The problem is that you can read the easily available english sources and say, "Hey, Yeah, Saladin was complex and kind of seen as 'honorable' to both sides and the movie did something kind of like that."
But even these sources make it clear that Saladin was a man of deeply held religious convictions, massacred Christians as freely as Christians massacred Muslims, used Jihad and the mission to reclaim the holy places for Islam as /the/ unifying theme in his Empire, and so forth ...
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lollardfish
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Date: 2005-05-30 02:50 am (UTC)The portrayal of Saladin in that movie coincided very closely with the historical record.
I wonder if he saw a different edition.
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Date: 2005-05-30 04:05 am (UTC)But even these sources make it clear that Saladin was a man of deeply held religious convictions, massacred Christians as freely as Christians massacred Muslims, used Jihad and the mission to reclaim the holy places for Islam as /the/ unifying theme in his Empire, and so forth ...
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Date: 2005-05-31 09:52 pm (UTC)And he was successful in building a large empire -- that kind of thing garnered a lot of respect in those days.