Best Picture Winner: 1959

Ben-Hur (1959)

Winner of eleven Academy Awards, director William Wyler’s Ben-Hur is an engrossing and visually arresting entertainment. Taking place largely during the public ministry of Jesus Christ, the film chronicles the events of a man who learns the importance of forgiveness even though, in his heart, he desires vengeance.

Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a member of a wealthy and respected family in Jerusalem. His childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), a Roman who is now a Tribune, returns to Jerusalem to restore order to a people who have grown restless and speak out against the Roman Empire. Messala asks for Judah’s help in exposing potential traitors, but is refused because Judah will not betray neither his people nor his religion. When Judah is involved in an accident that injures the newly arrived governor, Messala seizes his chance to make an example out of a prominent Jewish family, even though Messala knows Judah is innocent of any wrongdoing. Judah’s mother and sister are imprisoned, and Judah becomes a galley slave. But a sudden change of events in Judah’s life offers him a chance to seek revenge against his once-dear friend.

Ben-Hur comes from a time when Biblical epics (e.g. The Robe, King of Kings) were a staple of Hollywood. And although Judah does encounter Christ at several key points in the story, Ben-Hur is mostly a straightforward combination of drama and action. The majority of the film is devoted to Judah’s struggle to survive being a slave and find a way back to Jerusalem to reunite with his family. The truth is that, although the ability to forgive is certainly a positive character trait, the audience looks forward to Ben-Hur’s confrontation with Messala.

This of course comes in one of the most famous sequences in film history: the chariot race. After almost fifty years, this race, in spite of numerous advances in special effects, remains as thrilling, exciting, and suspenseful as it must have been to those who viewed it on the big screen in 1959. The scene is edited in such a way that we can follow the action (too many of today’s action set pieces are over-edited and incoherent) and when chariots collide and crash, we cannot help but gasp as if someone where really harmed. The scene plays mostly without music which adds to the suspense as a score can sometimes give us advance notice of events. Ben-Hur needs to be seen in its widescreen glory to fully appreciate the chariot race and its staging.

Charlton Heston received a lot of grief in later years because of his association with the NRA and some of this has unfortunately and unfairly spilled over into assessments of his acting career. Heston is unreservedly perfect for the role of Judah Ben-Hur. The part needed a charismatic and physically strong performer to convincingly play someone who can both survive Judah’s arduous ordeal and endear himself to the audience. Heston succeeds on both counts. There is not a false note in his pleasure in first seeing his old friend Messala, his agonizing over the fate of his mother and sister, his romance with the former slave he loves, etc. Heston’s abilities were put to great use in various epics (The Ten Commandments, El Cid) through the years. He won an Oscar for his role in Ben-hur.

Ben-Hur is also aided by its rich supporting cast (Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet, Sam Jaffe, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith, etc.), photography, and art direction, which all combine to paint a vivid picture of this religiously important time in history. William Wyler’s direction keeps things mostly moving at a brisk pace, an impressive achievement for a three hour and forty minute film. Wyler also got an Oscar.

Ben-Hur was recently voted the second best epic of all time by the AFI. It’s a shining example of a type of film (the biblical epic) that Hollywood doesn’t make anymore.