Review of Kingdom of Heaven (2005) by Oliver J — 24 Oct 2013

The director's cut is fantastic! The human motivations are clear. You have the power hungry Guy de Lusignan who uses religion like most rulers do, i.e. in a very cynical and disingenous way. His short-sightedness, along with the faith in god of his followers get him and them killed in the end.

Had they put more faith in logic, and reason, more of their progeny would likely still be alive today. Then you have Saladin who is a master tactician, who also seems to discuss religion somewhat with tongue in cheek, while knowing that reason, and strategy are what won him battles and made him king.

He is under political pressure to go to war. Then you have Balian of Ibelin, who rises to the once in a life-time challenge of testing his intellect and mettle against an army of fearsome size and character.

He tries to live up to the standard of integrity and morality of a knight, and clearly derives his morality not from some holy book, but from reason, and conscience. We have the residents of Jerusalem fighting to defend their homes and families.

All of the human motivation is clear. Organized religion, and it's leaders are shown for what they usually are, i.e. charlatans who seek power and wealth of the backs of the naive in this world, while cynically promising a return on investment in the next.

The theatrical version was pretty bland.