Movie Reviews
In reviewing “Kingdom of Heaven”, I am forced to compare it to “Troy”. “Troy” was cute and kind of fun. Where it failed to be great was in the fact that it never wanted to be totally fantastic (like the poem by Homer suggests), or totally realistic (like the screenwriter suggested). It was always riding the fence, and it suffered because of it.
“Kingdom of Heaven”, however, knows exactly how it wants to portray its characters. They’re real human beings, with ordinary strength. But they hold the will to accomplish gargantuan tasks for either the good of mankind or for the good of their own power. It’s the dirty rats on either side that give them a bad name.
Here we follow Bailian (Orlando Bloom), a French blacksmith who is mourning the loss of his son and his wife. When a stranger claims to be his father, and asks him to consider coming to Jerusalem with him, Bailian finds hope in the stories of Jerusalem. He follows his father to the city in hopes of finding forgiveness and forgetting his flawed past. He becomes a knight and is taken aback to find himself being served rather than serving. His name claims ownership to a vast tract of land that, by his father’s will, he cleans up and turns into a thriving and even happy place to live. It’s a kind of oasis for the people who live under him.
Bailian finds hope and morals in Christianity – ironic because of how skewed the religion was being introduced by even those who were “experts”. He meets King Baldwin (Edward Norton) of Jerusalem, a man stricken with leprosy and living behind a mask (for good reason, we learn later on). Baldwin teaches Bailian a code of decency which Bailian swears to uphold, and does so.
Because of his relationship to Baldwin, and his status of nobility, he gets involved in the crusades against the Muslims. During the time the film is set, the Christians have held Jerusalem for about 100 years after seizing it from the Muslims. Now the two are at war with each other over who holds way over the city. Some wish it to be a mixture of Christian, Jews, and Muslims in hopes that their differences can be seen through, and that they can worship how they want together.
But before either side can unite, the Christians are forced to fight their own little war within themselves. The choices of a few affect the many.
Ridley Scott’s film is giant, and yet somehow, it’s very small. In thinking about now, I consider it to be as a much a human drama as it is a war epic. The balance of each is outstanding. Although I was aware of Scott’s style that he used in “Gladiator”, I really never started comparing this to “Gladiator”. It doesn’t resemble “Gladiator” in story enough for me to do that. But I found comfort in knowing that this was in the hands of the man who had directed such a film. Ridley Scott, more than Wolfgang Peterson, more than Oliver Stone, more than Antoine Fuqua, just plain knows how to make a film like this.
I was stunned to hear that Ridley Scott openly admitted he was agnostic during a press conference, and yet his film is titled “Kingdom of Heaven” and deals with the history of two dominant religions. But after seeing the film, and watching how those religions spawned and spread across the world in the ways they did, it’s no wonder Scott is so confused.
“Kingdom of Heaven” garners Orlando Bloom’s best work thus far. I’ve not liked him solely as an actor in any of his other films. He is backed up by a great supporting cast, though. Brendan Gleeson (who was also in “Troy”), Liam Neeson, and Edward Norton are particularly fun to watch. They realize their character’s place in history and then make them real with Scott’s direction. This movie holds claim to some of the best battle sequences ever conceived, and this film ranks up with Scott’s best work. *** ˝