Review of Kingdom of Heaven (2005) by Filipeneto — 24 Feb 2018

This film is based on real historical characters and addresses, fictionally, the loss of Jerusalem to Muslims in 1187, after the defeat of the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin, against the forces of Saladin. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film has a screenplay by William Monahan and the cast is headed by Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons.

The film deals with the crusades from a new point of view. In other movies we see Christian expeditions. In this film, we see a precise moment in history, where Jerusalem, captured in 1099, is lost again. Many of the characters is based, slightly, in real historical characters, as part of the script as well. Although I'm not an expert, it seems a film that seeks to portray things with some historical accuracy. Thus, costumes and scenery seem to have been designed with some care, in order to meet these standards. The script is interesting. Of course, the story is romanticized and not entirely correspond to the facts, but its quite entertaining and holds the audience until the end. The action scenes are excellent, particularly the battles and the final siege, where the fertile imagination of Hollywood left its mark in the original way the siege engines are being put out of action by the besieged. The scenarios are good, representing well what may have been Jerusalem during that historic period.

The actors fulfilled their role on a regular basis. Orlando Bloom is equal to himself and Eva Green made some effort to look more oriental, surprising at the end by purposely overshadowing her character in maternal grief. One of the most emotive and memorable characters is King Baldwin IV, played by Edward Norton (who never shows his face in the film). He's the author of some of the most deep, philosophical and meaningful quotes. The soundtrack, written by Harry Gregson- Williams, is very good and merges harmonically sounds of medieval and Muslim inspiration with the traditional film music.