Term Papers on Ben-Hur

Term Paper Title	Ben-Hur
# of Words	1550
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	6.2

Ben-Hur

     Every so often in cinema history there is a movie which supersedes all those before it.  Only a select few films actually advance the quality of the overall cinematic world.  Ben-Hur is a movie which dared to do so.  Near the end of 1959 this film crashed on to the entire world.  The budget and subsequent special effects of Ben-Hur made it a movie which can, and continues to, stand the test of time.  "MGM films dumped an unprecedented $15,000,000 into the production of this epic tale."  (Benet's 87)  What separated this movie critically from others was its' ability to combine a powerful story line with almost unprecedented historical accuracy.  By combining these two elements the movie was made attractive to both educationally oriented people and entertainment oriented people.  The film version is largely a similar version to the novel.  The novel was written by Lew Wallace.  Both works, because of the obvious similarities with one another will be discussed in this essay. From these two works, many parallels can be drawn with actual historic events.  The object of this paper is to illustrate the successful joining of fact with fiction.
Ben-Hur successfully told an intriguing story of a Jew falsely accused of a crime with the backdrop of the rise of Christ and the tyrannical ruling of the Roman empire in the first century of the common era.  The main character, Judah Ben-Hur had many highs and lows during the story.  Religion was his backbone and strength throughout the story.  Ben-Hur was able to continue through hardships because he had a desire to continue on.  This inner strength is what made the character of Ben-Hur appealing to the masses.  All different religious groups could appreciate the hardships Ben-Hur went through in his struggle for the regaining of his freedom and the rejoining of his family.  All people, from the time of the novel to the time of the movie, and still today, could and can identify and sympathize with Ben-Hur because of this battle for religious freedom.  He is a character you cannot dislike.
When Wallace set out to make this tale his goal was extreme historical correctness combined with a desirable plot.  The plot's desirability came from the combination of a love story and a battle for revenge with his supposed best friend Messala.  Messala had knowingly sent his best friend and family to prison in an attempt to assert his power over the Jewish people.  All of the activities of the movie and book are confined by this extreme historical correctness.  It is said by Paul Gutjahr that Wallace was "obsessed with historical accuracy."  Gutjahr continues by saying that Wallace went to the Library of Congress and researched extensively on subjects such as history, geography, and even botany before beginning the writing process.  (7)    All major dates of historical events checked out with references.  The story crosses the reigns of both Augustus and Tiberius.  "Augustus ruled from 30 BC  to 14 AD and Tiberius ruled from 14-37 AD   Around 30 AD, under Tiberius' rule Christ was crucified."  (McNeil 197)  Ben-Hur's life was structured around these people and events.
Under Augustus' reign Ben-Hur, because of Messala's trickery, found himself as a slave rowing in Roman boats campaigning against the Macedonians.  The boats and uniforms were constant with the historical correctness sought after by Wallace and the film version which followed.  As the battle with the Macedonians concluded Ben-Hur saved the life of the commanding officer of the victorious Roman navy.  From this heroism in battle Judah Ben-Hur was able to escape his slave stature and eventually ascend up the ranks until the Roman officer he saved adopted him as his own son.  This created for an ironic return to Judaea by Judah Ben-Hur.  He now returned to his homeland as a respected and once again powerful man.  This set the stage for another powerful cinematic and historically researched event from the film.  Ben-Hur eventually had a chariot race against Messala in a then unequaled special effects showcase.  Throughout thi...

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