Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
Watch: The first five clips from the new Ben-Hur

Watch: The first five clips from the new Ben-Hur

Last updated on: December 10, 2016 at 10:38 pm by Peter T. Chattaway

Watch: The first five clips from the new Ben-Hur 2016-12-10T22:38:13-08:00 Peter T. Chattaway

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The first five clips from the new version of Ben-Hur are now available via WingClips, a website that provides movie clips that pastors can use to illustrate their sermons etc. As you might expect, these clips focus on the religious themes of the film, rather than the action-packed spectacle that the trailers have tended to emphasize.

Four of these clips were posted to the ShareBenHur.com website a couple weeks ago but were not embeddable on any other sites at the time. I wrote some notes about those four clips back then and have copied-and-pasted them below, along with some new thoughts on the fifth clip (which is actually listed as Clip 2 below).

Clip 1 — ‘Jesus the Carpenter’

Summary: Judah and Esther are in the marketplace when the Romans reveal that they are about to crucify a Zealot. “Damn the Zealots,” says Judah. “All they want is freedom,” says Esther. “And at what cost?” asks Judah. “If they have their way they’ll bring all of Rome down on us. Then where will our freedom be?” At this point, a nearby carpenter pipes up and says, “There is freedom elsewhere. Love your enemies.” Judah scoffs, “That’s very progressive.” The carpenter continues, “God is Love. He made us to share that love. . . . Hate and fear are lies. They turn us against each other. Those are the lies that make us slaves. He has a path planned for you.” Judah replies, “If he has a path planned for me, how am I better off than a slave?” Jesus looks at Esther (who was born into slavery) and says, “Why don’t you ask her?”

Comment: Based on this clip, the Judah of this film comes across as a privileged and even complacent member of society who scorns the upstarts who would disturb his way of life, which is a significant shift from the Judah of the 1959 film, who advocated non-violence as a man of principle. Meanwhile, the Esther of this film sympathizes with the Zealots, whereas I believe she was pretty solidly on the side of non-violence in the 1959 film too. It is also hinted here that Judah, as a slave owner, may be prompted to rethink his relationship with slavery, whereas the 1959 film never challenged the way Judah spoke warmly about “inheriting” Esther’s father. Judah’s remark that Jesus’ teachings are “very progressive” sounds a bit modern to my ears, and reminds me of how Jesus told Peter they were going to “change the world” in The Bible.

Clip 2 — ‘Jesus Helps Judah’

Summary: Judah has fallen to the ground while being marched through the city by the Romans. Esther says tearfully, “Someone help us.” Jesus steps out of the crowd and takes a cup of water from a Roman soldier and offers it to Judah. “Thank you,” says Judah. “You’d do the same,” replies Jesus, who then helps Judah get back on his feet. Judah is marched away, as Esther cries out, “Where are you taking him?”

Comment: In all previous versions of the story, Jesus meets Judah for the first time in Nazareth, and gives him a drink of water there. But in this version, the drink-of-water scene seems to be taking place in Jerusalem and, as we know from the clip before this one, Jesus and Judah have already met at least once before. Most earlier versions of this scene emphasized the mystical nature of Jesus and his effect on other people, but this clip is filmed less formally and written more ambiguously: yes, the Roman lets Jesus take the cup, but Jesus’ suggestion that Judah would do what he is doing undercuts the sense that there is anything unique about Jesus here — and it seems at odds with the earlier clip, in which Judah didn’t exactly come across as the sort of person who would stick his neck out for any of the Romans’ victims.

Clip 3 — ‘Jesus Protects the Leper’

Summary: Pilate, Messala and some other Romans are riding their horses down the street when they see some Jews throwing stones at a leper, trying to kill him. Jesus rushes out of the crowd and embraces the leper, and some of the stones hit him, too, as he shields the leper. “Love your neighbour as we love ourselves,” says Jesus. The stones stop flying. Jesus stands up, holding the leper, and tells the crowd, “Hate, anger, fear — those are lies they use to turn you against each other. When you set aside the hate they force you to carry, that’s when you know love is our true nature.” Pilate tells Messala Jesus is more dangerous than all the Zealots combined.

Comment: The biblical Jesus healed lepers on at least two occasions, but didn’t use the healings as an opportunity to teach others; in fact, on one of those occasions, he explicitly told the leper not to tell anyone about the healing, except for the priests who were supposed to oversee the ritual of cleansing required by the Law of Moses (Mark 1:44, Matthew 8:4, Luke 5:14). It is also striking to see the Jesus of this film physically attacked (albeit by stones that were intended for someone else) long before his crucifixion; most films, including most earlier versions of Ben-Hur, have imagined that there was something rather imposing about Jesus that caused people to back down when he confronted them. (Note, incidentally, that there is no indication in this clip that Jesus actually heals the leper being stoned; the clip’s primary focus is on social restoration rather than on physical or biological restoration.)

Clip 4 — ‘Judah and Esther’

Summary: Esther tells Judah that twenty people are being crucified in retaliation for Judah’s recent effort to kill Messala. (Said effort was glimpsed in the movie’s first trailer.) Judah says Rome is responsible for those deaths, not him. Esther mentions that her father was killed, too, and Judah says he won’t let Messala go unpunished. Esther replies, “There’s nothing here for you any more,” and walks away.

Comment. It’s interesting to see how Judah blamed the Zealots for the actions of the Romans against the Jews in the earlier clip, but now that he’s consumed with revenge he blames Rome rather than himself for the deaths of these other people. Esther’s father was crucified in the 2010 miniseries as Judah was being led away to the galleys, but he was only tortured and crippled in the 1959 film. In the original novel, Esther’s father lived much longer and helped Judah to support the early church while Nero was persecuting the Christians in Rome, over 30 years after the crucifixion of Jesus.

Clip 5 — ‘Jesus’ Crucifixion’

Summary: Jesus is being led down the street, forced to carry his crossbeam. He falls to the pavement, and Judah brings him a cup of water. A Roman soldier whips Judah, and Judah grabs a stone to throw at him — but Jesus takes Judah’s hand and says, “My life, I give it of my own free will.” Judah goes to Golgotha and sees Jesus crucified between the two rebels there. One of the rebels asks Jesus to remember him in his kingdom, and Jesus says, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise.” Jesus looks at Judah and says, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Judah has flashbacks to happier times with Messala, and then remembers how Messala’s battered body was carried after the chariot race. Jesus says, “It is finished,” and dark clouds appear as his head falls against his chest, lifeless. A soldier stabs Jesus’ side with a spear. Judah falls to his knees and drops the stone that was in his hand.

Comment: Is that the same stone? Has Judah been carrying it all this time, as Jesus carried his cross, was crucified, and spent hours suffering up there? (Note: Judah originally picked the stone up with his right hand, and he drops it from his left hand.) The example Jesus set by forgiving the people who killed him is, of course, meant to be followed by all who believe in him. But there’s something about the juxtaposition of his words with Judah’s flashback that reminds me of the 2010 miniseries, where Jesus walked right up to Judah while he was in chains and told him to forgive the Romans, “for they know not what they do.” Can the saying be generalized to that extent? Are all sins rooted in ignorance? What if the offenders do know what they are doing?

So, those are our first clips from the film. Ben-Hur comes to theatres August 19.

Check out earlier trailers and other videos here:

The first domestic and international trailers, the ‘Welcome to ShareBenHur.com’ video, and the Entertainment Tonight promo (March 16, 2016)
The ‘Epic Faith’ trailer (March 23, 2016)
The ‘Rodrigo Santoro as Jesus’ featurette (March 25, 2016)
The second faith-based trailer (June 8, 2016)
The Entertainment Tonight reports (June 11, 2016)
The ‘Chariot Race’ featurette and Entertainment Tonight report (June 13, 2016)
The ‘Epic’ featurette (July 6, 2016)
The ‘Ceasefire’ music video (July 13, 2016)
The ‘Revolution’, ‘Spark’, ‘Legend’ and ‘Combo’ TV spots (July 18, 2016)
The ‘Back to You’ music video (July 21, 2016)
The second domestic and international trailer (July 25, 2016)

Previous Post

July 25, 2016

Ben-Hur news round-up: Lew Wallace's novel has been "modernized" by his great-great-granddaughter, and more

Next Post

July 26, 2016 Last Days in the Desert comes to DVD and iTunes next week

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Anglican Planet Articles BC Christian News BC Report Bible Movies Bible Review Blog Books & Culture Campus Times CBC Radio Christianity Today ChristianWeek Essays Faith Today Festival Cinemas Guide Film Journals Georgia Straight Interviews MB Herald National Catholic Register Salvationist Today's Christian Two Chairs Ubyssey Uncategorized Vancouver Courier Vancouver Sun

Select a Month August 2025 April 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 May 2024 February 2024 December 2023 May 2023 March 2023 November 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 September 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 April 2012 January 2012 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 November 2003 October 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 March 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 April 2001 March 2001 February 2001 December 2000 November 2000 October 2000 September 2000 August 2000 July 2000 June 2000 May 2000 April 2000 March 2000 January 2000 October 1999 August 1999 May 1999 April 1999 February 1999 January 1999 December 1998 November 1998 October 1998 August 1998 July 1998 June 1998 April 1998 March 1998 January 1998 November 1997 September 1997 July 1997 June 1997 April 1997 March 1997 February 1997 January 1997 December 1996 October 1996 September 1996 June 1996 March 1996 February 1996 January 1996 April 1995 November 1994 September 1994 September 1991

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did fire from heaven consume to prove Elijah's God was real?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A golden calf Sacrifice on Mount Carmel A chariot The temple