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| Why does a Crusader go to Jerusalem? If Ridley Scott’s somewhat fictionalized Balian of Ibelin supplies any answer, it’s this: a Crusader goes to Jerusalem not due to a clear conscience before God, but just the opposite. The protagonist of Kingdom of Heaven goes because he’s a miserable, disillusioned transgressor. He goes to Jerusalem hoping to find forgiveness and the hand of God. But what does he actually find? |
(2005) Film Review |
| This
page was created on April 8, 2005
This page was last updated on
August 25, 2005
—Overview
—Photos
—About this Film pdf
—Spiritual Connections
Interview with Orlando Bloom
Review on Greg's blog
Review on Mike's blog
Review on Tom's blog
Review on Mark's blog
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KINGDOM OF HEAVEN Cinema Pizza Party
STUDY GUIDE:
Great film. People are talking. If you take a group to see the film, here is a free downloadable study guide (courtesy of Reel)
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| CREDITS |
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Directed
by Ridley Scott
Written
by William Monahan
 Cast
(in credits order)
Orlando Bloom .... Balian of Ibelin
Eva Green .... Sybilla
Liam Neeson .... Godfrey of Ibelin
Jeremy Irons .... Tiberias
Jouko Ahola
Shane Attwooll .... Reynald's Templar Knight
Tim Barlow .... Old Guard
Christian Boeving
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau .... Godfrey of Ibelins nephew
Nathalie Cox
Marton Csokas .... Guy de Lusignan
Samira Draa .... Sybilla's maidservant
Eriq Ebouaney .... Firuz
Khaled El Nabaoui
Jon Finch .... Patriarch of Jerusalem
Michael Fitzgerald .... Humphrey
Brendan Gleeson .... Reynald
Ghassan Massoud .... Saladin
Kevin McKidd
Nasser Memarzia .... Muslim Grandee
Edward Norton .... King Baldwin IV
Michael Shaeffer .... Young sergeant
Michael Sheen
Alexander Siddig .... Imad
David Thewlis .... Hospitaller
Ulrich Thomsen .... Templar master
Velibor Topic .... Almaric
Produced
by
Mark Albela .... co-producer
Bruce Devan .... co-producer
Lisa Ellzey .... executive producer
José Luis Escolar .... line producer
Branko Lustig .... executive producer
Henning Molfenter .... co-producer
Terry Needham .... executive producer
Denise O'Dell .... co-producer
Ridley Scott .... producer
Ty Warren .... associate producer
Original Music by
Stephen Barton (additional music)
Harry Gregson-Williams
Cinematography by John Mathieson
Film Editing by Dody Dorn
Runtime: 145 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG
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| TRAILERS
AND CLIPS |
Trailer:
QuickTime,
Hi-Res
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Lo-Res
International Trailer:
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Hi-Res
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QuickTime,
Lo-Res
Japanese Trailer:
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Hi-Res
QuickTime,
Med-Res
QuickTime,
Lo-Res
Windows
Media Player, Hi-Res
Windows
Media Player, Med-Res
Windows
Media Player, Lo-Res
Extended Trailer:
QuickTime,
Super Hi-Res
QuickTime,
Hi-Res
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Med-Res
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Lo-Res
Window
Media Player, Various
International TV Spot:
QuickTime,
Hi-Res
QuickTime,
Lo-Res
Featurette - 'Ridley Scott: Behind the Scenes':
Windows
Media Player |
| CD |
Kingdom
of Heaven [SOUNDTRACK]
Track Listings
1. Burning the Past
2. Crusaders- Harry Gregson-Williams
3. Swordplay
4. A New World
5. To Jerusalem
6. Sibylla
7. Ibelin
8. Rise a Knight
9. The King
10. The Battle of Kerak
11. Terms
12. Better Man
13. Coronation
14. An Understanding
15. Wall Breached
16. The Pilgrim Road
17. Saladin
18. Path to Heaven
19. Light of Life (Ibelin Reprise)- Harry Gregson-Williams
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| BOOK |
Kingdom
of Heaven: The Making of the Ridley Scott Epic
(Newmarket Pictorial
Moviebook)
Kingdom
of Heaven: The Shooting Script
(Newmarket Shooting Script Series)
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| POSTER |
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| AVAILABILITY
ON VIDEO AND DVD |
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|
| SYNOPSIS
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Director Ridley Scott is the master of epic cinematic storytelling with
a deeply personal core, as he has shown in films like Gladiator, Blade
Runner, and Black Hawk Down. In KINGDOM OF HEAVEN he now turns to the
Crusades -- that world-shaping 200-year collision between Europe and
the East -- to frame the tale of a young Frenchman who discovers his
destiny as a knight, then lives out what that glorious title really
means.
Orlando Bloom stars as Balian, a blacksmith who has lost his family and nearly lost his faith. The religious wars raging in the far-off Holy Land seem remote to him, yet he is pulled into that immense drama. Amid the pageantry and intrigues of medieval Jerusalem he falls in love, grows into a leader, and ultimately uses all his courage and skill to defend the city against staggering odds.
Destiny comes seeking Balian in the form of a great knight, Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson), a Crusader briefly home to France from fighting in the East. Revealing himself as Balian’s father, Godfrey shows him the true meaning of knighthood and takes him on a journey across continents to the fabled Holy City.
In Jerusalem at that moment -- between the Second and Third Crusades -- a fragile peace prevails, through the efforts of its enlightened Christian king, Baldwin IV, aided by his advisor Tiberias (Jeremy Irons), and the military restraint of the legendary Muslim leader Saladin (Ghassan Massoud). But Baldwin’s days are numbered, and strains of fanaticism, greed, and jealousy among the Crusaders threaten to shatter the truce.
King Baldwin’s vision of peace -- a “kingdom of heaven” -- is shared by a handful of knights, including Godfrey of Ibelin, who swear to uphold it with their lives and honor. As Godfrey passes his sword to his son, he also passes on that sacred oath: to protect the helpless, safeguard the peace, and work toward harmony between religions and cultures, so that a kingdom of heaven can flourish on earth.
Balian takes the sword and steps into history.
From Ridley Scott, the master of the modern epic, comes Kingdom of Heaven, which tells the sweeping saga of the Crusades through the eyes of one man caught up in an epic struggle for an ideal. Using historical events as a backdrop for an intimate human drama, Scott, who directed the Academy Award-winning Gladiator, puts flesh on the age-old mystique of the knight errant and brings to vivid life the titanic struggle between Muslims and Christians over the Holy Land that took place a millennium ago, and echoes into the present. |
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| What motivates one to go on a quest? There were a variety of motivations for Christians who participated in the Crusades between the 11th and 13th centuries, most deplored by believers today.
Click to enlargeKingdom of Heaven is a romantic epic set in the context of the 12th-century Crusades. It follows the journey of the real-life Balian of Ibelin, defender of Jerusalem in the Second Crusades, portrayed by Orlando Bloom (best known as Legolas the Elf in The Lord of the RingsKingdom of Heaven does not seek to be a documentary about the Crusades, but gives its primary focus to the personal, inner spiritual quest of its protagonist, rather than the external religious conflicts of the period. films).
Continue on Tom's blog |
Review by
MICHAEL SMITH
Continue on Mike's blog |
 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.
Continue on Mike's blog
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| |
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Why does a Crusader go to Jerusalem? If Ridley Scott’s somewhat fictionalized Balian of Ibelin supplies any answer, it’s this: a Crusader goes to Jerusalem not due to a clear conscience before God, but just the opposite. The protagonist of Kingdom of Heaven goes because he’s a miserable, disillusioned transgressor. He goes to Jerusalem hoping to find forgiveness and the hand of God. But what does he actually find?
 Given the subject matter and the tenor of the times, we should all be a little wary of Crusader movies. Even with the best intentions, both on the part of the filmmaker and the audience, any depiction of the carnage that was the Crusades could easily fan the flames of today’s Middle-East conflicts. That being the case, we almost expected that Scott would fictionalize his tale somewhat; but the question remained: to what extent would fiction mix with “fact”? To Scott’s credit, and to my surprise, Kingdom manages a balanced and credible treatment of the historic tensions which led both to the Crusades themselves and to the end of the short-lived and precarious peace which Jerusalem did in fact enjoy under the reign of King Baldwin. And the very real historic person of Balian of Ibelin provides Scott with the perfect opportunity to generalize one man’s experience into Every Man’s familiar and troubling quest.
Continued on Greg's blog
|
 INTERVIEW
by Greg Wright
Purpose-Driven Cinema:
A Talk with Orlando Bloom
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After Troy, a lot of Orlando Bloom fans were really worried whether the young star had lost his groove. Many critics went a lot further, suggesting that Bloom’s groove was an illusion in the first place. “So he was plucked out of film school to make The Lord of the Rings?” one colleague groused some months ago. “He should have stayed there and learned something.”
 Well, Kingdom of Heaven demonstrates that he’s learned at least one thing by working in the real world: how to carry a major film. And don’t think that Bloom wasn’t aware that the stakes for Heaven were high. Naturally, he could have done worse than work with Ridley Scott; so his instincts there are obviously good, too.
In Kingdom of Heaven Bloom plays Balian of Ibelin, an ordinary man who becomes three things: first, a widower; second, a fugitive; and third, a knight. Now anyone who’s ever seen films or read books about knights knows that there’s good ones and bad ones. There’s nothing any more magical about being a knight than there is about being a cowboy; all you’ve got to know is who’s got the white hats on and who’s got the black hats on and you’ve got it all figured out.
But wait a minute... Kingdom of Heaven actually has something pretty old-fashioned to say on that topic. In Ridley Scott’s film, there sure enough are villainous knights: those pesky old Knights Templar; and there sure enough are the White Hats, too: King Baldwin, Balian, Balian’s father Godfrey, and others. But Orlando Bloom is enthusiastic about pointing out that, when the chips are down, Scott’s film makes no bones about the fact that being a knight does make a man better.
First, there’s the fact that you’ve got purpose—that you know what you stand for.
Second, there’s an acknowledgement that everything’s not about you.
Third, there’s a slap in the face to remind you that you’ve taken an oath—and that oaths count for something!
Bloom emphasizes that this frame of mind—a frame of mind based on and cultivated by a distinctly Christian world view—is still relevant in this day and age: that “what you do each day” really matters. And this is Bloom talking, too, not just Balian the Blacksmith, whose forge is overshadowed by the rhetorical question, “What kind of man does not try to make the world a better place?”
Isn’t that romantic? Isn’t that quaint in this cynical age? Perhaps. But Bloom, for just one among many, is apparently not afraid to be romantic or quaint. He really does “hope that people have the capacity” to make the world better. And Buddhism is apparently Bloom's preferred avenue toward that end.
Now, don’t get Bloom wrong: he’s realist enough to know that even knights can go bad. But you wouldn’t get him to agree that there’s no point in trying. Better some purpose than no purpose at all...
Interview continued on Greg's blog
|
 Review by
MARK EZRA STOKES
—Comment on the blog |
Whose kingdom come?
Today’s Christian subculture seems to include an aversion toward popular culture—a movement that encourages intentional separation from those deemed impure or spiritually dangerous. In one sense, this is wise, as it allows Christians to avoid the temptation toward conformity in pursuit of godly transformation. In another sense, the movement can be dangerous, causing those same Christians to ignore the divine call to evangelize and reach out to those in need of God’s impartial forgiveness.
Meanwhile, popular culture doesn’t seem to be so impressed with our separatism, creating its own stories dealing with the search for spiritual truth, the ineffectiveness of religious hypocrisy and the need for self-sacrifice. These themes have recently prevailed in television shows, video games, comic books, movies and other forms of mass media. Most recent among spiritually relevant films is Kingdom of Heaven , the newest from director Ridley Scott.
Kingdom of Heaven follows Balian, the run-of-the-mill blacksmith (played by the perpetually typecast Orlando Bloom), as he discovers his higher destiny on the road to redemption. The story begins 100 years after the European occupation of Jerusalem , soon after Balian’s wife commits suicide (a cardinal sin in the Catholic faith). After killing an insensitive priest, the blacksmith determines that the site of Christ’s crucifixion is the only place where he can receive forgiveness for both he and his wife.
Soon after discovering the noble identity of his father—Sir Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson)—on the trip to Jerusalem , Balian hears of Godfrey’s longings for a unified Holy Land in which Christians and Muslims live in harmony. After a series of jumbled and poorly written circumstances, Balian becomes a tool for change for the two warring religious groups—though he is impeded by an early point-of-attack and is also an uneducated hero with an unexplainable knack for military strategy. Nonetheless, the story picks up after several minutes of tiresome back-story, providing plentiful bits of insight on the nature of religious zeal. Rather than pitting the “good guys” against the “bad guys,” Kingdom of Heaven gives a warts-and-all depiction of both sides—two groups of misguided soldiers with sincere beliefs in the holiness of “the cause.” Unlike Troy , Bloom’s previous epic film, Kingdom of Heaven is successful in presenting both sides as genuine and worthy of sympathy.
Obviously, this depiction has the potential of offending both Christians and Muslims, as both groups in the film are led by those who would speak for God in order to further their own personal agendas. Some on both sides will see the violent, R-rated film as blasphemous and offensive, but Balian’s quest for redemption is honest and God-affirming. Despite his constant doubts in God’s gift of salvation, Balian never doubts God’s existence. In essence, his doubts are not directed toward God, but rather toward his own unworthiness of salvation and toward the hypocrisy of the leaders who seek to create God in their own image.
Kingdom of Heaven could also be construed as a humanistic attempt to create a one-world religion bent on doing away with any divisive belief, or it could be viewed as an honest lament about the empty zeal of the self-serving extremists in any religion. Though religion is depicted as a major element in Balian’s culture, that religion seems to bend and yield to the agendas of those who would pervert it to fit their desires (much like some segments of modern American Christianity). This is not a tirade against Christian leadership per se, but rather a warning for any person who would make the decision between serving his or her deity and serving his or her own agenda.
In addition to offering abundant insight on various motives behind religion, Kingdom of Heaven provides a Christ figure in Balian—one who denies the ever-present temptation of power, instead sacrificing himself for the good of a multitude of people, regardless of their worthiness or nationality. Like Christ, Balian selflessly works to tear down the barriers that divide differing cultures and social classes, undergoing a series of key experiences that parallel those of Jesus (including temptation in the wilderness, “death,” resurrection, etc.).
Though the film remains somewhat vague as to whether Balian ever completely understands the notion of God’s grace (as described in Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:4-7 and Proverbs 3:34), several around him gradually convince the hero that his quest to save humanity is truly ordained by God.
Even though the message of Kingdom of Heaven seems redundant and somewhat overbearing at times, the film reminds us to be proactive in the ever-present struggle between our own fleshly desires and the desires of God Himself. Perhaps if we who tout our respective religions would truly evaluate our motives for the numerous “holy wars” we fight on a daily basis, mainstream cinema would not have to continually remind us of our inconsistencies.
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