Messala death scene, Ben Hur (1959)

6/24/26:

There's nothing new under ths sun after all. The same old tricks, the same old results.

Politics is sustained with hate, it seems. No solutions will be obtained from there. This is the direction we are headed for, unless the arc of history changes. There will be trouble ahead, and it is because of pursuit of hatred for its own sake. That's the point of the movie. A point like that goes over the heads of those who will never listen.

Oct 21, 2024:

There was something on the web that I just saw that reminded me of this. I won't link to it. It made me think that there really are people that want to make you hate them. I keep seeing that this affinity for hatred, and wonder what is driving it.

It's a trap. That seems to be the message of that entire film. Messala wanted Ben Hur to hate him. Here's the scene in the flick. The author of the book upon which the movie was based, was a Civil War vet.