In the name of the father

Review by Vives Anunciacion

Kingdom of Heaven
Directed by Ridley Scott
Written by William Monahan
Starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green
PG 13/ 145 minutes
Twentieth Century Fox

Jerusalem's name, according to dictionary.com, is in the original in its dual form - it both means “possession of peace” and “foundation of peace”. It is a “mountain city enthroned on a mountain fastness.” Throughout history as it is today, Jerusalem was and remains a city of endless conflict. Some cosmic irony lost the city's name in the translation.

A short historical note: as far back as 4000 BC Jerusalem was occupied by foreigners and was ruled by Greeks, Romans, Persians, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks and formerly by Great Britain under a mandate of the League of Nations. Israel took control of the city in 1967. It was Pope Urban II's proclamation to wage a “war of the Cross” against the Muslim Turks occupying Jerusalem that started the Crusades in the year 1095.

Back to the movie. Sometime the 12th century, before the Third Crusade. Orlando Bloom appears in his first lead role as Balian, blacksmith in France and estranged son of Godfrey (Liam Neeson) Baron of Ibelin and knight of the king of Jerusalem. Not having anything left with in France after the death of his young wife and a fray with the law (convenient story devices as they are), Balian makes an awkward reunion with his father. On the way to Messina, the Italian sea port to Jerusalem, they skirmish with the town sheriff over Balian's crime, leaving poor daddy Godfrey mortally wounded.

At Messina, the dying Godfrey hands down to Balian his title and his knightly oath. Balian is made to understand the purposes of his father's knightly life. Balian then leaves for Jerusalem in search of forgiveness for his father and peace for his wife - his intentions are personal more than anything else.

Balian encounters Jerusalem as a city on the brink of storm - while on the surface Jews, Muslims and Christians roam peacefully within its walls, the city foams with secrets and opportunism from all sides. The young King Baldwin (Edward Norton), heirless and dying behind a silver mask to conceal his leprosy, is afraid to leave the city in the hands of Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas), fundamentalist Templar Knight and husband to the king's sister, Sibylla (Eva Green). The king sees an ally in Balian as he did with Godfrey, while Sibylla finds inspiration in Balian which she never found with Guy. These naturally do not favor well with the ambitious Guy, who immediately sends Jerusalem to war against the vast armies of Muslim conqueror Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) as soon as Baldwin dies.

Balian finds himself fighting for the safety of Heaven, while two sides fight in the name of the same God. The story is long and overwrought, as many epics go. But Kingdom of Heaven's intentions, however touched by the divine, is not sublime.

For starters, Orli Bloom drowns under the mighty performances of his co stars - Liam Neeson's Godfrey permeates throughout the two-hour-plus story despite the short screen time. Edward Norton conveys mercy, anger and compassion beneath a prop mask. Jeremy Irons! One wonders why he rarely has a movie these days. And that Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud, who has such screen presence and charisma, I wished there was a whole movie on Saladin. Bloom may have pulled all the strings he could from his brief film experience to keep up with the support cast. It takes years, man, years.

Ridley Scott no question mounts a spectacular visual feast especially with the cinematography and the design of ancient Jerusalem. Having said that, this is another epic-sized historical revision with pseudo-political pretensions from Hollywood. The battle scenes are raw, savage and intense, but by all means we've seen them in The Return of the King. That movie smartly didn't put as much highlight on the battle as it did on the dramatic arch as a whole, AND it's a fantasy. In terms of emotional resonance, Kingdom has that one scene when the dying Godfrey knights his own son. Then no more, in contrast to Scott's Somalian drama Black hawk Down, which had several in between the intermittent fight scenes.

What the movie has are brave intentions and modern relevance - placing narrative balance between a large epic and a diminutive main character, as well as similar conflicts within each warring side. In a way only movies can make, theology is given less significance under Balian's (almost naïve) humanism to save the city in the name of its citizens rather than the name of religion.

If only history would end as positively as the movie, there'd be much less significance to the meaning of names. Which means infinitely less confusion. Less is always more, it is always said, on earth as it is in heaven.