Jun 15, 2005 11:11 AM
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(Updated Jun 15, 2005 11:11 AM)
''The Crusades'', a term that will evoke different emotions and reactions from people, depending on whom you may ask. By and large, most Muslims will shudder at the very mention of the word because of the extremely radical thinking that led to these wars fought in the Holy land about a millenia ago. Most Christians are indifferent to the events and reasons that led to the Crusades, but a large segement of the Western population today will concede that the whole idea behind the Crusades was wrong and incorrect ( thanks to the Jewish controlled media in the US and other European countries ). For the Jews, the crusades was a time of difficulty as they were at the receiving end of brutal Christian holy warriors and together with the Muslims constituted the enemy.
To cut a long story short, it is 1187 and Jerusalem is ruled by a Christian King, Edward. The king is a decent man and tolerant of all faiths. Unfortunately he is a leper and is expected to die soon. Throughout the movie, he is shown with a mask. Through a delicately forged relationship with Salah-ud-din, the Muslim leader based in Damascus, there exists a fragile peace between the Christians and Muslims. But trouble is brewing in the form of the Knights Templar, a group of Crusader warriors who have arrived from Europe and who would if left to themselves, kill every Muslim in Jerusalem. To emphasize this, a character blurts out ''To kill an infidel is the way to paradise'' or some such comment to the Crusaders as they make their way to Jerusalem. In this scenario, fit in Balian, a blacksmith who is persuaded to travel to the Holy Land from France by his father Godfrey, a good knight and a close associate of the King in Jerusalem. Due to events and circumstances, Godfrey dies before making it to Jerusalem but not before delivering some good advice to Balian. Balian arrives in Jerusalem and inherits the title of ''Baron of Ibelin'' from his father. His jurisdiction has Muslims,Jews and Christians living in peace.
Guy de Lusignan, the leader of the Knights Templar and villain of the piece, is wed to Sybilla, the sister of the King. Another knight and close associate of the king is Tiberias, who does not see eye-to-eye with the thinking of the Knights Templar and is extremely leery and distrustful of Guy de Lusiganan and his evil associate Reyanald de Chatillon, a fanatic and duplicitous warmonger who wastes no chance to provoke the fragile truce with the Muslims. Sybilla in the meantime, meets and falls in love with Balian, but to prevent acrimony and distrust in the community, Balian turns down an offer from the King to marry Sybilla if she would be freed from Guy de Lusignan. The king dies and along with him the peace. Guy de Lusignan becomes king and the persecution of Muslims in Jerusalem begins immediately and scores are butchered openly by Reynald and his thugs. Salahuddin's sister is also raped and brutally killed. That is enough for the Sultan ( Salahuddin) to demand the new king for the heads of the culprits that do this by sending his emissary. The king responds by murdering the emissary in front of his court, knights,et al.The knights are by now clearly divided into two groups, the bloodthirsty Templars and the more peaceful group led by Tiberias. Balian does not take sides, he understands that the Templars are wrong but does not confront them because he knows that a divided Jerusalem would stand no chance against the hordes of Salahuddin.
Salahuddin marches onto Jerusalem and the rest of the movie is full of battles until the eventual surrender of Jerusalem to Salahuddin on the condition that safe passage will be provided to all the citizens to ''Christian'' lands.
The characterization of Salahuddin, who is greatly acclaimed by Muslims as one of their greatest warriors show him as a fair and balanced individual who wages war only because he is forced to and is quite accurate. In fact close to the end of the movie, he is shown picking up and placing back a fallen Cross with great respect.
The character of Balian is one of a man who lives by his conscience and tries his best to avoid confrontation. He chooses to fight only to help save his people and his selfless actions serve to justify his aim of being a true knight, one who defends the helpless and stands for the truth. But one cannot understand why he does not confront the evil king and his wicked aides especially when they are slaughtering the innocent Muslims of Jerusalem. Even if Balian did not wish to fight his fellow Christians, he should have confronted them for the greater good of Jerusalem, knowing that Salahuddin would surely not let such atrocities go unpunished.
The leper king is portrayed well. The understanding between the king and Salahuddin when they defuse a potentially explosive situation midway into the movie is well portrayed and illustrates the importance of having noble leaders.
The characterization of Godfrey and Tiberias is somewhat similar. Both are portrayed as reasonable men who understand that tolerance, fairness and justice is essential for peace.
There are good performances by Edward Norton as King Edward, Jeremy Irons as Tiberias and Orlando Bloom as Balian. Liam Neeson as Godfrey was just ok but hats off to the Syrian actor for his masterly portrayal of Salahuddin. He was simply brilliant and do not be surprised if he is an Oscar nominee for best supporting actor.
The battle scenes are spectacular and realistic. Ridley Scott has put in a lot of effort to make things authentic. All in all, an interesting watch for those who like history.
