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by Jim Holman.
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TALK ABOUT MOVIES
June 2005
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Directed by Ridley Scott. Starring Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Ghassan Massoud. 2005, Color, USA/Spain/UK, English/Arabic/German, 145 minutes. In theaters now.
Matthew: After Balian murders the priest and goes off with his father, the bishop's knights come after him. "This man murdered a priest, and we have claim to him." Their claim is legitimate, and they represent a kind of supernatural order. But Godfrey, his father, says, "I have a claim to him as well," and he kills the bishop's knights. The natural trumps the supernatural, and that shows up everywhere. Saladin notes that the Muslims didn't win battles before he showed up with his wise generalship. Balian argues that if God objects to the burning of bodies to prevent the spread of disease, then God is not God. And then Balian makes his final speech to the soldiers in Jerusalem: "We fight not to defend these stones" — meaning, the holy places — "but the people of Jerusalem!"
Ernie: Balian is a modern secular humanist who has somehow found his way into medieval Europe. The sign in his blacksmith's shop says, "What is a man if he does not make the world better?" The director is not a respectful historian — it shows up in all sorts of anachronisms. The exploding projectiles. Shouts of "Fire" when releasing arrows. Princesses charging around astride horses. And he has the Muslims fighting like Europeans. It's hard to take the director seriously when he crowbars modernity into antiquity. If he were a respectful historian, he might have realized that religion inspired men to do amazing things during the Crusades — such as the longest overland march in history. Human frailty brought their efforts to ruin, but the fact that Jerusalem today is a city of three faiths is a legacy of the Crusades.
* * *
Ernie: Balian is supposed to be this upright man, a servant of his own private kingdom of conscience instead of the kingdom of religion.
Matthew: But he has no problem sleeping with another man's wife.
Ernie: Well, it was an arranged marriage, and she didn't really love him. In the filmmakers' world, that made it okay.
* * *
Ernie: Was there a decent churchman in the whole movie?
Matthew: The Muslims were sincere and noble. But the only decent Christian cleric, the Hospitaller, said that religion is bunk and just an excuse for fanatics to do what they want — real faith is in the individual. Everyone else was either hypocritical or downright evil. The bishop advises the people of Jerusalem to convert to save their lives, then repent later. So much for laying down your life for Christ's sake.