Anyone rent Kingdom of Heaven?

[bleedingheart]

First, it was a good movie but at times a bit slow...but I did enjoy it.

Second, one of my pet peeves are inaccurate historical movies...BUT this movie wins my praise because there is an option on the DVD for you to watch the movie with a Pilgrim's Guide turned on...and that explains how the movie is different from history...and that is quite good.

Third...the warmongering, bloodthirsty Templars in the movie remind me so much of the Bush administration...

[bleedingheart]

1. bump...anyone else see this....

I am curious to hear what others had to say about the Pilgrim's Guide as well...

[Shine]

2. Yeah, we just did a week or so ago.

A bit too violent and bloody for my tastes, but damn, Orlando Bloom is easy on the eyes...even though he's so young.

We got the DVD, but we didn't look into any of the extra features. It was a long enough movie as it was and plus we started it too late in the evening.

I hear ya on the similarities with the current administration, too. I agree.

[MarianJack]

3. ChicaAzul & I Liked it Very Much!

We appreciated the integrity of many of the characters, especially Orlando Bloom's, Liam Neeson's, Edward Norton's (the King) and especially the MUSLIMS! Maybe thats what pissed off the fundies so much?

One of my favorite exchanges:

"Whats Jerusalem worth?"

"Nothing!...Everything!"

On Edit, Yes, the Templars did remind me of the bush misadministration!

[jrandom421]

9. The more things change, the more they stay the same

The King of Jerusalem and Salidin attempting to hold a peace together= Yizak Rabin and Yasser Arafat at the Oslo Accords

Ariel Sharon after Rabin's assassination = Guy de Lusignan succeeding the King of Jerusalem

Templars shouting "God Wills It!"= Right Wing Fundamentalists shouting "God Wills It!"

Favorite lines of the movie:

Saladin: Will you yield the city?
Balian of Ibelin: Before I lose it, I will burn it to the ground. Your holy places - ours. Every last thing in Jerusalem that drives men mad.
Saladin: I wonder if it would not be better if you did.

King Baldwin IV: A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, "But I was told by others to do thus." Or that, "Virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that.

Hospitaller: I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What god desires is here
(points to head)
Hospitaller: and here
(points to heart)
Hospitaller: , and by what you decide to do eveyday, will make you a good man...or not.

And finally:

Balian of Ibelin: Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless. That is your oath.
(SLAP!!!)
Balian of Ibelin: And that is so you remember it. Rise a knight... rise a knight!

[MarianJack]

12. Balian's Words In Knighting the Men of Jerusalem...

...were the same that his father used in knighting him!

[no name no slogan]

4. I only got partway through it

before I fell asleep. It's also quite convoluted with a lot of characters. You really have to pay attention to it to follow it. Definitely not a light-hearted feel-good comedy of the year, this one.

I'll probably rent it again, because I have a fascination with medieval mideastern history, the 1st-3rd Crusades in particular.

[bleedingheart]

5. check out the Pilgrim's Guide option if you get a chance...it was

really cool.

In my case I watched it first without it then I watched it again with it turned on...very cool.

[bridgit]

6. i can't give the bush admin even that much credit, ridley makes...

fine movies, but he seemed in that 'black-hawk down in jerusalem' genre somehow; i'd have preferred more inter-faith processionals that laid out the history of jerusalem, the slowness would have been a great time to speak on the faiths contained within the walls thereof, so as to say, but that just me http://www.kingdomofheavenmovie.com

[bleedingheart]

7. there was a lot more political intrigue in real life than the movie

even touched upon...although the PG feature made up for it...it would have been better to have seen that portion of it depicted in the movie...over the whole digging of wells portion of the movie...

[bridgit]

8. that sounds right to me...

:hi:

[no name no slogan]

10. political intrigue is right

Most people just assume that the battle over Jerusalem was just a Christian/Muslim fight, but it was a lot more complicated than that.

Local allegiances between Muslim and Christian ruler had been formed, and more often than not you would find men of each faith on either side of a battle.

By the time the events in the movie took place, Europeans had been living in the Levant for nearly two hundred years! As we can see from our own country, that is plenty enough time to assimilate "foreign" customs and mores into your society and become something uniquely different from where you come from (or where you are living now, for that matter). In fact, you STILL find Maronite Christians in Syria naming their boys "George"-- a direct remnant of the Crusades.

[bleedingheart]

11. you are correct...

religion was used as "cover" for the real power struggles.

I did like how the movie protrayed Saladin. Years ago I read a great deal about him and was impressed by his diplomatic methods.
What is interesting is that even modern leaders in the Arab world have wanted to be like him....even Saddam Hussein likened himself to Saladin because they were both born in the Tikrit area of Iraq...but I think that is where the similarity ends.

[Jara sang]

13. They had muslims praying to the sun again.

They did this in another movie, Black Hawk Down. From Jerusalem Mecca is almost due south

[bleedingheart]

14. you know I didn't notice it but I wonder if it wasn't to make the shot

look more dramatic??? that or the people on the film crew weren't smart enough to check...

[no name no slogan]

15. Especially since Saladin was Kurdish

(at least 1/2 Kurdish, IIRC). :o

[bleedingheart]

16. that was part of the Pilgrim's Guide...

it was interesting to find out that the hero of the Arab world was a Kurd and that was a problem for some of his allies...