Ben Hur (1959)

Directed by: William Wyler | 212 minutes | action, drama, romance, adventure | Actors: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Haya Harareet, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O’Donnell, Finlay Currie, Frank Thring, Terence Longdon, George Relph, André Morell

‘Ben-Hur’ is a film that far exceeds the boundaries of the big screen. This is a timeless epic drama about divine principles versus worldly power, male muscular versus female persuasion, self-sacrifice, mercy and suffering. Against the background of historical events, William Wyler builds three and a half hours of serene but indestructible cinema. No scene is superfluous; even the unavoidable trumpet blast, which takes a total of minutes, is appropriate in this type of film.

It won’t be biblically boring. It is of course also our history: the Roman Empire, Judaism and the birth of the Christian faith, but ‘Ben-Hur’ is more, including an accessible adventure film. What about the classic chariot race, where the rims with serrated blades do their destructive work. Judah itself is a macho version of Jesus of Nazareth, excellently personified by the sculpted torso of Charlton Heston – how reminiscent of Schwarzenegger. In fact, the vicissitudes of the character Juda Ben-Hur are even cleverly interwoven with the life of Jesus and it will be no coincidence that Judah is of a similar age. In some scenes, Ben-Hur and the Messiah appear simultaneously. We never see the face of Jesus, only the wonder of Judah; at those moments a kind of symbiosis seems to develop between the two and it seems that Wyler wanted to create a kind of mirror personality, culminating in an extended gospel. Not that Judah herself has divine gifts; he is a man of as much doubt as his fellow humanity, but his faith in goodness ultimately brings redemption to himself and his family, while the rains wash the blood of Jesus from Mount Calvary. Bold, but successful…

Other notable roles? Hugh Griffith as the fire-breathing Sheikh Ildirim – a perhaps stereotypical Arab who conspires with Ben-Hur against Messala; Stephen Boyd as this power-drunk Roman Tribune and especially Haya Harareet as Judah’s slave girl and beloved Esther. Her feminine powers eventually bring Ben-Hur to his knees and no Roman could do that; that’s how you write history with a film. Result: eleven Oscars.