The Kingdom of Heaven
The Kingdom of Heaven
The plot of this movie can be very well defined as a romantic quest for what is right and just in the world at that time. The film starts off in the early 12th century with a blacksmith called Balian of Ibelin (who is actually an artificier, or military engineer) that has just lost his wife to suicide and is given the chance to go to the Holy Land to seek forgiveness for her sin by his long lost father Godfrey of Ibelin. This becomes his secondary goal upon arriving in Jerusalem because soon after the start of their journey, Balian's father dies and passes on his legacy to Balian making him the new Baron of Ibelin. With the title comes the duty of defending Jerusalem in the name of the king and at the same time being the best knight he can be. He battles not only the Islamic leader Saladin, but also those in the same court (Guy of Lusignan and Reynald of Chatillon), as well as himself while trying to hold on to a secret love the whole time; the love of Princess Sibylla.
What you will find out soon enough is that although the plot seems enticing and the very thought of it is enough to get us all riled up, the majority of the movie has been sort of bent and forged to suit the appetite of the audience that the director was trying to reach. There is still a lot of historical evidence within the film but, not all of it is correct. I would like to begin with the use of characters and why some of them were changed or made up. After reading through many articles, it became very clear to me that a few of the characters in the film were fictionalized versions of actual historical figures. For instance, the character Tiberias in the movie was actually meant to portray a man named Raymond III of Tripoli. The reason he was called Tiberias in the movie was simply because he was the Lord of Tiberias and perhaps the film makers thought that it sounded better to use that name instead of what he was really called. The other is a character by the name of
The plot of this movie can be very well defined as a romantic quest for what is right and just in the world at that time. The film starts off in the early 12th century with a blacksmith called Balian of Ibelin (who is actually an artificier, or military engineer) that has just lost his wife to suicide and is given the chance to go to the Holy Land to seek forgiveness for her sin by his long lost father Godfrey of Ibelin. This becomes his secondary goal upon arriving in Jerusalem because soon after the start of their journey, Balian's father dies and passes on his legacy to Balian making him the new Baron of Ibelin. With the title comes the duty of defending Jerusalem in the name of the king and at the same time being the best knight he can be. He battles not only the Islamic leader Saladin, but also those in the same court (Guy of Lusignan and Reynald of Chatillon), as well as himself while trying to hold on to a secret love the whole time; the love of Princess Sibylla.
What you will find out soon enough is that although the plot seems enticing and the very thought of it is enough to get us all riled up, the majority of the movie has been sort of bent and forged to suit the appetite of the audience that the director was trying to reach. There is still a lot of historical evidence within the film but, not all of it is correct. I would like to begin with the use of characters and why some of them were changed or made up. After reading through many articles, it became very clear to me that a few of the characters in the film were fictionalized versions of actual historical figures. For instance, the character Tiberias in the movie was actually meant to portray a man named Raymond III of Tripoli. The reason he was called Tiberias in the movie was simply because he was the Lord of Tiberias and perhaps the film makers thought that it sounded better to use that name instead of what he was really called. The other is a character by the name of
Bibliography: Madden Thomas f., "Onward PC Soldiers" review of The Kingdom of Heaven, by Ridley Scott, May 14, 2005 Jeffery Overstreet, "Prejudice Drives Conflict in Kingdome of Heaven," Film Forum, 5/12/2005, Nov. 28 Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, "The Kingdom of Heaven (the film)," Nov.14 2005< en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kingdom_of_heaven(film) Nov. 28