I just finished side A of Ben- Hur. Yes, you read it correctly. Side A. As in, there are other sides. Side A alone is maybe two and a half hours. Tomorrow, I will be watching side B. But I will give a summary of side A of Ben- Hur.

So there is this jewish prince named Judah Ben- Hur, who lives in Jerusalem around the time of Jesus. The romans are taking over and one of the generals was Judah's childhood friend, Masala. They catch up and throw a few spears at a wall, but then they get into a huge fight because Masala thinks Judah is the head of the Jewish rebellion. Judah denies this and they vow never to see each other again. 

But then, guess who decides to show up in incredibly large quantities, yup, Romans. A lot of Romans. And while Judah is watching them bustle into Jerusalem, he accidentally knocks off a piece of the roof and hits the roman captain on the head. Romans storm into his home, led by Masala, and capture Judah, his mother, and his sister. They let the servants of the house go. But they make Judah walk through an incredibly large desert (It is never specified which one) and they stop in a town to get water. And the Romans will not let Judah drink any water. But one person in the town does give him water. Here are your three options of who it could be:

1. Bruce Wayne

2. Arnold Schwarzenegger

3. Jesus Christ

If you guessed number three Jesus Christ, you would be correct. 

But anyway, Judah becomes enslaved on a boat, where he rows without rest, for three years. At this point in the movie, I thought, wow, If I had a penny for every time this scene had been parodied, I would own an island. It is in countless tv shows, and movies like The Meaning of life and the entire movie is parodyed in Life of Brian

But, getting back on track, a Roman captain on the boat takes a liking to Judah, and asks him to be a chariot racer. Judah declines, and goes back to rowing.

And, on one night soon after, the crew is rowing along, when a fleet of enemy ships shows up almost out of nowhere. It would be hard to sum up all that happens but the key points are:

1. The prisoners are chained up so that, if the ship sinks, they sink with it.

2. The captain tells the Romans on the ship not to chain up Judah.

3. They don't

4. The ship is sunk but the romans win the battle.

5. The only survivors are the captain and Judah on a bit of wood. Ya know, like in titanic?

The two are rescued by a roman ship and Judah is not enslaved, as a matter of fact, he is honored. The roman ship sails to rome, where Judah gains the trust of the captain and lives "happy" for a year. In this year, Judah becomes an undefeated chariot racer. After a year, the captain formally adopts Judah as his son, and his heir. But Judah tells him he has to back to Jerusalem so that he can see his mother and sister. The captain grants this and Judah leaves. 

When getting back to the general area of jerusalem, Judah runs into a chariot horse owner, who has no one to race for him. The man offers the opportunity to Judah, but Judah declines. After making his way back to Jerusalem, Judah finds his house in shambles, but servants are still living in it. Judah seeks out Masala, so that he can get his mother and sister back from prison. Judah confronts Masala rather aggressively and demands that he release his mother and sister from prison. Masala sends in people to the prison only to find that Judah's mother and sister have leprosy. The Romans let them go and they find their way back to Judah's house. They surprise one of the maids and tell her to tell Judah they are dead, and that they are going to live in the Land of The Lepers. The maid does as she is told and tells Judah that they are dead. He goes into a rage and goes stomping off to do something. 

And that is where side A ends. That was about two and a half hours of watching. Despite the politics and hardness of watching this movie, so far I like it. Charlton Heston is playing the part he always plays, the hero, and does a very good job of it, he won best actor for it.

And for a movie made in 1959 it is incredibly captivating, you can really see how much it has influenced other films over the last 50 years.The cast is amazing, the costumes look legitimate, and it is incredible how much they could do even with limitations of 1950s technology. So far I would give this movie three and a half stars out of five, and I only hope it gets better!!

Thanks!