After his boyhood friend Messala's fanatic loyalty to Rome makes him a powerful enemy, Judah Ben-Hur is found guilty of an attempted murder he did not commit. His family is banished and he is enslaved on a warship. Through his ferocity in a raging sea battle, he is able to escape and become a horse trainer.
To exact his revenge, Ben-Hur decides to compete against Messala in the Roman chariot races. They race, locked in a battle to the death. Barely surviving, Ben-Hur forsakes the sword for Christ and finally finds redemption.
Ben-Hur scooped an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards in 1959 including Best Picture and Actor (Charlton Heston) and, unlike some later rivals, richly deserved every single one. This is epic filmmaking on a scale that had not been seen before and is unlikely ever to be seen again.
But it's not just running time or a cast of thousands that makes an epic, it's the subject matter. At four hours it's a long haul, but all in all, Ben-Hur is a great movie, best seen on the biggest screen possible.
Israel
