KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Directed by Ridley Scott
What a lot of crap there is on the internet! JM suggested I see Kingdom of Heaven sometime because the Crusades and Constantinople and the Kingdom of Jerusalem are something of a speciality of mine and the film had been widely criticised for being a) biased towards the Christians, b) biased towards the Muslims, c) historically wildly inaccurate, and d) totally lacking any comprehensible story-line or followable plot. He didn't agree. How did I feel?
I cheated. I googled up some of these reviews before writing this. Before even watching the film.
It is obvious that critics and reviewers, and the notoriously faceless "readers" employed by publishers, will normally have far less knowledge of the subject of a book and in the case of this site, of the period the book is set in than the authors themselves. But most of the reviewers of Kingdom of Heaven appear a) to have been almost criminally ignorant of the history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and of Saladin, and b) to have been watching the film at home while eating and gossiping and answering the phone. After all, if they couldn't follow that plot and it was straightforward enough, not an easy plot to lose they would have trouble with Kill Bill. (Actually, some did, I notice.)
Balian himself (Orlando Bloom) is a fictitious character, but the scene of his adventures is real enough. King Baldwin (Edward Norton, behind a golden mask) was indeed a leper, he did have a beautiful sister, Sibylla (Eva Green), who took over briefly as Queen of Jerusalem, Askelon, Acre, etc, before Saladin captured Jerusalem, and Baldwin and Saladin did try to maintain between them some kind of peace and spirit of tolerance which broke down completely on Baldwin's death. It is also true, and the film makes this perfectly clear, that there were fanatics and bigots on both sides who were intent on breaking that peace.
The rallying cry "Killing an infidel is not murder" is put in the mouth of a Christian priest, but in fact of course it is a Muslim sentiment, not a Christian one. At this time, though, Christians too were being taught to believe this - and it was not difficult for them: the killing of infidels was not very different from the killing of heretics, which was a traditional Christian practice. The same thing had happened in Islam, except that there the killing of infidels was extended to the killing of heretics. Saladin himself rose to power in a series of campaigns against the heterodox Fatimids, and imposed orthodox Sunni Islam on everyone under his control. This is all understood, if not explicitly stated (how could it be?), in the film.
My only real problem was with the Templars being cast in the role of bad guys, anti-Muslim fanatics, whereas in fact they tended to "fraternise with the enemy" and by doing so upset bishops and knights who had only recently arrived from Europe and still believed the official propaganda.
That apart, I enjoyed the whole film. Orlando Bloom is not a great actor, but he is a born leading man, and under Scott Ridley's direction he does well here. Eva Green is perfect - whoever chose her for the role of Sibylla should get a special award. And the old professionals like Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson are perfect too in their respective roles.
A word about the British Director, Sir Ridley Scott. Since Alien, in 1979, Blade Runner [my all-time favourite film - JM], and Legend [but see the 2002 Director's cut - JM again], it has been almost impossible for Scott to make a less than great film. That said, of his two recent historical epics, Kingom of Heaven and Gladiator, both great films, I myself prefer Kingdom of Heaven.
If you haven't seen it, do. If nothing else (and there is so much else!) it will certainly help you visualise the scene when you read books set in the time of the Crusades: I had no idea until I saw this portrayal of Saladin's seige of Jerusalem what it must have been like living in a city under seige, attempting somehow to defend it, and to hang on grimly against all the odds until the beseigers finally offered terms ...
MBG
