This week I did something that I absolutely abhor. I watched the two halves of this lengthy film on different days. Ugh. I usually try to avoid doing that at all costs, but this week involved the submission of the first section of this English person’s Master’s thesis, and sometimes things just have to bow to the thesis over here—even when those things are as extraordinary as this week’s Best Picture winner, Ben Hur (1959, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

This is a movie that I’ve been looking forward to working with since I started this BP mission in the spring. As was the case with Gone with the Wind, exactly twenty years Ben-Hur’s senior, I would have thought that Ben-Hur was “non-remake-able”; however, as last year’s unsuccessful remake proves, I can be wrong. But I’d like to think I’m at least correct in saying that this film is definitely unique. During a decade of huge blockbuster films relating to Christianity, Ben-Hur stands alone as the only one which took home the film industry’s highest honor. It also happens to be the first of a mere three films to ever win 11 Oscars, the current record. If we consider the number of Academy Award nominations and wins as the determining factor in ranking films, then Ben-Hur is the second greatest movie ever made with 12 nominations and 11 wins. Personally, I think there’s more to ranking films than just how much awards-show hardware they accumulate, but it’s an interesting idea to look just at Academy Awards (plus, this ranking method makes Titanic the greatest movie ever made with 14 nominations and 11 wins, and I’m not going to completely argue against that proposition…). Personally, in my movie ranking list, I placed Ben-Hur in second place, beneath Gone with the Wind, because I don’t believe the acting in Ben-Hur can even come close to touching Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara and Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler. But feel free to debate me on that; I’m open to other thoughts!

The stunning chariot race scene which took six months to film!

Oscar-wise, then, the 11 trophies that Ben-Hur took home were: Art Direction (Color), Costume Design (Color), Sound, Film Editing, Cinematography (Color), Special Effects, Music (Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture), Actor for Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur, Actor in a Supporting Role for Hugh Griffith as Sheik Ilderim, Directing for William Wyler, and Best Motion Picture. The Academy Award for Directing was William Wyler’s third win in that category. He was previously recognized for his work on Mrs. Miniver (1942) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Though his Ben-Hur win would be his last competitive Oscar victory, Wyler remains one of the greatest directors of all time and the only one to direct three Best Picture winners.

Judah witnesses the ceremonial majesty of ancient Rome.

Ben-Hur the film is based on Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel entitled Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. From an early age, Wallace found himself fascinated by the story of the wise men who followed the star to find the young Savior. Though he wasn’t a Christian believer himself in his younger days, the story lingered in Wallace’s memory through his time in service as a soldier in the Mexican-American War and the Civil War and during the early years of his marriage and fatherhood. Wallace, still basically agnostic regarding religion, at last decided to write a story about the wise men and submit it to a magazine. However, he randomly met the famous atheist Robert Ingersoll and became dismayed that Ingersoll, a professed unbeliever, possessed greater biblical knowledge. Ashamed of his wishy-washy stance on religion, Wallace began to study the Bible in earnest and came to “see God through the eyes of his character,” Judah Ben-Hur. Wallace’s entire worldview changed while writing the novel: “Long before I was through with my book, I became a believer in God and Christ.” Ben-Hur became a phenomenal success and one of the best-selling books of the nineteenth century. Its message of forgiveness in the aftermath of brotherly betrayal and unspeakable trials resonated with an America still trying to heal the hurts of the Civil War.

In his torment, Judah sees Jesus for the first time. For most of the film, to Judah, Jesus is the nameless man who gave him water in his time of need.

But, what connection can we make between the events of the 1950s and a vengeful Jewish man living in Roman-occupied Judea in the first century A.D.?

Eric Johnston, then-president of the Motion Picture Association of America made an interesting speech at the 1960 Oscar ceremony while handing out the award for Foreign Language Film. In addressing how movies can teach people about ourselves and others, he stated: “It is a simple fact that we must all understand that we are not automatically just going to do the right thing.” In my mind, the 1950s seem to be about as “right” as one culture could get. I think poodle skirts and soda fountains and Elvis, Route 66 and church on Sundays and the Fonz. It seems like it must have been wholesome all the time. Untrue. Johnston made his statement about morality after playing a pretty significant role in blacklisting many in Hollywood; and as the film industry rolled, like the rest of the world, into the chaos of the 1960s, the Cold War was already raging, to prove his integrity Nixon had already given a national speech about his dog, and Jim Crow and Brown v. Board of Education had already started having it out over whether separate was the same as equal. It was a messed-up world then as it is now. Johnston was correct in declaring that we won’t all just do the right thing, and we see this truth as well in Ben-Hur. When Judah tries to take the high road in the conflict, he gets stabbed in the back. When he opts for vengeance, he just reaps more pain. It is in mercy and forgiveness that Judah finds real peace and contentment and meaning. And those ideals are pretty timeless, I would say.

For more thoughts on Ben-Hur and its significance, please check out the full post this weekend!