a review by Jeffrey Overstreet
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Produced and directed by Ridley Scott.
Written by William Monahan.
Director of photography, John Mathieson.
Edited by Dody Dorn.
Music by Harry Gregson-Williams.
Production designer, Arthur Max.
Released by 20th Century Fox.
145 minutes. Rated R.
STARRING: Orlando Bloom (Balian), Eva Green (Sibylla), Jeremy Irons (Tiberias), David Thewlis (Hospitaler), Brendan Gleeson (Reynald), Marton Csokas (Guy de Lusignan), Liam Neeson (Godfrey of Ibelin) and Ghassan Massoud (Saladin).
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Better to call it Kingdom of Tolerance.
Kingdom of Heaven further demonstrates that Ridley Scott, who gave us Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and 1492: Conquest of Paradise, is one of the greatest directors of historical epics. His masterful period re-creation of the late 12th century looks about as convincing as any sword-shield-and-catapult story ever put to the screen. It’s an epic that would have given Cecil B. Demille an adrenalin rush.
It also gives viewers the sense that when Peter Jackson threw down the gauntlet of The Lord of the Rings, raising the bar for depictions of battlefield violence onscreen, Scott took the challenge personally. Here, he tries to match both The Two Towers and The Return of the King with his own portrayal of the Muslim siege of Jerusalem.
While Scott has succeeded in crafting a better film than both Gladiator, his last major period piece, and 1492: Conquest of Paradise, his Columbus epic, he stumbles here in several lamentable ways–in casting, in those enormous battle scenes, and in his exploration of religion. Nevertheless, for lack of a better film in recent memory that raises questions about the Christian/Muslim cultural conflict so aggressively, it’s a good thing that we have this one.
Kingdom of Heaven is a movie of and for our times, truly. Screenwriter William Monohan tries very hard to talk about a historical clash of Christians and Muslims without offending Christians and Muslims. He does this by portraying a wide variety of religious individuals on both sides of the conflict, and by focusing on sins of arrogance and brutality instead of errors in dogma. But he definitely has a message to people on both sides. Here’s a paraphrase: “Our highest priority should be getting along, even if that means revising our religious convictions or–preferably–doing away with them… because if God expects something of us that gets in the way of cultural harmony, then he must not be God at all.”
Fortunately, Scott delivers this hollow sentiment in a drama that includes some old-fashioned, red-blooded drama and romance. And he fills the cast with strong, masculine actors who command our attention–from the underused-but-masterful Jeremy Irons, to the criminally overlooked David Thewlis, to the masked-but-brilliant Edward Norton (who delivers a performance that seems like a nod to Brando), and the always-brusque and burly Brendan Gleeson. Best of all is Ghassan Massoud as a magesterial Muslim warlord named Saladin; he steals the show whenever he’s on screen.
Unfortunately, in the midst of these fine actors, Scott has cast Orlando Bloom in the leading role, as Balian, the humble blacksmith who rises to show all of these warring religious-types that there’s a better way than faith — mere human decency. Bloom turns in his best performance yet, but that’s because he keeps his mouth shut for most of the movie, letting his restraint and his ponderous, sullen silences give us the impression of deep thought. When he does start speaking, he reminds us too much of his blandly serious line-readings as The Lord of the Rings’ Legolas, and he falls far short of the charisma and worldly wisdom that Balian is supposed to have.
Liam Neeson plays Godfrey of Ibelin, Balian’s forgotten father, who shows up to save him from a death sentence and to train him in the ways of virtuous knighthood. (David Thewlis’ character, the Hospitaler, rides alongside smirking, as if to say, “Nobody knows it, and I won’t get a chance to prove it, but I’m a far better actor than either of these blokes.”)Godfrey steals Balian away for a trip to Jerusalem where he hopes his son can put the grief of his wife’s suicide behind him, and find release from the burdens of his sins.
Sins? Oh, Balian killed a priest. No, not just a priest–a nasty, lying, mean-spirited priest.
Chalk that up as Bad Christian #1. There will be several more. In fact, almost any Christian character with any degree of authority in the film is portrayed as some combination of liar, buffoon, idiot, hypocrite, or coward. The only decent Christians are portrayed as severe doubters who scoff at religion and pursue a sort of solitary faith… the kind that crumbles when they don’t get what they want out of prayer.
And what about the Muslims? The film paints them as people of honor and respect, for the most part. Oh, they have a few renegades who get what they have coming, but the movie avoids showing us anything about Muslim culture that informs us about its foundational ideas. We are kept far far away from Muslim women, for example, so we don’t have to wonder about how they’re treated. (One Muslim woman appears, but she’s abused by one of the Knights Templar, not by her own people.) We’re also steered away from the fact that Muslims believe someday their prophet will return and crush Christianity (whereas Christ’s gospel, properly interpreted, is a gospel of grace and mercy). Instead, we see Christians staring at Muslim prayers with a mix of bewilderment and admiration, while a Muslim warlord respectfully rights a fallen cross. Hmmmm.
But back to the story…
When Balian pledges to his father that he will strive to achieve a “kingdom of heaven,” where Christian and Muslim can join hands and sing, he’s pledging to promote a kingdom in which people behave decently to one another. Nothing wrong there. But this film’s ultimate disdain for religion leaves Balian not just as a peacemaker, but as some kind of human ideal — a man without allegiance to any god, determined to make heaven on earth by inspiring everybody to be nice to each other.
Good luck with that, you who follow Balian.
The rest of the story involves Balian’s quick jump into the sheets with a married princess (the sufficiently gorgeous Eva Green, who gives a pleasantly understated performance), his slow-burn opposition to a power-hungry Christian barbarian (Marton Csokas), his friendship with King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem (Norton), and his conversations with a skeptical Christian knight (Thewlis).
This culminates in vast, intense, massive battles, during which Scott borrows far too liberally from Jackson’s Middle-Earth battle scenes. While they are indeed impressive in scale and detail, they fall far short of ingenuity or imagination.
All in all, Kingdom of Heaven is well worth a look. It gives us a context rich with provocation that will spur viewers to investigate all kinds of questions… and we should focus on those questions. There is plenty of good work here, on all levels, to warrant a recommendation. But it hurts to think about how great it might have been.
Whenever the film tries to lean toward an answer, it fumbles around and comes up empty, despite its good intentions. If the film really grappled with the different claims of either religion, the audience might have to face the fact that the two belief systems aren’t reconcilable, that one makes claims recommending certain behavior and consequences, and the other endorses quite different behavior and consequences.
Yes, Monahan’s screenplay does give us glimpses of many ways in which Christ’s teachings have been abused, distorted, exploited, and misinterpreted. But the writer’s recommendation for a better way falls far short of the mark. In trying to point out the One True Way, he hits all around the truth, and the void in the middle is the outline of Christ. Like so many films that criticize Christianity, Kingdom of Heaven carefully avoids any exploration of what Christ himself was all about. And if you argue that Balian’s goodness is Christlike… sure, Christ was kind. But he was much more than that — he was obedient, and scandalous in his claims that he alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If you choose to reject that those claims, then what better way is available to you? Hoping that human nature will eventually just improve?
