Ben-Hur and Messala

Full of surprising actions, difficult compromises, and bitter defeats, Ben-Hur tells the tale of a Jewish prince, Judea Ben-Hur, born around the eon of deliveryman messiah in capital of Israel. Judea is childishness friends with a papistical boy named Messala. The deep bond among the dickens is a point tidyly made in the beginning of the movie. The movie swiftly moves ahead over 20 years to a time when Rome has invaded Jerusalem. Ben-Hur is unflustered a prince and regarded still with honor though he no longer rules the land. by and by years of separation, Ben-Hur and Messala have a joyful reunification and at maven time again begin to reinvigorate the bonds of friendship. Exposition as they toss around fountain with the wo men discussing their y bulge outh lets us know Messala was almost a composition of the Ben-Hur family. Everything is sweet with talk of old multiplication til now genius still gets the feeling that Messala is a bad guy as he discusses turning Libya to ashes in front of the women and shortly after as he tries to get Judea to turn in fellow Jews. Messala is looking to climb the run absent of power and he begs for Ben-Hurs help in getting discharge of Jewish rebels.When Ben-Hur ref utilisations, Messala uses an accident to place Ben-Hur under arrest. He is sent away as a g altogetherey slave for use on papistical ships. After saving the life of the Roman Counsel Quintus Arrius, Ben-Hur is freed from slavery and adoptive by the high-ranking Roman. Judea Ben-Hur, driven by obtaining revenge on Messala, decides he must leave his new friends and family and turn in to Jerusalem. The longing to baffle his infant and mother argon as strong as his need for revenge. After leaving Rome, Ben-Hur finds that Messala is now a famed transport racer in Jerusalem.Fate has Ben-Hur meeting an Arab sheik who owns a chariot but whose rider is inadequate. This Arab offers Ben-Hur the fortune to ride in a chariot driven by intravenous feedi ng of the finest horses he has ever catch outn in competition against Messala, hoping winning against the execration ex-friend testament be revenge enough for Ben-Hur. After politely rejecting the offer, Judea heads back to his Jerusalem home in hope of finding his revenge and his family. But instead, Ben-Hur returns to find his home in disarray and his family still g unrivaled.His slaves, however, remain and they have transcendental Ben-Hurs wealth. Esther, the slave daughter he freed years before is still there, almost waiting for him to return. Fate once again steps in, and Judea winds up on the sheiks chariot in the great chariot race of Jerusalem. Taking up almost twenty minutes of covering fire time, this ultra- playtic and occasion on the wholey gory scene finds Ben-Hur the victor in the end. Thinking his family loose and his nemesis not only beaten but also mortally wounded, Ben-Hur finally believes the end of his torments may be close at hand.But Messala, disrespect knowing he is near death, still refuses to concede defeat. He requests a visit from Ben-Hur. It is then that Messala tells Ben-Hur that his family is alive and living as lepers in the valley. The diaphanous fresh pain he brings to his one-time friend jut outms to please Messala as Ben-Hur is once again filled with agonizing reality. Esther and Ben-Hur soon bring his mother and sister out of the valley and into the city where they argon pelted with rocks. Soon though, attention shifts to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.Ben-Hur recognizes Christ. He cannot understand why he is being torture so and Ben-Hur thrashes by dint of the crowd in order to get adpressed. He is able to bring Jesus a wooden cup of piss and when he sits in front of the wounded Christ to offer the drink, Ben-Hur looks into Christs eyes and it is obvious nighthing deep has passes between them. The crucifixion complete, we see Christs blood being washed down the hillside where Esther and Ben-Hurs family hav e taken shelter in cave. It is this night that finds Ben-Hur finally attaining peace.Ben-Hur has in all alike(p)lihood been described as a motion picture of heroic proportions more times than the sun has risen since its birth. Nevertheless, epic it is. Made on a rare scale, Ben-Hur is a story of good and evil which is often as clear as in childrens fable. For example, for centuries most people associate the excuse white with good and glowering with bad. Messala, the enemy of Ben-Hur wears black clothing and has black horses in the great chariot race while Ben-Hurs are clothes are light and his horses white.Yet, it is also a tale that stimulates one wonder if good and evil are actually as intelligibly defined as we have been led to believe. Though it is in the compass most often, religion plays a big part of this movie. Just like in the modern world where religious fanatics abound, there were many impertinent beliefs two centuries ago. While the movie, in my opinion, could have made the Romans the evildoers simply for their unalike beliefs, it never stoops that low. Instead, the movie shows that greed is evil and that acceptance of others unlike oneself is what makes all humans good.Messala disparages Jews to Ben-Hur frequently, but it is not that which makes him evil. It is Messalas corrupt ways, selfish actions, and contrary heart that make him evil. Not only does the movie compare and parentage Messala and Ben-Hur, it also strives to compare Ben-Hur with Jesus. They were born around the same time, they were good men with great things in their futures. But the pain of one found him quest blood for blood where the other professed people should fight oppression and evil with love and peace. With cunning subtlety, the live of Jesus is intermingled with Ben-Hurs.We never see Jesus face, nor do we ever hear him speak. But, we do get the ideas Jesus professed through other characters such as Balthazar and Esther. We hear of the types of prime(a)s Je sus would make and we view the one Ben-Hur makes. Judea is absolutely powerful as he talks of how license will ring so loudly when Rome falls. We know his choice is to fight, violently if need be for what he wants. Yet Jesus is powerful too, as we hear his words of peaceful action through others. Compared to Messala, Ben-Hur is the foe of evil.But, when compared to Jesus, BenHur is also an opposite. This is where the bends of good vs. evil are less clear than understand white and black. It is almost as if the movie wanted us to see Messala as the ultimate evil, Jesus as the ultimate good, and Ben-Hur as the decrepit human who must live every day between the two. This back off of both is obvious quite often in Ben-Hurs life. starting time he must adopt between being a trustworthy friend and a loyal leader, then he must choose between killing those who would have him dead and remaining alive for the future.He makes life-altering choices ground on emotion only many times. T he ship scene where Ben-Hur is unlocked prior to being rammed turns into him saving as many other slaves as he can, despite risking his own life by remaining in the ships hold is not only graphic but very emotional. And soon after, he not only kills another to save the life of Quintus Arrius, he saves him again by refusing to allow Quintus Arrius to kill himself by suicide. No serious on this time period, I found this movie to be extremely accurate historically.From the clothing to the architecture of ships and buildings to the desolate desert settings, they all rang fair true. If occasionally, one could image a particular shot taken on a movie lot, there were hundreds of others that felt perfectly real that could make you forget a second or two of falseness. It seemed that very minute attention was given to even minor aspects of the film. For instance, Ben-Hurs hairstyle was decidedly Roman after his months spent in the empires capital. The make up of the women was very detail ed too, as were the many wounds shown in the war between ships.Also, the instant where the slave must move the Baton of Victory closer to the emperor reach so that the emperor would save mere inches of feces rang quite true and a tad funny. Every great epic must have a great ending. Ben-Hur certainly does. This is when Judea is finally reunited with his family and he brings them into to Jerusalem where they see Christ being tortured as he carries the cross. In his pain a look of peace Ester mutters softly as Judea struggles to get close to Jesus.Soon after, the blood of Jesus that runs down the hillsides as the rainfall pours down heals Judeas family miraculously. Esther was going to leave Ben-Hur as his thirst for retribution was turning him to stone until a look from Jesus and a hardly a(prenominal) of the crucified preachers words rid Judea of the pull toward evil completely. The jubilantly ever after ending can read like a childrens fable and feel a little unrealistic as we ll. But, one has to consider that with all the torment the main characters in this film had to endure in their lives, a little artistic license is understandable.This discrepancy of Ben-Hur was a great success. It remains on many lists as one of the top 100 films of all time and is still discussed frequently among moviegoers and critics alike. The famous chariot race scenes in the later half of the movie are recognizable even to many that have never seen the entire film. No doubt this film can be considered a success when cubic decimeter years later it is still being watched, still is recognizable, and its actions scenes are still being emulated (Think of the pod-race in Star Wars The Phantom Menace).Another aspect of amount its success is that while some of the scenes are obviously shot on a filming lot (Ben-Hurs home after his return from Rome, close-up shots during the dramatic race are the first scenes to come to mind) the production itself was an terrible trade union move ment. Made in the days before computers could enhance, fix, and modify any image, the drama accomplished is admirable. Thousands of people at a time in some shots and the final product came together in a way that ends up looking so smooth, but must have been quite an undertaking to realize.The most recent production of Titanic, a massive success in its own right, had fifty years of technology at is disposal and yet its computer generated people aboard the luxurious cruise ocean liner with their stiff movements and bodies and clothing without details cannot hold a candle to the thousands of extras use to fill a Jerusalem arena as they cheer for Ben-Hur, line roman streets for a tribute to the returning Quintus Arrius, fill a hillside from all directions to listen to the words of Jesus Christ, or follow Christ as he takes his last tortured steps through Jerusalem with the cloggy wooden cross on his back.Technology has been wonderful to the movie industry, but Ben-Hur stands out even today because it is able to touch the audience intensely without the use of modern tools. The realistic touches, such as the thousands of extras involved, the intelligent decision to duplicate the live of Jesus while still keeping his character in the background, and the still exciting chariot scenes are only a part of the reason this film is a monumental success still.