Kingdom of Heaven

[lollardfish]

I was thinking of writing something like this. Madden, a very good historian, did it better.

MOVIE REVIEW

Comments

[neogrammarian.livejournal.com]

I can still hear Nicholson assert "hic locus est!" in that pilgrimage narratives course...

it's not the stones my ass...

[zinzinzinnia.livejournal.com]

Yup. Pretty much why I've decided to give this flick a pass. And I'm not even a historian. I just figured the PC-ing of the Crusades (a hint of which we saw in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves) would make me want to gag. Oh, and I'm not an Orlandophile.

[laurel]

I won't be seeing this one. It's always a little alarming when one thinks of how many people may think they've learned historical facts from movies.

Madden's review is really excellent, thanks for linking to it.

[bhoneydew.livejournal.com]

Orson Scott Card (http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2005-05-15-1.html) had a bit to say about the movie (#4).

The portrayal of Saladin in that movie coincided very closely with the historical record.

I wonder if he saw a different edition.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

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 ...

[lee-os.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Saladin may have been seen as 'honorable' to both sides, but stop and consider what sort of actions were seen as honorable.

And he was successful in building a large empire -- that kind of thing garnered a lot of respect in those days.