The Wasteland Reviewer

Outside the Wasteland: Ben-Hur (1959)

Film can mean so much more than just entertainment on a screen, right? Outside the Wasteland is my new avenue to express my thoughts on films that have truly made an impact on my life. This is not about how great the films are or even how much I love them. This is an expression of how these films have made a direct impact on my life including my love of film, my personality, my world view, and just an overall lasting impression that deeply affected me.  This is a doorway into The Wasteland Reviewer through the films that have shaped me.

Ben-Hur (1959)

How many movie traditions do you have? Many of us watch some of the same films every year for different holidays. Christmas and Halloween are two holidays that have whole months dedicated to them where people watch films related to them. There are formal marathons like “13 Days of Halloween” and “25 Days of Christmas” that get people into the right mood for the holidays. But these are not the only holidays that have the right movies to capture the spirit of a holiday. One of the great historical epics of cinema, Ben-Hur, makes for the perfect Easter film experience. This was one of the big traditions for me as Ben-Hur is a parallel story to the life and death of Jesus Christ. The narrative and thematic significance of the crucifixion makes it a great representation of what that holiday is about.

But what does this all mean for my own religion? I am a non-practicing Roman Catholic. I received my first Holy Communion and had my Confirmation. The last time I went to an actual mass was around seven years ago when I became the Godfather to my nephew Joseph. Being an Italian American from New Jersey, my Catholicism has made a large impact on me growing up. We would go to mass for all the big holidays at the very least like Christmas, Easter, Palm Sunday, and Ash Wednesday. The biggest influence on me when it came to my faith was my grandmother. I lived in the same home with my maternal grandparents for almost 20 years of my life. My grandmother was a devout Catholic who would go to church multiple times per week. We have pictures of Pope John Paul II in our home (like any good Italian American family would). There were stretches of my life where we would go to church every week, but it has never been something I felt compelled to continue. I have too many problems with organized religion from the way so many people today leverage the Bible to justify their own hate and bigotry and the overall hypocrisy of too many people in my life who religiously go to church and who are just not good people.

But do I have faith? I do believe in the general ideas of the Catholic faith of living thy neighbor and doing good for people. I feel like what I have chosen to do with my life has meaning and impact on others and that makes me feel fulfilled. I try to help other people when I can even if it is something small. I have faith in humanity (even if the world has shaken that faith too much in recent years) that the world can be better and that we can make a better world by standing by each other. There is too much hate in the world for that to happen and that is one of the reasons I struggle with truly believing in humanity. I like to believe that there is a high power out there that created existence for a reason. I feel like this impressive existence cannot just be here due to chance. But I am not sure (and I am agnostic at best at this point). But faith does mean something for me still…despite all of this.

But what does my love for film have to do with it? The exploration of faith is one of the reasons why Ben-Hur is one of my favorite films. The way that Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice not only makes Judah Ben-Hur realize what is truly important in life (not revenge but love), but a cleansing rain washes away the sins and disease that afflicted Judah’s loved ones. There is something beautiful, poetic, and moving about the way this towering epic concludes in such an intimate and personal way. The most challenging thing to come to grips with is that they just don’t make faith-based films like this anymore. One of my biggest cinematic pet peeves is that the faith-based film genre has turned into an all message, nothing else mode of art. Nothing is more frustrating than being endlessly preached at without any other aspect of cinematic artistry. Ben-Hur has it all. The direction, music, production design, characters, action, themes, and everything else. William Wyler made a film unabashedly faith-based AND made one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time. The Ten Commandments, The Last Temptation of Christ, Silence, The Exorcist, Sign, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. These are all films that can engage in faith-based themes effectively while delivering a compelling cinematic experience. Too many of the films made today by studios looking to push religious ideologies just fail so often as actual films.

Why is this the case? I feel like the main issue is that the filmmakers are making propaganda first and worrying about the art of film much less. The beauty of art is that you can craft something moving and impactful while also exploring themes and ideas that mean something to you. I will also love it when films can explore faith in a poignant way while also delivering a good film. This makes me feel my hope is alive. They scratch that itch when it comes to processing my own faith. Film is a magic art form that can do so much. I love Ben-Hur because it can do so much for me as a viewer and still stands tall as an all-time classic cinematic achievement.