I don't really get this.  Did the producers of this remake fall asleep before the end of the Heston version?  The part where Judah Ben Hur looks into the eyes of Jesus while offering water, only to have the hate and resentment he's felt against Massala for dooming his mother and sister to leprosy fall from him?  His brief encounter gives Ben Hur hope for the future.  Perhaps an opportunity to make money by remaking a film that already is about hope and love had something to do with it.  I'd be more impressed if they filmed an original story about hope and love.  There are plenty of them out there.