There are contradictory reports about the fatality of a stuntman during the dangerous scene in the film, yet no published discussions of the film mention the accident, and Charlton Heston""s 1995 autobiographyIn he Arenaspecifically stated that no one was seriously injured (beyond a cut on the chin) during the filming of the scene.The popular film is abetted by the golden cinematography of Roger Deakins, a touching score by Thomas Newman, and a third imposing character - Maine""s oppressive Shawshank State Prison (actually the transformed, condemned Mansfield Ohio Correctional Institution or State Reformatory).She pours drinks, and then a bumbling, passive Ben is left helpless, flustered, and confused in the face of a sexual seduction by the neurotic, cynical and alcoholic Mrs.To Messala, the Emperor "is God, the only God, he is power, real power on Earth." Ben-Hur responds by pledging his allegiance to his own people, refusing to become part of the Roman world: "You may conquer the land, you may slaughter the people.