Muddled Execution Hobbles “Hur”

It’s a testament to the novel by Lew Wallace that the power
of Ben-Hur cannot be completely obscured by shoddy filmmaking.  That was my take away after sitting through
the sixth screen version of the biblical epic, an adaptation that shifts the
focus of the story and delivers its message with the subtlety of a sledgehammer
to the face.  This proves a shame as
there are some good things in it, including fine performances from the two
leads, wasted efforts in the service of a production with an obvious agenda.

Having been taken in as an orphan, Messala (Toby Kebbell)
has grown up in the House of Hur and has always regarded Judah Ben-Hur (Jack
Huston) as his brother. However, as they grow older, the former begins to
resent the stature of the Hur household and sets out to make a name for
himself, despite his love for Judah’s sister Tirzah (Sofia Black-D’Elia).  Years pass and as the Roman occupation of Jerusalem
grows, tensions build between them and the Jewish inhabitants, a conflict Judah
refuses to enter.  However, his hand is
forced when Messala returns and asks for his help in suppressing any rebels
that may be lurking about.  This doesn’t
sit well with Judah and through circumstances beyond his control, he winds up
being falsely accused of treason and sent off to be a galley slave in the Roman
Navy. 

Unlike the Oscar-winning 1959 version, this film plays like
a Cliff-s Notes version of that epic film. 
Director Timur Bekmambetov seems to be in a hurry to get this story told
as one key moment trips on the heels of the next with little time given for the
emotional conflicts between the characters to develop or for us to drink it all
in.  All of which leaves the epic scenes
this piece is famous for feeling a bit empty. 
The sense of elation and catharsis inherent in Judah’s escape from the
slave ship and victory in the chariot race simply isn’t there because we’re
denied the time to learn and feel more for this character. Perhaps most
maddening is the way these two sequences and others in the film are
lensed.  Bekmambetov has a resistance to
tripods that borders on the phobic.  He
employs shaky, handheld shots and uses quick cutting to generate a manic flurry
of confusion that comes off as muddled when it should be clear and thrilling.
It’s nearly impossible to keep track of the progress of the race or its
inhabitants and in putting the camera so close to the racers and their horses,
he robs us of the grandeur of the event. 

That said, Huston and Kebbell are very good and their work
helps create an emotional charge that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the film,
while Rodrigo Santoro registers as Jesus Christ as well.  This part is made a good deal larger than in
other film versions as the intent of producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (The Bible, Son of God) is to put his teachings at the forefront, making
Judah’s ultimate conversion anti-climactic. 
This, as well as the silly, altered conclusion, makes for a Ben-Hur that lacks the power and passion to deliver its message.

This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2016.