Dir.
Ridley Scott, 2005, US/Spain/UK, 145 mins Cast:
Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton, Ghassan Massoud Maybe religious moderation isn't the way to go to garner the kind of audience Kingdom of Heaven needs to recoup it's budget but that is essentially director Ridley Scott's take on what was a contentious period
between the second and third Crusades, roughly 12th century AD. Checked out by both Muslim and Christian scholars, the script seems to have passed muster on accuracy save for some minor romantic points. It seems, however, that many critics are not seeing this as the Gladiator it should be: apparently the director chose this project over that of the prequel of Gladiator. Nevertheless, after two viewings, Kingdom of Heaven holds up incredibly well. For pure visual artistry and visceral excitement as well as an examination into the delicacies of religion (here to be understood as 'common sense' and 'human kindness'), Scott's latest epic achieves more in both visual and narrative terms than either Troy or Alexander . In fact, Scott has made a film so utterly cinematic that it could be difficult to wrangle onto a small screen. Huge in scale, massive in appearance and enormous in ambition, Kingdom of Heaven is set between the second and third Crusades, beginning in France where Orlando Bloom plays a mourning blacksmith who has lost both his wife and child. A knight (Liam Neeson) rides into his village, proclaims him his son and then rides off, after not persuading the blacksmith to join him. In the event that Bloom's character, the true and noble Balian, changes his mind, however, Godfrey of Ibelin (Neeson) beckons, "It is easy to get to Jerusalem . You travel til the men speak Italian. Then you travel til they don't. We sail from Messina ." Without giving too much of the story away - albeit traditional tale of boldness, daring, evil and the balance of goodness - Balian does follow his father and so his life unfolds before him. Comparisons to Gladiator are inevitable: this tale, like that one, has an emotional and ethical centre yet the much anticipated religious statement it makes is one of moderation on both sides. Although some are unhappy even with the thought of juxtaposing Islamic and Christian faiths, what you learn from Kingdom is that the real place of forgiveness and victory is not in the Holy Land at all. Edited to evoke an adrenalin rush by Oscar-nominated Dody Doran (Memento), Kingdom of Heaven is Scott eclipsing his own previous achievements, a claim which holds even if you don't think Bloom can pull off
the role of the mega-hero (for which the actor reportedly gained 20 pounds of muscle). Edward Norton, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis and Syrian actor (and Muslim scholar) Ghassan Massoud turn in powerful performances which lend further emotional weight to the inevitable and brilliantly choreographed
swordfights, battles and back-stabbing. (Norton's role is particularly amazing as he performs almost entirely behind a very modern silver mask, his character King Baldwin, being a leper.) Scott's idea of the inner and outer Jerusalem - as a state of mind and as a place of contention - earns its ticket price many times over. Karen Krizanovich
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