Sunday, July 30, 2006

Whats good on TV?

What’s on TV?
This week, (and repeating frequently the entire month of August), HBO airs Ridley Scott's epic masterpiece "Kingdom of Heaven" which takes place around 1184 A.D. in Jerusalem. Jews, Christians and Muslims all wanted to claim the city, site of religious their shrines. Crusaders, mainly European Christians, were promised Heaven for spilled blood as they mounted several Crusades to "liberate" the Holy Land from Muslims, Arabs and Jews. Sounds a lot like Middle Eastern fanaticism in today’s world. So little has changed.
In this 2½-hour story Orlando Bloom, portrays a blacksmith, Balian, bastard son of the great knight Godfrey of Ibelin (played by Liam Neeson – who delivers an exceptional performance). His father arrives just as Balian’s life has been turned upside down with the loss of a son (stillborn) and his wife (suicide). In his grief he has murdered a priest. His father has offered him an opportunity for a new life in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is about to experience change as the fragile leper King Baldwin, who rules Jerusalem, is near death. Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas) marries the King’s beautiful sister Sibylla (Eva Green), positioning for the throne. He and a band of allies among the brutish Knights Templar, including leader Reynald de Chatillon (Brendan Gleeson), hunger for war and make it happen the moment the king has died.
Balian who has engaged in a love affair with Sibylla before her marriage, survives an attempt on his life by Guy’s gang. Holding no grudge, or at least in his concern for the fate of the armies, Balian warns Guy and his advisors that marching to engage King Saladin in the waterless desert would be a death march. He suggests it would be better to take a defensive stand in the city. He finds allies in his father's aide and counselor, known as the Hospitaler (David Thewlis) and the king's advisor Tiberias (Jeremy Irons) and even Guy's wife, Sibylla. But Guy and his allies march anyway, and of course, those who don’t die of thirst are slaughtered by Saladin.
Fresh with success King Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) is determined to take back Jerusalem and all the Holy Land from the outsiders. With his 200,000 Muslim soldiers there’s little question he will win, but at what price. In the end, Balian proves a worthy opponent, and the fight more difficult than Saladin had expected. Balian and Saladin must come face to face and decide whether to keep the blood flowing or end the slaughter. It’s a question that echos today as the violence continues. Some critics have suggested Scott went too far to draw the parallel.
In general, critics were uncomplimentary and the film has not received the acclaim expected. Scott attributes the poor reception to revisions based on preview audience criticism. He has made a new directors cut for the DVD release. On a scale of 10, "Kingdom of Heaven" rates a strong 8 in my opinion. Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven" is a beautiful epic with exceptional photography and CG to generate the massive battle scenes. His filming the movie in Morocco required extreme security (Moroccan Army was also used as extras) to protect the cast and crew from Islamist death threats. Some characters were a little short on development, as can happen when the action speaks so boldly to tell the story. Regardless, it’s a great film worth your time. Other Scott films include “Gladiator," "Black Hawk Down," "Alien," "Blade Runner (also being revised in a new DVD directors cut)," and "Thelma and Louise".
Sidebar
Director Ridley Scott and writer William Monahan have woven real history, real people, actual battles, and events together to create a fascinating epic. But how much is true and how much is fiction.
According to www.christianitytoday.com, “history says that Balian did in fact play a crucial role as a Crusader noble in the events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem in 1187 to the Muslim sultan Saladin. But Balian never had to travel to the Holy Land—as he does in the movie—because he was already part of the nobility there. His father Balian the Old (not Godfrey) fathered three sons, Hugh, Baldwin, and Balian, all of whom were legitimate and recognized as such. Long before Saladin made his masterful invasion of the Holy Land, Balian and his elder brother Baldwin had established their reputations as competent members of Palestine's feudal nobility. Indeed, Balian was married to royalty even before the events Scott portrays—and he wasn't at all romantically involved with the princess Sibylla, sister to the king of Jerusalem. (Actually Balian's brother Baldwin was the one who had a love interest in Sibylla.)” You can read more about Balian and his interesting history online.