Kingdom of Jerusalem - Kingdom of Heaven

«Kingdom of heaven

"(Kingdom of Heaven) is a 2005 film directed by Ridley Scott and dedicated to the war in the Holy Land between Christians and Saracens led by Saladin. The film climaxes with the Battle of Jerusalem in 1187 and the beginning of the Third Crusade.

The film loosely tells the story of Balian II of Ibelin, played by Orlando Bloom. Along the way, the background story of the enmity between Saladin and Christians is told, which is also fairly distorted. Partly based on Walter Scott's novel The Talisman, which tells about the same period in the history of Jerusalem.

Plot[edit]

Premise[edit]

The main character is the French blacksmith Balian, a veteran of an unnamed civil strife, living in a small village with his priest brother and wife. The latter committed suicide after a miscarriage, which according to Christian concepts is considered the most terrible sin. Because of his wife's actions, the village turns against the grief-stricken Balian. Meanwhile, he is found by an unknown crusader who introduces himself as Gottfried and admits that Balian is his bastard. Having learned about the tragedy, he invites him to go with him, but his son refuses. That same evening, his brother comes to the main character and reproaches him for his refusal, since after his wife’s act there is no place for him in the village. Balian keeps himself under control until he notices that his brother has robbed his wife’s grave and, in a fit of anger, kills him, taking with him only his sword and his wife’s stolen cross.

Fearing trial, Balian catches up with the crusaders and asks to be taken with him to the Holy Land in the hope of winning forgiveness for his wife. Following him, the sheriff arrives with his men and demands that Balian be handed over for punishment. A battle ensues, during which the attackers and some crusaders die, and Gottfried is wounded. Having reached Sicily, Gottfried manages to recognize Balian as his heir and knights him, after which he dies.

On the way to Jerusalem, Balian's ship sinks. He and his horse survive, because of which the hero has to fight with a noble Saracen, who demands to give up the horse that walks on his land. Having defeated and killed the knight, Balian demands that his servant show him the way to Jerusalem. In the city, he releases the servant and gives him a horse, and he himself takes possession of his father’s lands.

Further plot[edit]

Balian begins to manage the land, improving living conditions for the peasants and meeting the king's sister Sibylla in the process. Meanwhile, King Baldwin IV, suffering from leprosy, along with the Saracen Sultan Saladin, maintain an uneasy peace between Christians and Muslims. They are hindered in this matter by the Christian opposition, led by the Knights Templar Guy de Lusignan and Rene de Chatillon. They, sensing the imminent death of the king, are already preparing for a future war. The king, together with his loyal knight Tiberius, tries to persuade Balian to stop the provocateurs, but he refuses, citing the king’s own teaching about honor and responsibility (see the quote at the beginning of the film), which will come back to haunt them all in the future.

Due to Chatillon's provocations, the Battle of Kerak occurs, which the king manages to stop in time. Chatillon is thrown into prison. Baldwin dies, unable to withstand the campaign in the desert, and his sister’s husband, the aforementioned Guy de Lusignan, becomes king. He immediately releases Chatillon from captivity, and together they begin the genocide of Muslims, killing Saladin's sister along the way. The latter advances his army to Jerusalem. Chatillon and Lusignan lead their troops to meet him, suffer a crushing defeat in the battle and are captured, where Chatillon is executed. Balian and Tiberius remain in Jerusalem, but the latter leaves the city, not wanting to die. Balian defends the city for several days and surrenders, having received a promise from the Sultan not to kill civilians and in return promising not to burn Islamic shrines. Saladin nobly releases everyone, accepting the deserted city. On the way back, the main character meets Richard I the Lionheart, who is heading to the third crusade...

The film ends with the sad words of the narrator: “A millennium has passed, but to this day there is no peace in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Characters[edit]

• Lord Balian II Ibelin
  (Orlando Bloom) is the bastard son of the crusader Godfrey Ibelin, raised in the French countryside.
  Forced to flee from it due to the murder of a priest. Due to the death of his father, he became the heir to his possessions and was knighted. He showed himself to be a brave and noble warrior. He started an affair with the king’s sister Sibylla, and at the same time a friendship with the king himself, who saw potential in him and even wanted to marry his sister to him. After the death of the king, Guy de Lusignan sent to kill him. Having survived the attack, he came to Jerusalem, and after the capture of the king, the death of Chatillon and the departure of Tiberius, he remained the only defender of the city. He surrendered Jerusalem, but saved all the civilians. After the battle, he gave up his knighthood and returned, taking Sibylla with him, to his native village.
• Lord Gottfried of Ibelin
  (Liam Neeson) is Balian’s father, who many years ago left his mother with a child in her arms. Having learned about the tragedy, Balian invited him to go with him. Was mortally wounded while defending him from the sheriff's men. Before his death, he knighted his son and made him heir to his lands.
• Sultan Salah ad-Din (Saladin)
  (Ghassan Massoud) is the ruler of Egypt and Syria, the antagonist of Balian and, in general, all Christians in the film. Historically known as the best enemy of Richard the Lionheart, who at the end of the film just went to fight with him. A noble and worthy person who does not want to start a full-scale war until the last moment. He has respect for his enemies, which saves many of their lives.
• Count Guy de Lusignan
  (Marton Csokas) is Sibylla’s husband, who does not approve of her brother’s position.
  Chatillon's ally in the war with the Muslims, with whom they are trying to disrupt the truce. He disliked Balian, openly despising his origins. After the death of the king, he sent the crusaders to kill Balian, and he himself first provoked Saladin into aggression, and then sent his troops against him, being defeated and captured.
• Lord René de Chatillon
  (Brandon Glisson) is a Raubritter actively trying to disrupt the truce with the Muslims, which furthers his friendship with Lusignan.
  After the Battle of Kerak happened because of him, he was thrown into prison, but the new king released him and ordered persecution of Muslims. Personally killed Saladin's sister, and then went on the attack with the king. He was captured, where he lost his head due to his arrogance.
• Grand Master of the Templar Order Gerald de Ridefort
  (Ulrich Thomsen) - in reality he was more important and more important than Reno, but in the film he got lost against his background and looks almost like a nameless six from Reno.
• Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem
  (Eva Green) is the wife of Guy de Lusignan, cheating on him with Balian.
  He lives for the sake of his son, who in the future should become king. The son was infected with leprosy and died at the hands of his mother. After his death, she decided not to hide during the siege and went to help the wounded as a medic. After the siege, she left with Balian to live an ordinary life in France.
• King Baldwin IV the Leper
  (Edward Norton) is the king of Jerusalem, at the time of the plot, suffering from leprosy. He is respected by the people. Because of his old friendship with Gottfried, he establishes a warm relationship with Balian. He tries with all his might to maintain peace in the Holy Land.
• Count Raymond III (Tiberius)
  (Jeremy Irons) - military leader of Jerusalem, loyal to Baldwin and, accordingly, disloyal to Lusignan and Chatillon.
  After the start of the war, he left Jerusalem for Cyprus.
• Imad al-Din
  (Alexander Siddig) is the servant of a Syrian knight whom Balian met in the desert after a shipwreck.
  After the death of his master, he went into the service of Balian, but was released by him after arriving in Jerusalem. In addition, he also received the very horse because of which its owner rushed at Balian. In fact, he is a Persian knight and a loyal associate of Saladin, accompanying him on campaigns. He took part in the battle for Kerak, where he saved the life of Balian. Then he was present at the siege of Jerusalem, and after the capture of the city he returned that same horse to the main character.

All these characters existed in reality, but their stories and characters (and Balian’s father also had a name) were seriously changed.

Excerpt characterizing the Kingdom of Heaven (film)

Natasha said that at first there was a danger from a fever and from suffering, but at Trinity this passed, and the doctor was afraid of one thing - Antonov’s fire. But this danger also passed. When we arrived in Yaroslavl, the wound began to fester (Natasha knew everything about suppuration, etc.), and the doctor said that suppuration could proceed properly. There was a fever. The doctor said that this fever is not so dangerous. “But two days ago,” Natasha began, “suddenly it happened...” She held back her sobs. “I don’t know why, but you will see what he has become.” - Are you weak? Have you lost weight?.. - asked the princess. - No, not the same, but worse. You will see. Oh, Marie, Marie, he’s too good, he can’t, can’t live... because... When Natasha opened his door with her usual movement, letting the princess pass first, Princess Marya already felt ready sobs in her throat. No matter how much she prepared or tried to calm down, she knew that she would not be able to see him without tears. Princess Marya understood what Natasha meant with the words: this happened two days ago. She understood that this meant that he had suddenly softened, and that this softening and tenderness were signs of death. As she approached the door, she already saw in her imagination that face of Andryusha, which she had known since childhood, tender, meek, touching, which he so rarely saw and therefore always had such a strong effect on her. She knew that he would say quiet, tender words to her, like those her father had told her before his death, and that she would not bear it and would burst into tears over him. But, sooner or later, it had to be, and she entered the room. The sobs came closer and closer to her throat, while with her myopic eyes she discerned his form more and more clearly and looked for his features, and then she saw his face and met his gaze. He was lying on the sofa, covered with pillows, wearing a squirrel fur robe. He was thin and pale. One thin, transparent white hand held a handkerchief; with the other, with quiet movements of his fingers, he touched his thin, overgrown mustache. His eyes looked at those entering. Seeing his face and meeting his gaze, Princess Marya suddenly moderated the speed of her step and felt that her tears had suddenly dried up and her sobs had stopped. Catching the expression on his face and gaze, she suddenly became shy and felt guilty. “What is my fault?” – she asked herself. “The fact that you live and think about living things, and I!..” answered his cold, stern gaze. There was almost hostility in his deep, out-of-control, but inward-looking gaze as he slowly looked around at his sister and Natasha. He kissed his sister hand in hand, as was their habit. - Hello, Marie, how did you get there? - he said in a voice as even and alien as his gaze. If he had screamed with a desperate cry, then this cry would have terrified Princess Marya less than the sound of this voice. - And did you bring Nikolushka? – he said also evenly and slowly and with an obvious effort of recollection. – How is your health now? - said Princess Marya, herself surprised at what she was saying. “This, my friend, is something you need to ask the doctor,” he said, and, apparently making another effort to be affectionate, he said with just his mouth (it was clear that he did not mean what he was saying): “Merci, chere amie.” , d'être venue. [Thank you, dear friend, for coming.] Princess Marya shook his hand. He winced slightly when she shook her hand. He was silent and she didn't know what to say. She understood what happened to him in two days. In his words, in his tone, especially in this look - a cold, almost hostile look - one could feel the alienation from everything worldly, terrible for a living person. He apparently now had difficulty understanding all living things; but at the same time it was felt that he did not understand the living, not because he was deprived of the power of understanding, but because he understood something else, something that the living did not and could not understand and that absorbed him completely. - Yes, that’s how strange fate brought us together! – he said, breaking the silence and pointing at Natasha. “She keeps following me.” Princess Marya listened and did not understand what he was saying. He, the sensitive, gentle Prince Andrei, how could he say this in front of the one he loved and who loved him! If he had thought about living, he would not have said this in such a coldly insulting tone. If he didn’t know that he would die, then how could he not feel sorry for her, how could he say this in front of her! There was only one explanation for this, and that was that he didn’t care, and it didn’t matter because something else, something more important, was revealed to him. The conversation was cold, incoherent and interrupted constantly. “Marie passed through Ryazan,” said Natasha. Prince Andrei did not notice that she called his sister Marie. And Natasha, calling her that in front of him, noticed it herself for the first time. - Well then? - he said. “They told her that Moscow was completely burned down, that it was as if... Natasha stopped: it was impossible to speak. He obviously made an effort to listen, but still could not. “Yes, it burned down, they say,” he said. “This is very pathetic,” and he began to look forward, absentmindedly straightening his mustache with his fingers. – Have you met Count Nikolai, Marie? - Prince Andrei suddenly said, apparently wanting to please them. “He wrote here that he really liked you,” he continued simply, calmly, apparently unable to understand all the complex meaning that his words had for living people. “If you fell in love with him too, it would be very good... for you to get married,” he added somewhat more quickly, as if delighted by the words that he had been looking for for a long time and finally found. Princess Marya heard his words, but they had no other meaning for her, except that they proved how terribly far he was now from all living things. - What to say about me! – she said calmly and looked at Natasha. Natasha, feeling her gaze on her, did not look at her. Again everyone was silent. “Andre, do you want...” Princess Marya suddenly said in a shuddering voice, “do you want to see Nikolushka?” He thought about you all the time. Prince Andrei smiled faintly for the first time, but Princess Marya, who knew his face so well, realized with horror that it was not a smile of joy, not tenderness for her son, but of quiet, gentle mockery of what Princess Marya used, in her opinion. , the last resort to bring him to his senses. – Yes, I’m very happy about Nikolushka. He is healthy? When they brought Nikolushka to Prince Andrei, who was looking at his father in fear, but was not crying, because no one was crying, Prince Andrei kissed him and, obviously, did not know what to say to him. When Nikolushka was taken away, Princess Marya went up to her brother again, kissed him and, unable to resist any longer, began to cry. He looked at her intently. – Are you talking about Nikolushka? - he said. Princess Marya, crying, bowed her head affirmatively. “Marie, you know Evan...” but he suddenly fell silent. - What are you saying? - Nothing. There’s no need to cry here,” he said, looking at her with the same cold gaze. When Princess Marya began to cry, he realized that she was crying that Nikolushka would be left without a father. With great effort he tried to return to life and was transported to their point of view. “Yes, they must find it pathetic! - he thought. - How simple it is! “The birds of the air neither sow nor reap, but your father feeds them,” he said to himself and wanted to say the same to the princess. “But no, they will understand it in their own way, they will not understand! What they cannot understand is that all these feelings that they value are all ours, all these thoughts that seem so important to us are that they are not needed. We can't understand each other." - And he fell silent. Prince Andrei's little son was seven years old. He could barely read, he didn't know anything. He experienced a lot after this day, acquiring knowledge, observation, experience; but if he had then possessed all these later acquired abilities, he could not have understood better, more deeply the full meaning of that scene that he saw between his father, Princess Marya and Natasha than he understood it now. He understood everything and, without crying, left the room, silently approached Natasha, who followed him out, and shyly looked at her with thoughtful, beautiful eyes; his raised, rosy upper lip trembled, he leaned his head against it and began to cry. From that day on, he avoided Desalles, avoided the countess who was caressing him, and either sat alone or timidly approached Princess Marya and Natasha, whom he seemed to love even more than his aunt, and quietly and shyly caressed them. Princess Marya, leaving Prince Andrei, fully understood everything that Natasha’s face told her. She no longer spoke to Natasha about the hope of saving his life. She alternated with her at his sofa and did not cry anymore, but prayed incessantly, turning her soul to that eternal, incomprehensible, whose presence was now so palpable over the dying man. Prince Andrei not only knew that he would die, but he felt that he was dying, that he was already half dead. He experienced a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being. He, without haste and without worry, awaited what lay ahead of him. That formidable, eternal, unknown and distant, the presence of which he never ceased to feel throughout his entire life, was now close to him and - due to the strange lightness of being that he experienced - almost understandable and felt. Before, he was afraid of the end. He experienced this terrible, painful feeling of fear of death, of the end, twice, and now he no longer understood it. The first time he experienced this feeling was when a grenade was spinning like a top in front of him and he looked at the stubble, at the bushes, at the sky and knew that death was in front of him. When he woke up after the wound and in his soul, instantly, as if freed from the oppression of life that held him back, this flower of love, eternal, free, independent of this life, blossomed, he was no longer afraid of death and did not think about it. The more he, in those hours of suffering solitude and semi-delirium that he spent after his wound, thought about the new beginning of eternal love that had been revealed to him, the more he, without feeling it himself, renounced earthly life. Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not loving anyone, meant not living this earthly life. And the more he was imbued with this principle of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he destroyed that terrible barrier that, without love, stands between life and death. When, at first, he remembered that he had to die, he said to himself: well, so much the better. But after that night in Mytishchi, when the one he desired appeared in front of him in a semi-delirium, and when he, pressing her hand to his lips, cried quiet, joyful tears, love for one woman imperceptibly crept into his heart and again tied him to life. Both joyful and anxious thoughts began to come to him. Remembering that moment at the dressing station when he saw Kuragin, he now could not return to that feeling: he was tormented by the question of whether he was alive? And he didn't dare ask this. His illness took its own physical course, but what Natasha called: this happened to him happened to him two days before Princess Marya’s arrival. This was the last moral struggle between life and death, in which death won. It was the unexpected consciousness that he still valued the life that seemed to him in love for Natasha, and the last, subdued fit of horror in front of the unknown. It was in the evening. He was, as usual after dinner, in a slight feverish state, and his thoughts were extremely clear. Sonya was sitting at the table. He dozed off. Suddenly a feeling of happiness overwhelmed him. “Oh, she came in!” - he thought. Indeed, sitting in Sonya’s place was Natasha, who had just entered with silent steps. Since she began following him, he had always experienced this physical sensation of her closeness. She sat on an armchair, sideways to him, blocking the light of the candle from him, and knitted a stocking. (She learned to knit stockings since Prince Andrei told her that no one knows how to take care of the sick like old nannies who knit stockings, and that there is something soothing in knitting a stocking.) Thin fingers quickly fingered her from time to time the clashing spokes, and the pensive profile of her downcast face was clearly visible to him. She made a movement and the ball rolled off her lap. She shuddered, looked back at him and, shielding the candle with her hand, with a careful, flexible and precise movement, she bent, raised the ball and sat down in her previous position. He looked at her without moving, and saw that after her movement she needed to take a deep breath, but she did not dare to do this and carefully took a breath. In the Trinity Lavra they talked about the past, and he told her that if he were alive, he would forever thank God for his wound, which brought him back to her; but since then they never spoke about the future. “Could it or could it not have happened? - he thought now, looking at her and listening to the light steel sound of the knitting needles. - Was it really only then that fate brought me so strangely together with her that I might die?.. Was the truth of life revealed to me only so that I could live in a lie? I love her more than anything in the world. But what should I do if I love her? - he said, and he suddenly groaned involuntarily, according to the habit that he acquired during his suffering. Hearing this sound, Natasha put down the stocking, leaned closer to him and suddenly, noticing his glowing eyes, walked up to him with a light step and bent down. - You are not asleep? - No, I’ve been looking at you for a long time; I felt it when you came in. No one like you, but gives me that soft silence... that light. I just want to cry with joy. Natasha moved closer to him. Her face shone with rapturous joy. - Natasha, I love you too much. More than anything else. - And I? “She turned away for a moment. - Why too much? - she said. - Why too much?.. Well, what do you think, how do you feel in your soul, in your whole soul, will I be alive? What do you think? - I'm sure, I'm sure! – Natasha almost screamed, taking both his hands with a passionate movement. He paused. - How good it would be! - And, taking her hand, he kissed it. Natasha was happy and excited; and immediately she remembered that this was impossible, that he needed calm. “But you didn’t sleep,” she said, suppressing her joy. – Try to sleep... please. He released her hand, shaking it; she moved to the candle and sat down again in her previous position. She looked back at him twice, his eyes shining towards her. She gave herself a lesson on the stocking and told herself that she wouldn't look back until she finished it. Indeed, soon after that he closed his eyes and fell asleep. He did not sleep for long and suddenly woke up in a cold sweat. As he fell asleep, he kept thinking about the same thing he had been thinking about all the time - about life and death. And more about death. He felt closer to her. "Love? What is love? - he thought. – Love interferes with death. Love is life. Everything, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists only because I love. Everything is connected by one thing. Love is God, and to die means for me, a particle of love, to return to the common and eternal source.” These thoughts seemed comforting to him. But these were just thoughts. Something was missing in them, something was one-sided, personal, mental - it was not obvious. And there was the same anxiety and uncertainty. He fell asleep.

Historical accuracy[edit]

The film, although based on a real story, actually has almost nothing to do with it. The list of inaccuracies can be continued for a long time, but the following are interesting:

• The real Balian was the legitimate son of the crusader Barisan Ibelin (also known as Balian - it’s not for nothing that the Roman numeral II is attached to Balian’s name), the founder of the Ibelin dynasty. After the fall of Jerusalem, he did not go to France, but remained a crusader. He died 5 years after the events of the film. At the time of the siege, he was not a handsome boy, but a 44-year-old man.
• Baldwin was not a pacifist in reality and happily organized battles himself. But Guy just didn’t want to fight, and it was he who was opposed by Chatillon, who was not any Templar.
• The rape and murder of Saladin's sister by Chatillon
  is more of an element of folklore, legend, myth, but not a historical fact. More precisely, the chronicles say that he defamed her honor, but does not say in what specific way (given the Middle Ages, he could have done this without raping - but given his reputation, who would have stopped him from raping?).
• An attempt on Balian's life
  was suddenly made by three Teutonic knights. The Teutonic Order was created only three years after the events of the film during the siege of coastal Acre, besieged by the crusaders surrounded by Sallah ad-Din (the crusaders besieged Acre to capture the port, and Sallah ad-Din himself, who came to the aid of the city, besieged these crusaders).
• But here they wear surcoats!
• A moment of geographic authenticity—Jerusalem, the “city of green hills,” according to the film, is located in the middle of a flat desert.

Links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Kingdom of Heaven (film)

• 1970s	The Duelists (1977) • Alien (1979)
  1980s	Blade Runner (1982) • Legend (1985) • He Who Watches Over Me (1987) • Black Rain (1989)
  1990s	Thelma and Louise (1991) • 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) • White Squall (1996) • GI Jane (1997)
  2000s	Gladiator (2000) • Hannibal (2001) • Black Hawk Down (2001) • The Great Con (2003) • Kingdom of Heaven (2005) • Invisible Children (2005) • A Good Year (2006) • Gangster (2007) • Body of Lies (2008)
  2010s	Robin Hood (2010) • Prometheus (2012) • The Counselor (2013) • Exodus: Kings and Gods (2014) • The Martian (2015) • Alien: Covenant (2017)
  Screenwriter	Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Director's cut[edit]

In addition to the cut-down theatrical version, which is shown in cinemas and television, there is also a director’s version, which Ridley Scott was not allowed to release. He himself considers the theatrical version non-canonical and unsuitable for viewing. Film critics agreed with him and gave it scores much higher than the theatrical one, up to 10/10 from some publications. The peculiarity of the version is that most of the characters are revealed. It runs 45 minutes longer, and in it the viewer will be explained where Balian’s combat experience came from, why he killed his brother, etc. The theatrical version against its background looks only like a fun action movie, and not at all an epic canvas.