Re-watched KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: DIRECTOR'S CUT (obviously), and I'm ready to call it the BEST film in Ridley Scott's filmography. I would have argued that GLADIATOR held that spot before this...but multiple re-watches of KoH:DC have shown me the truth.
It is his magnum opus.
It has all the bells and whistles of GLADIATOR, but it's also ambitious AF, challenges perceived western-slants of the conflict within it, features an even larger cast of great actors, and is filled with even more poetic visuals than GLADIATOR.
I used to think that Orlando Bloom has trouble holding it up as the lead, but that's not true. He's on form here and it's just that he's surrounded by such scenery-chewing thespians (people like Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, and Brendan Gleeson) so it feels like he's out of his depth. But in the quieter scenes where he's largely on his own, or only interacting with a single person, he stands just fine.
Ghassan Massoud (who plays Saladin here) is so enjoyable to watch in this film. He's stoic, and endlessly watchable, and the film treats him (for the most part) as he would have been (perhaps a little less brutal and a little more diplomatic). He fills the role with such gravitas and wisdom.
I realize that large chunks of the internal story is wrong from a history angle...I mean Balian of Ibelin is basically an amalgamation of a few people, but mostly Raymond of Tripoli (who Tiberius; Jeremy Irons is technically meant to be)...but what it does is gives a good tone for the region at the time, and the conflict at play. I will never see the Crusades as anything but a Christian/Western conquerer/colonizer chuck of history, so it's nice that the leads in KoH take the bent of "We all revere this place, let's aim for peace, not war".
And even in a place that ostensibly is the land of the Saracens, even Saladin in this, when Balian threatens to level and burn Jerusalem (including every place of reverence to both religions) rather than let it fall to the Saracens if they keep fighting (they come to terms that Saladin lets every Christian live and get to safety if they surrender the city)...and Saladin ponders if that might be better for all told in the end if all of those places of reverence were destroyed. It's little moments like that which make this film such an enjoyable foray into the era and conflict. They talk in the film about how this began 100 years before this time (in 1099), and it really hits home when you think of it that way. Imagine that someone sacked your city in 1921, and in 2021 we were fighting over it over and over throughout all that time. That would be insane. But that's what occurred, and KEPT occurring (the film ends with Richard the Lionheart seeking to reclaim Jerusalem from Saladin).
Also, I don't think I appreciated the score by Harry Gregson-Williams before. I was stuck on my love of Hans Zimmer's GLADIATOR score, and the fact that Fox INEXPLICABLY marketed KoH: Theatrical Cut with crunchy guitar music (
seriously, check it out...it's fucking nuts and terrible)...but Greson-Williams work in the compositions is GORGEOUS, and I've begun listening to it on Spotify and it's completely evocative.
Anyways, that's it. That's my spiel. Ridley's Directors Cut's are always better (hell, even the' 8 minutes more' cut of Robin Hood is better), but in the KoH:DC he's created a masterpiece start to finish. I don't know that he'll ever top this film for its ambition and its beauty. GLADIATOR may be his most crowd-pleasing and commercial success...but KoH is his
best IMHO.
EDIT: to add....did anyone else know that Ridley married the woman who played Maximus's (dead) wife in GLADIATOR (Gianina Facio)? She's gad small parts in all his films since then, but yeah...had no idea he married her.
EDIT 2: Also, this has one of my favourite quotes, from David Thewlis:
I put no stock in religion. Through the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of God. I've seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and defending those who cannot defend themselves.
This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 12 May 2021 - 03:52 PM
"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora
“Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone.” ~Ursula Vernon
Help
