Kingdom of Heaven (movie)

Kingdom of Heaven

Directed by Ridley Scott

Produced by Ridley Scott

Written by William Monahan

Starring Orlando Bloom

Liam Neeson

Eva Green

Jeremy Irons

Music by Harry Gregson-Williams

Cinematography John Mathieson

Editing by Dody Dorn

Chisako Yokoyama (director's cut)

Distributed by 20th Century Fox

Released May 6, 2005

Running time 145 min.

Language English

Budget $135 million

IMDb profile

Kingdom of Heaven is a movie that was released on May 6, 2005, written by William Monahan, directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Alexander Siddig, Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton, Michael Sheen and Liam Neeson. Its story deals with the Crusades of the 12th century, and involves a blacksmith who aids the city of Jerusalem in its defense against the great Islamic leader Saladin, who battles to reclaim the city from the Christians. The script is loosely based on the life of Balian of Ibelin. Professor Hamid Dabashi of Columbia university was the film's chief academic consultant.

It was reported that the Moroccan government sent hundreds of soldiers to protect the set and crew. However, the Moroccan cavalry were actually on hand as extras in the epic battle-scenes.

Most filming took place in Ouarzazate in Morocco, where Scott had filmed Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. A replica of the ancient city of Jerusalem was constructed in the desert. It was also filmed in Spain, at the Loarre castle, Segovia, Valsaнn, Ð'vila, Palma del Rнo and buildings in Seville.

Cast/Characters

Many of the characters in the movie are fictionalized versions of historical figures:

Orlando Bloom - Balian of Ibelin

Eva Green - Sibylla

Liam Neeson - Godfrey of Ibelin

Jeremy Irons - Tiberias (the movie's name for the historical Raymond III of Tripoli, lord of Tiberias)

David Thewlis - Hospitaller

Brendan Gleeson - Reynald of Chatillon

Marton Csokas - Guy of Lusignan

Ghassan Massoud - Saladin

Edward Norton - Baldwin IV

Alexander Siddig - Nasir

Jon Finch - Patriarch of Jerusalem

Iain Glen - Richard I of England

Brief Outline of Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Kingdom of Heaven follows the story of a blacksmith, who, after finding out the existence of his out-of-wedlock father, Baron Godfrey of Ibelin (Neeson), and having to cope 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 newfound father, to purge his sins and those of his wife (in hell due to her suicide following her delivery of a stillborn child). Following Godfrey's death from complications of an arrow injury, and upon arriving in Jeruslaem, he finds that he has the favor of many men who were under his father Godfrey's command. He is befriended by the masked King of Jerusalem Baldwin IV (Norton), who suffers from disfiguring, advanced leprosy, and the Marshal of Jerusalem, Tiberias (Irons). He subsequently has an affair with the King's sister, Princess Sibylla (Green), and goes on to defend Jerusalem from Saladin's (Massoud) army. He also contends with the war- and power-hungry men of Guy de Lusignan (Csokas) and Raynald de Chatillon (Gleeson) who want nothing more than to annihilate the armies of Saladin.

As the film progresses, King Baldwin dies from leprosy and is succeeded by his sister Sibylla, whose husband Guy becomes the King Consort. Guy, with Raynald's assistance, provokes Saladin to war and a great battle ensues, in which the Crusader army is annihilated. King Guy and Raynald are captured and the latter is killed by Saladin, who then marches upon Jerusalem and besieges it. After 3 days of intense siege battle, a section of Jerusalem's walls is knocked down and Balian surrenders to Saladin under conditions of safe passage of the inhabitants to the Christian Lands. At the end of the film, Balian is seen back at his old home in France. A column of Knights rides by, led by King Richard I of England. Richard tells Balian that he is leading his forces on a new Crusade to retake Jerusalem from Saladin. King Richard seeks Balian, the Defender of Jerusalem, to join him, but Balian responds that he is only a blacksmith, and declines. We then see Sibylla, dressed in a rich travelling costume. She rides off and he follows her. It is not specified whether they are simply riding off together, or whether she is leading him after Richard. The film ends with a placard summarizing that after many years of war Richard is unable to retake Jerusalem, and fighting over Jerusalem continues for years to come. "Even today, peace in the Kingdom of Heaven remains elusive ..."

Spoilers end here.

Historical accuracy

It is true that Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem from 1174-1185, was a leper, and that his sister Sibylla was married to Guy of Lusignan. Also, Baldwin IV had a falling out with Guy before his death, and so Guy did not succeed Baldwin IV immediately. Baldwin crowned Sibylla's son from her previous marriage to William of Montferrat, five-year-old Baldwin V co-king in his own lifetime, in 1183. The little boy reigned as sole king for one year, dying in 1186 in his ninth year. After her son's death, Sibylla and Guy (to whom she was devoted) garrisoned the city, and she claimed the throne. The coronation scene in the movie was, in real life, more of a shock: Sibylla had been