I was moved by Kingdom of Heaven. Watching any movie, there is a sense that you are god, sitting back and watching the world unfold. (Granted, it is unfolding because another god-person created and manipulated a story to get you to understand what he sees.) You get the god view. This is not a perfect comparison because, unlike God, you only can see what is presented. But still it’s not a bad analogy—and Kingdom of Heaven tells a story of people who are devout: devoutly atheistic, devoutly Christian, devoutly Muslim, and devoutly militaristic. In other words, you get the whole human picture, foibles and greatness mixed with a little dishonest gain. Sounds like a day in the life, the difference of course being that this life was lived 700 years ago.
It’s hard not to view the Crusades through the lens of the 21st century. After all, it’s the only lens we have. My guess is that during the time of the Crusades, few were considering how their actions would appear in the 21st century. But we’ve all got things figured out to our own satisfaction now. What will people think of us in 700 years? Will they look back on us and smirk at our ignorance? Will they marvel at our motivations and methods to eradicate a perceived evil in the world?
Ridley Scott should be commended for taking the higher view, the “God� perspective. Now of course no one really knows God’s perspective. But it doesn’t take too much biblical scholarship to surmise that God doesn’t like war too much. He doesn’t like human pride, or selfish motivations. He becomes tired, I’m sure, of our myopic and small-minded view of His work in the world. He doesn’t like our tendency to ruin a good thing: like, our relationship with Him. But the Crusades were rather like some modern ideas that wind up being over the top. What I’m saying is: the Crusades were a logical rationale to the loss of “Christian� Jerusalem to the Muslims.
Also, true of any generation, the powers that be want to be the powers that be. Those powers get to decide what is evil, what is good and how best to deal with the two. Social mores and political values change. That’s why we can look back at the Crusades and make a value judgment on their morality, failure or effectiveness. We can look back smugly certain, too. But I’ll just bet we have our own stuff that we perceive as okay. Don't you?
History is written by the winners. It is written about the big names, and about the big events. But what was really going on in the hearts of those historical men and women? Jesus tells us that the heart can be discerned by the actions of a person. The Bible declares that deceit is in the heart of every man. Throughout history, God’s good things have been perverted by man’s sin. Even popular contemporary Christian ideas and programs (Crusades?) begin to be perverted or marketed as the most effective way to do… whatever! God may move in someone’s heart at a point in time, and give glorious revelation, “but it takes marketing to refine it and make it universally applicable.�
But this preamble does lead to what I believe is the genius and inspiration of this movie. The final battle scene takes place at a small cleft in the wall of Jerusalem. The camera pans the warriors. There are shots of the huddled women and children victimized by the siege. As the camera pulls vertically away we see both armies essentially stuck in a no-win situation where no more than a dozen men can fight at a time. Neither army can defend its position nor can either advance; a standoff of sorts results. I won’t divulge the ending. But from the god-like perspective the camera gives us, one can’t help but think how ridiculous the entire endeavor is.
I walked away with several questions. Is it more heroic to fight till you are routed? Or is it better to surrender and save the innocent any additional harm? Did Jerusalem change hands out of shrewd negotiations? Or was it turned over to the Muslims by God to teach them the lessons the Christian rulers were beginning to learn? That is, “No turf is worth defending to the annihilation of your people.� There really is a fog in war. And the problem with war is that you’ll never eliminate it. Sin and degradation drive humans to do unthinkable things to each other.
Kingdom of Heaven helped me see from God’s perspective, and I was shamed. Lord, make improvements.
