By: Kyr Andreau C. Patria
Bringing me back to the year 2019 late at night watching the 3-hour 1959 Hollywood epic Ben Hur, I felt awed by the grandiosity of it all– the production, the music, the story. A film that one today could say that it cost a billion dollars to make. The best part is that there was no computer-generated imagery (CGI) at all; in fact they really had to do several practical effects such as the naval battle scene; or none at all in the iconic chariot race scene that opens act 2.
Taking a closer look at it, one may seem to think that they also used practical effects until they read the behind-the-scenes reports and realize that the whole coliseum was a real thing. In fact, two of them were built with one specifically just for rehearsals.
Then there was also the four-part Russian production of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace whose battle scenes that could never be done again are the film’s showstopper. Because whoever is a filmmaker in their right mind in today’s world would ask an army to lend out 20,000 of their soldiers, make thousands and thousands of elaborate 19th century clothing, even asking the museums to lend out the real ones. The battle scenes don’t look staged as a result of having 20,000 extras along with the main cast, the camera movement, the acting– at first viewing it felt more like I was watching actual footage of the battle of Borodino. Other special mentions of cinematic grandeur are films like Lawrence of Arabia and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
What I am trying to say from these examples is that, I wonder why no movie has taken any risks as those of the 20th century epics. What was more important in defining one was the cinematography. All cited examples used an anamorphic aspect ratio to distinguish itself from the rest. The films express themselves with it, saying to the audience that once the curtains split or once the opening credits fade in, they are no ordinary movies.
It is safe to say that the epics are somewhat dead now. Now, films present epics in different forms, not in a way as the old ones were. Currently a three-hour film can be presented in either a normal aspect ratio or in full frame IMAX such as James Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar.
Some, thankfully, would try innovating by using square footage. But in pulling out the stops to get scenes done in a matter of the old films can never be done again. For no studio these days would allow movies with intense battle scenes unless it is reasonable enough to film them. Mostly being heavily dependent on CGI and green screen such as the case of Ridley Scott’s 2023 film Napoleon or any current mainstream action/fantasy movie.
Yet looking at them then looking at something like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Tron: Legacy, there seems to be something off with it. They don’t look realistic anymore. Some feel as if they didn’t even try to give any effort. Long gone are the days when if the script required a naval battle, they would do an actual naval battle– when the production team would make actual living, breathing places. Even the way a movie would give itself its debut. Back then, especially the Hollywood epics, they would have what they call roadshows consisting of not just a red carpet, but also patrons would be given flyers because it’s a 3-hour movie with two acts. There would be an intermission with condiments in the theatre lobby. Now we only do that for corporate and political events.
The 3-hour epics nowadays are mostly relegated to film festivals unless the people involved are well known. Nor are they well known to casual moviegoers. It is impractical to do it the way they did it back then, but oftentimes the product that they churn out from it become timeless classics while some are being subjected to be given titles as one of the greatest films ever made.
