This is a review of the director's cut of the Kingdom of Heaven, which is a considerably longer movie than the theatrical cut Ridley Scott himself disliked. The original theatrical cut was 140 minutes long, whereas the directors cut clocks a whopping 194 minutes, adding quite a bit more meat to the story and explaining the political intrigue and the characters much better. If you are going to watch the Kingdom of Heaven, watch the director's cut, as it is a very different movie from the theatrical one.
What is Jerusalem worth, asks Balian de Ibelin (Orland Bloom) from Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) after the defences of the holy city have finally fallen. The sultan glances at Balian, and states, that the city is worth nothing, yet everything.
Before Balian had to spare a thought on the worth of the holy city far away in the east the Christendom has tried to hold for a hundred years, he was nothing but a humble blacksmith in the mourning of his wife and dead child. Now, it needs to be noted, that while there really was Balian de Iblin, this movie version has nothing to do with the real man, who was the son of Barisan de Ibelin and was married to Maria Komnene, who was also a queen of Jerusalem. So, with that, don't expect much historic accuracy from the characters presented in this movie. While on a large scale, Balian did indeed surrender Jerusalem to Saladin, it was a very different man from what is depicted in this movie. (Thanks, Wikipedia)
So, while Balian mourns for his lost family, Godfrey de Ibelin (Liam Neeson) swings by to inform him, that he's not a mere blacksmith, but his illegitimate son. He'd like him to follow him to Jerusalem. At first, Balian refuses but ends up following his newly found father, after he ends up killing his own brother, the priest (Michael Sheen), who kept daunting him because of the suicide of his wife (interestingly enough, the priest being Balian's brother is not even mentioned in the theatrical cut).
Before they can get to Messina, Godfrey's brother sets an ambush to kill him. While they fend off the attack, Godfrey is wounded and dies before they can sail to the holy lands. Prior to this, he makes Balian officially a knight and grants him the ownership of Ibelin and names him officially his son.
Jerusalem itself is ruled by Baldwin IV (Edward Norton), a leprous king who is always covering his face with an iron mask. He is trying to keep the fragile peace between the Muslims and the Christians intact, but there are forces waiting for the king to die, so they can finally begin the war against Saladin. Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas), husband of the king's sister Sibylla (Eva Green) is eager to start the war, the only thing he needs is for his young son to take the place of the king, so Sibylla will become the regent of Jerusalem.
Baldwin takes an instant liking to Balian. He sees a much better man in him than Guy is and before all come to its end, he does implore, if Balian would be willing to marry his sister if Guy and his loyalists were to be beheaded. By this point, Balian and Sibylla have already become lovers, as there's no love lost between Guy and Sibylla, but Balian is not willing to sell his soul and he declines. When the king finally dies, Guy gets his war.
But Guy de Lusignan errs, as he goes to meet Saladin and his forces. The rough trip over the desert takes its toll on the troops and the Muslims soon decimate them, capturing the new king of Jerusalem. At the same time, Balian enforces the defences of the holy city, as he knows that the attack is coming, as it does.
Valiantly, the troops defend the city, with one aim in mind: to keep the civilians safe. The Muslim forces can't be kept at bay, and finally, Balian meets Saladin, to whom he surrenders the city, with the terms of safe passage for the Christians out from the city. To this, Saladin agrees and then gives the answer to Balian's question.
Sometime later, we see Balian, who has returned back France to see his old smithy. The tree his wife planted there before her death has begun to grow, not caring about the follies of men. King Richard the Lionheart happens by, asking if he knows the defender of Jerusalem, Balian, as King Richard is heading there to fight a crusade of his own. Balian tells him, he's nothing but a blacksmith and the king takes his leave.
And then, we see Balian and Sibylla riding away, while the vicious cycle keeps on running, with new conquerors looking to claim what they think is theirs.
Indeed, in itself, Jeruslam is worth nothing. It's a dusty city built on a dusty land. But we, the Christians, the Muslims, and the Jews, have given it worth much grander than it as a place deserves. It has become the nexus of faiths and because of that, its worth has become exponential, fabled, and unreachable. For the glory of whatever deity, we are willing to pour oceans of tears in hopes of gaining something, be it power, wealth, solace, or forgiveness, just to lose it in the end like the fools we are.
As it often is, history is a mere framing for the drama to unfold. While the grand lines did take place, the war and the surrender of Jerusalem, the drama is more or less fictional. And that in itself is fine, as this isn't a documentary, after all. Kingdom of Heaven is a grand epoch, well-directed and acted. It's among Ridley Scott's better movies, especially as the directors cut. Orlando Bloom, who has never been the greatest of actors, is surprisingly suitable as Balian.
It did come to mind, that this is such a grand-scale story, that it might have worked even better as a mini-series, but the director's cut is a good substitute for that. There's quite a bit more story than I went through here, for the theatrical cut, a lot f the subplots, like the relationship between Guy and Sibylla, were omitted and in general, the director's cut makes more sense as a whole.
You can, if you want, nitpick the movie to death because of the historical inaccuracies, but if you won't mind those, it is a movie well worth a watch.
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