Synopsis:-
Balian (Orlando Bloom), a
young French blacksmith, is mourning the loss of his
wife and young son. The religious wars raging in the
far-off Holy Land seem remote to him, yet he is pulled
into that immense drama. Amid the pageantry and intrigues
of medieval Jerusalem he falls in love, grows into a
leader, and ultimately uses all his courage and skill
to defend the city against staggering odds.
Destiny comes seeking Balian
in the form of a great knight, Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam
Neeson), a Crusader briefly home to France from fighting
in the East. Revealing himself as Balian's father, Godfrey
shows him the true meaning of knighthood and takes him
on a journey across continents to the fabled Holy City.
In Jerusalem at that moment
-- between the Second and Third Crusades -- a fragile
peace prevails, through the efforts of its enlightened
Christian king, Baldwin IV, aided by his advisor Tiberias
(Jeremy Irons), and the military restraint of the legendary
Muslim leader Saladin (Ghassan Massoud). But Baldwin's
days are numbered, and strains of fanaticism, greed,
and jealousy among the Crusaders threaten to shatter
the truce.
King Baldwin's vision of peace
-- a "kingdom of heaven" -- is shared by a
handful of knights, including Godfrey of Ibelin, who
swear to uphold it with their lives and honor. As Godfrey
passes his sword to his son, he also passes on that
sacred oath: to protect the helpless, safeguard the
peace, and work toward harmony between religions and
cultures, so that a kingdom of heaven can flourish on
earth.
Balian takes the sword and
steps into history.
Plot:-
Kingdom of Heaven follows
the story of a blacksmith, who, after finding out the
existence of his father, and having to deal with his
wife's suicide, goes to Jerusalem in hopes of redemption
and forgiveness.
Balian (Bloom), heads off
to Jerusalem, after being knighted by his newlyfound
father, to purge his sins and those of his wife. Upon
arriving he finds that he has the favor of many men
who were under his father Godfrey's (Neeson) command.
He is befriended by the King of Jerusalem (Norton),
who suffers from leprosy, and the Protector of Jerusalem,
Tiberias (Irons). He subsequently has an affair with
the Princess, Sybilla (Green), and goes on to defend
Jerusalem from Saladin's (Massoud) army. There are also
the antagonists, the war-hungry, power-hungry men, of
Guy de Lusignan (Csorkas) and Raynald de Chatillon (Gleeson)
who want nothing more than to annihilate the armies
of Saladin.
As the film progresses, following
Godfrey's death, Baldwin dies from inevitable leprosy,
Raynald is dead together with the Knights Hospitaller
(Thewlis). After 3 days of intense siege battle, and
after the breaking down of a section of Jerusalem's
walls, Balian surrenders to Saladin under conditions
of safe passage of the inhabitants to the shore. At
the end of the film, we see Balian and Sybilla heading
off to an unknown location.
Director info
:-
RIDLEY SCOTT
Date of Birth: November 30,
1937
Born in South Shields, Northumberland,
England, Ridley Scott was raised in London, Cumbria,
Wales and Germany. He attended the West Hartpool College
of Art and London's Royal College of Art. While studying
at the latter, he made his first short film.
After graduating with honors,
Scott was awarded a traveling scholarship to the States.
There, he worked with award-winning documentary filmmakers.
Upon his return to the UK, he joined the BBC as a production
designer and after a year, was promoted to the BBC directing
team, where he directed the BBC series Z Cars.
Three years later, Scott went
on to form his own company, which became one of the
most successful commercial production houses in Europe.
Over the course of 10 years, Scott directed over 2000
commercials, many of which have won awards.
The Duellists (1978) marked
his transition to the big screen. The visually striking
Napoleonic war film won the Jury Prize for Best First
Feature at Cannes. But it was the breakthrough hit Alien
(1979) that established Scott as both an important director
and a favorite among horror and sci-fi fans. The film
also won an Oscar for its special effects. In addition,
the film is credited for having a strong female lead
character in the form of Ripley, played by Sigourney
Weaver.
In 1982, Scott had trouble
with his third effort, Blade Runner. After several conflicts
with studio executives over the content and finale,
a voice over narration and more positive ending was
added. The end result incited criticism from film purists
and the film in turn received negative reviews. Finally,
in the early 90's, the director's cut was released and
the film was considered a landmark science-fiction film.
In the meantime, three more
films followed, Legend (1986), Someone to Watch Over
Me (1987) and Black Rain (1989) but in 1991, Scott earned
his greatest commercial and critical success with Thelma
& Louise. Starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis
as the film's two heroines, it garnered six Oscar nominations,
including Best director for Scott and also became a
feminist movie standard.
He followed it up with three
complete flops: 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), White
Squall (1996) and G.I.Jane (1997). The latter was also
criticized by the military for using incorrect terminology
and by American Arab leaders for a scene in which Arabs
were killed.
He then took a break from
directing to produce the TV series, The Hunger and the
1998 black comedy Clay Pigeons, before returning to
directing with the highly-anticipated sequel to The
Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Gladiator, the latter
of which became the summer hit of 2000, and earned him
his second Academy Award for Best Director. The following
year he returned to the Oscars, once again as a nominee,
this time for his directorial work on Black Hawk Down.
In 2004 he received the George Pal Memorial Award from
the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.
Filmography:
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Matchstick Men (2003)
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Hannibal (2001)
Gladiator (2000)
G.I. Jane (1997)
White Squall (1996)
1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Black Rain (1989)
Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)
Legend (1985)
Blade Runner (1982)
Alien (1979)
The Duellists (1977)
What the critics
say:-
REVIEW SUMMARY
Near the end of "Kingdom of Heaven," a plaintive
period epic from Ridley Scott about the bloody orgies
of piety known as the Crusades, the camera pulls back
from the tumult of battle. Perched on high, the camera
looks down on a medieval scene that condenses the barbarism
that has consumed the previous two hours of screen time.
From this great height, the Christian crusaders and
Muslim warriors below no longer look like men, like
warring armies of God, but bacteria under a microscope.
This high-flown image of men at war comes about as close
to real commentary on the Crusades as Mr. Scott gets
in his curiously disengaged film about the Christian
incursion into the Holy Land. Written by a newcomer,
William Monahan, "Kingdom of Heaven" is an
ostensibly fair-minded, even-handed account of one of
the least fair-minded, even-handed chapters in human
history. Given the presumed lofty price tag of the film,
its global reach and the current state of world affairs,
this vision of the Crusades is not that surprising.
Paint a majority religion with too damning a brush and
you just may lose out on a nice chunk of the international
movie market.
Manohla
Dargis, The New York Times
