Thoughts on The Kingdom of Heaven?

[Nachtjager]

Thoughts on The Kingdom of Heaven?

Was just wondering, am I the only person kinda' geeked out at the recent Kingdom of Heaven movie - you know the big Ridley Scott flick with Orlando Bloom playing Balian of Ibelin. I realize the character of Balian is a mixture of the actual Balian, his brothers and his father, but I think the movie is powerful and has a strong, perhaps unintentional spiritual overtone to it. Think about it, a humble blacksmith is sought out by his father, answers in call in total despiration, goes to Jerusalem seeking nothing but the forgiveness of his sins, and he becomes the one man who saves tens of thousands of innocents from being slaughtered. All the while, organized "religion" stands in his way and does nothing but make problems. I've often seen God use the most humble of people to do the most remarkable deeds, so this movie hit me 'tween the eyes. I wish most Christians today had the unwavering dedication exemplified by the Balian character in this movie. Aside from the gratuitous kinda' sex scene about halfway through, :o I thought it was an outstanding flick (a bit on the bloody side), and a reasonably accurate portrayal of the first crusade. Any thoughts or observations?

 

[Silvertongue]

I was under the impression this movie dealt with the tail-end of the Second Crusade, in which Jerusalem fell to Saladin, which then of course prompted the Third Crusade.

For example, when Balian says to Saladin, "When the Christians first took this city they butchered every Muslim within its walls," he's referring to an event at the end of the First Crusade.

Anyway, I liked the film a lot, but I didn't like Balian as much as you seem to. Sure it's fine to talk about a "Kingdom of Conscience," but then he's taking part in an adulterous affair a few minutes later. Heh...I must have missed that little subtext to the 7th Commandment that says, "thou shalt not commit adultery...unless the woman's husband is a supreme jack***."

I was, however, very much impressed by the characters of the Hospitaller and Saladin.

 

[Sketcher]

I'm curious about it.

 

[hls]

i liked it better than i thought i would. i am not a real big fan of orlando bloom, but i thought he did ok. i totally didn't realize that the king was played by ed norton. anyway i did enjoy it. they had some fun fight scenes. anyway there are my $.02.

 

[Becky153]

It's been awhile since I've seen it, but it was okay. Some things could have been done just a little better, but for the most part it was good.