Lenten Blog – Day 26 – Christ on Film – “Ben-Hur” (1925)

Now that we’ve discussed how Christ’s life fits snuggly into a standard three-act structure, let’s move on to films that contain Christ as, well, not the LEAD, per se, but as a sub character or, in this instance – as a glowing character.

In the 1925 Biblical Epic “Ben-Hur – A Tale of the Christ” (not really much Christ in this one) it’s the standard tale of Ben- Hur who is born rich, then becomes a slave and then works his way up to be a NASCAR Chariot Race Driver and power and stuff and, eventually, redemption.

Ow.

This silent film is being reshown around the country in 2016 due to the fact that a former member of the band the Police (Stewart Copeland) has redone the music and is touring with the film.

Nudity, before the Hayes Commission shut stuff like this down.  Plus it's "biblical" 

so that sometimes makes it okay.  And it's in color!!

What makes the film unique in terms of Jesus Christ is that he’s never shown in his entirety.  The film-makers, probably fearing that they’ll offend someone or just at their wits end as to how to portray Christ on film, turned him into a glowing arm.

Seriously.

At certain points in the film (such as the Sermon on the Mount) Christ is reduced to a glowing arm gesticulating from the right side of the screen while title cards go up showing what he’s saying.  Crowds are enthralled with this glowing arm.

Later in the film, Ben-Hur is witness to Christ’s crucifixion and as he looks on at Christ there’s this glowing reflection that is being cast upon Ben as if some crew member is holding a mirror and reflecting the sun (son?!) onto Ben.

Still better than a Carnival Cruise.

It made me laugh.

All-in-all, though, it’s a fantastic film and one of the earliest films to use the Technicolor process.  Guess I should be glad they just had Christ glowing white instead of green or…