In the ongoing Renaissance of artistry and Reformation of content, the highly anticipated new Ben-Hur movie depicts a struggle toward redemption. It is a movie with the highest anticipation and expectations for the summer. As Sonoma Christian Home heads to L.A. for the premiere of Ben-Hur, June 10 Entertainment Tonight brought some of the latest news, interviews and video footage for this upcoming epic movie.
This powerful movie is based on the beautiful novel by Union Civil War General Lew Wallace, “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.” The movie follows the classic story of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell) and forced into slavery. After brutal years at sea as a galley slave, Judah Ben-Hur returns to his homeland to seek revenge, but finds redemption.
One of the most memorable scenes in the earlier movie of this story was the heart-pounding chariot race. Huston tells about the chariot race in the current movie with up to 32 horses racing at 40 miles per hour. Huston describes what it was like being in the chariot, saying, “That thing has no suspension. Everything it hits — you feel everything. The whole thing is shaking like crazy.” To capture the thunderous sounds of the race, the film crew attached microphones to the horses to record the sound of pounding hooves. GoPro cameras were buried in the sand to capture the feel of the race.
Main character Judah Ben-Hur competes in the heart-pounding chariot race against his adopted brother.
Christian Today reported, “…The new remake of the classical film ”Ben-Hur’ is guaranteed to tug on the heartstrings of audiences as lead character Judah Ben-Hur (played by Jack Huston) encounters many betrayals and hardships in his life and yet manages to show love instead of hate because of Jesus Christ.”
Executive producers for Ben-Hur include: Mark Burnett, Roma Downey, Keith Clarke, John Ridley, Jason F. Brown, and Sean Daniel. The director is Timur Bekmambetov.
Daniel tells The Christian Post that viewers will be able to relate to the timeless themes of the film, which include vengeance versus forgiveness. He says, “The conflicts the characters experience are as relatable today as they were in Roman times or 1880, when Lew Wallace wrote the novel…It’s human nature, and that doesn’t change.”
Bekmambetov says Ben-Hur’s life story will teach people valuable lessons. He tells that that many of the injustices he faced still happen to people to this very day. He shares, “Even though the setting and the circumstances are thousands of years ago, the characters’ emotions and actions are relatable and have a modern, universal resonance,” he says. “We still live with its values. Power, greed and success rule the world, people try to achieve everything in harsh competition, and only few realize that true human values are collaboration and forgiveness.”
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