth and privilege, Judah's character arc is simple; all he has is stripped away and from his lowest point, he works to restore himself. The process of restoring himself to his prior state is a painstaking process and one that makes for an epic-feeling story, even if the scope is so much smaller than that.
Ben-Hur is focused on Judah Ben-Hur, with random moments that Jesus Christ appears and the characters around Judah stand in awe of him, even when he does something as simple as offer Ben-Hur water in defiance of the Roman soldiers. But Jesus is only a peripheral character for the bulk of the film, so those coming to this as "A Tale Of Christ" might be a bit disappointed, despite the little Christian-focus pamphlet that came in the four-disc version (which tries to emphasize the four scenes with Jesus out of the entire film - perhaps fifteen minutes out of the epic). Far more iconic from this film are elements like the chariot race that occupies the bulk of the second half of the movie.
To be fair, Ben-Hur's story is one that fits in well with the ideas of forgiveness and personal growth. It is Ben-Hur's anger that supposedly sustains him - though this is not evident through Charlton Heston's acting at the time, rather as Arrius, he reveals it in dialog with Messala - and after all he is put through, he ultimately must work to let go of his anger. But for those looking for a strong Christian message, Ben-Hur is a bit garbled. Judah Ben-Hur takes the time to turn the other cheek . . . while plotting revenge. And he has forgiveness for his enemies . . . after he has his revenge upon them. The point here is that Ben-Hur is not the ultimate Christian hero the viewer's guide that accompanies the four-disc set truly want him to be.
And while the story is a tale of a man pulling himself back up to the status he was wrongfully stripped of, there are many predictable elements that have the feeling of being contrived. The Ben-Hur and Esther love story is fair, but offers no conflict or strength for Ben-Hur's story. In other words, Esther doesn't challenge Ben-Hur to be a better man or to not seek revenge upon those who wronged him, nor does she actually help him get revenge. Because the romance has no effect on the character, it seems more Hollywood Standard - gratuitous - than actually integral or special to this story. Far more compelling than the love story is Ben-Hur's devoted hunt for his mother and sister (who contract leprosy while in a Roman prison).
Despite the character flaws or lack of development in the writing of the characters, Ben-Hur has appropriately great acting. Charlton Heston plays Judah Ben-Hur and he portrays the character as a natural leader and a man who has kindness and anger at and under the surface, respectively. Heston has on-screen gravitas in this role and it is one of the performances that gave him a reputation, rightly, as a dramatic powerhouse. The viewer feels the anguish of Ben-Hur when he is told his family is dead and Heston has a great physical presence as Ben-Hur. Indeed, some of the best moments of Heston's acting in this film come from the moments when Heston must perform solely with his eyes, casting powerful gazes and emoting without words.
On-screen, Heston has great on-screen chemistry with Haya Harareet, who plays Esther. Harareet is an average actress and she plays less well against Heston. Particularly bad is the moment Esther lies to Ben-Hur about the state of his family and there Harareet is utterly unconvincing. Fortunately, Heston is facing away from the camera, so if he winced at her portrayal of lying, it is not shown. Generally, the acting is good and even better is the casting. In fact, the attempt to cast people who could be passed off as Arab - as opposed to actors who are clearly American or European for a piece set in the Middle East - was so effective in some cases that I was surprised when I read the cast list (most notably that Ben-Hur's Sheik sponsor at the chariot race was played by Hugh Griffith).
On DVD, Ben-Hur is presented as a magnificent four-disc special edition. While the Best Picture winner is presented on the first two discs with a commentary track from a film historian and Charlton Heston, the third disc features the 1925 version of the same film (which was not even nominated for Best Picture, because the award did not even exist when it was made!). The fourth disc is a virtual orgy of featurettes for fans of "Ben-Hur. That final disc features two documentaries on how the movie was made, as well as newsreels that were played in theaters before the film. There is also an extensive photo gallery on the disc as well as the theatrical trailer. As one who has watched a lot of Best Picture winners, fans of Ben-Hur will be pleased that many of the presentations from the Academy Award ceremony are presented on this disc as well! This is a treasure trove of information for those who like the source material and film scholars especially will enjoy going through the various materials. There is a surprising amount of educational value to the documentaries and commentary tracks. Also in the four-disc set is a photo album and viewer's guide (intended to guide church groups and the like) and these offer even more value for those who like the movie.
Despite some simplistic elements - and the fact that the chariot race burns a chunk of time out of Ben-Hur longer than the podrace sequence occupied The Phantom Menace (reviewed here!) - Ben-Hur earns its status as a classic film with a timeless feel to it. In fact, the only enduring surprise for me is that the movie is not alluded to even more often.
For similar films, please check out my reviews of:
Priest
Gladiator
"Bread And Circuses"
8/10
For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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