by
Laura Lai/ Review
The movie ‘Ben-Hur’ (2016),
directed by Timur Berkmambetov (with Morgen Freeman and Jack Huston) is another
beautiful adaptation for movie of General Lew Wallace’s novel. This time the
story unfolds in a circular way and is more centered on the Hur family than on
presenting two stories unfolding parallel to each other. The biblical and
historical context, in which the story of the Hur family is presented, is more
subtly presented.
The story is said to be placed in
the year 33 BC. The birth of Jesus is framed in Jerusalem occupied by the
Romans – a time of ‘bitterness and revenge’. The protagonist, Judah Ben-Hur,
and the antagonist, Messala Severus, as well as the whole Hur family are
introduced following an accident, which happened while Judah and Messala were
engaged in a horse race and Judah was severely injured and carried by Messala. The
viewer only needs to listen the dialogue between characters and it learns that
Messala was an adopted Roman orphan raised by the Hur Jewish family, as a
brother of Judah, without imposing their religion or anything else – Messala
prays to a Roman goddess for Judah’s healing – or demanding to prove anything,
but Messala had feelings for Judah’s sister and felt the need to prove
something to the Hur family. And he left. It was five years later, when Judah
and Messala met again that the viewers learn through explicit flash backs that
Messala engaged in years-long army battles, and that he never bothered to reply
to any of the Hur family’s letters.
The stressing of this
particular feature of Messala’s character was very intriguing: Why did he choose
not to give any news to his adoptive family, who was worried for his life, if
he always had the intention to re-take contact with the Hur family, when he
himself had a higher social position – that of a Roman officer?!
The historical context in which
the story takes place is even more detailed presented in this 2016 version of
the ‘Ben-Hur A Tale of The Christ’ book, by the presentation of the zealots. They
were also Jews, but in comparison to Judah whose only contact to the Romans was
his brotherhood with Messala, the zealots were active Jews protester against
the Roman occupation. And it is in this time period that their protests were
very frequent, because it was nourished by an emotional and holly ground: The
pagans Romans were building a circus for chariot racing with stones taken from
the Jewish cemetery.
Without
anybody knowing it, Judah was hosting in his house an injured zealot, when a
Roman governor passed by Jerusalem. And this injured zealot attacked the Romans
with arrows from Judah’s house. The whole Hur family was convicted: Judah was
sent to the galleys in the Port of Tyrus sentenced for life. For the accusation
of mutiny, he could have been killed, but – if so far the viewers know the way
the zealots was perceiving the Romans – through this conviction, the film
director showed the viewers the way the Romans perceived the Jews: Judah said
that it was more amusing for the pagan Romans to sentence a Jew to a long and
painful death in the galleys. Judah served five years in the galleys and
escaped following a ship battle against the Greeks in the Ionian Sea. Judah
served in the galleys the exactly same amount of time as Messala served in battles:
five years. But the behavior of the two protagonists is completely different.
In comparison to the Hur family who constantly wrote letters to Messala, the
latter did not even bother to know whether or not Judah still lived. He also
had no knowledge about whether or not his adopted mother and sister – for whom
he once had feeling – were still living in prison. I found the technical
depiction of the antagonist and the protagonist really marvelously done. Judah
was brought alone to the shore by the waves. He survived and he got into a
contest context to race against Messala – the Romans’ pride in terms of sports
– a race that Judah won.
This movie starts with the
bitterness of life in the occupied Jerusalem. It presents the need of revenge
of the zealots against the Romans who were destroying their cemeteries, and of
Judah against Messala. Towards the end of it, the movie gave a different nuance
to the concept of revenge, which is taken to the circus area, in a sport game,
in which Judah was advised to take the Romans’ pride. The defeat of Messala by
Judah was a symbol of the defeat of the Romans by the occupied Jews in the
circus built from the stones of the Jewish cemetery.
In
order for the two to race, a bet was done. And the amount of the bet was as
high as a treasure. It was as if the film director wanted the viewer to see in
concrete terms the great ambition that was motivating Judah Ben-Hur to win over
the Romans. This movie presents a second remarkable concept opposition going
from collective to individual, when referring to freedom and slavery. It starts
with a need of collective freedom from the concrete oppression of the Romans
and it ends with the Judah Ben-Hur freed from the slavery of revenge
reconciling with Messala, who survived the chariot race.
In
terms of time sequence, the movie presents also the Palm Sunday and it ends
with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It ends with the eclipse and the
purifying rain, which cured the mother and the sister of Judah Ben-Hur.
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