Halfway through quarantine, my uncle decided to watch this very old movie. Not having anything to do at the time I decided to join him and watch. Just a heads up the movie length is almost 3 hours and 45 minutes. I admit it will take a big chunk of your time. An interesting fact about this movie is that it had a budget of 15 million US dollars back in 1959 which a huge amount of money. If we adjust it in today's money worth it's about 130 million dollars. 
This movie talks about a man named "Judah Ben-Hur", he is a wealthy Jewish prince. His childhood friend is a Roman whose name is "Messala". Messala went on an adventure with the Roman army. Several years later he returned to Jerusalem as the new commander of the Roman garrison. In order to make the Roman invasion easier, Messala meets with his old friend Judah asking him for help. Messala didn't want to use power, so he tried to convince Judah to talk to his people and don't try anything stupid. The next morning while the Roman soldiers were entering the city, Judah and his sister were overseeing the parade from the roof of their house. Leaning a bit to the front, by accident his sister touched a loose tile that fell straight next to the new governor of Judea which spooked the horse and thus almost killing the governor. The Romans didn't think twice and directly assumed that someone was trying to assassinate the governor. As much as this looks like a stupid accident look how much was the impact of it. It turned lives upside down. Messala ended up arresting Judah and his family. Despite conducting further research, Messala found out that it was truly an accident. But given that he is a commander it wouldn't look good if he released them, it would be a sign of weakness and that he made a mistake. So, he sent Judah to be a galley slave among others. On the road, he had his first contact with Jesus Christ who offered him water and was able to continue walking. One time while in the midst of the battle between the Romans and the Macedonians pirates, Judah rescued a Roman consul called Arrius. The latter not having any children of his own, he asks the Emperor to free Judah, and Arrius adopts him as his son. 
Judah becomes a charioteer champion. He still wanted to fulfill his desire and take revenge on Messala. On his way back to Judea he meets with a wealthy sheik. Intrigued by Judah's abilities with horses and charioteering skills, he asks him to ride his horses in the upcoming race in Judea. At first, Judah wasn't really convinced even after he knew that Messala was going to race. Then he went asking for his mother and sister, the Romans told him that they had contracted leprosy. His loyal servant "Esther" knew that Judah was back and on the request of his mother she told him that they were dead. This event caused Judah to seek revenge on Messala. After that, there was a huge time wasted. Firstly, the negotiations between the sheik and the Romans. Secondly, the parade lap took forever. The race started and you can see the contrast between Messala and Judah. One who rides his chariot elegantly while the other is aggressive and wants to destroy every one who comes in front of him. While trying to destroy Judah's chariot, Messala ended up breaking his own which resulted in him being severely injured. This paved way to Judah winning the race. After the race finished, Messala was only obsessed with talking to Judah despite being in serious medical need. In the end, Messala told him to search for his mother and sister between the lepers. 
For me, the movie finished here at around the two hours mark. What came after could have been done with way less time. But at the time it was a standard that a movie is this long. Anyway, I was bored with what came next and I can sum it quite quickly. Judah visits his sister and mother, he wanted to take them to Jesus. It was too late, Jesus was already arrested and on his way to be crucified. When Jesus died on the cross, it rained massively, which cured the mother and sister of Judah of leprosy. Jesus had affected Judah, and he returned home a changed man.
What a movie it was, I think it was the longest one I have ever watched. To be honest, the last hour was just pain for me, constantly wasting time. But from my uncle's perspective, he liked the movie and reminds him of oldies or some memories. I do appreciate the work and the effort done to put this huge movie back in 1959, it's a massive achievement. 

Rating: 6.0/10