History Buffs: Kingdom of Heaven

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] hello went welcome history buffs my name is Nick Hodges and in today's review I'll be tackling Kingdom of Heaven set during the Crusades this is the story of how the French blacksmith Balian leaves for the Holy Land hoping to find salvation for himself and for the souls of his dead wife and child in the kingdom of Jerusalem it is not long though before he finds himself swept up in an epic struggle between two of the great religions of the world Christianity and Islam sadly in spite of its great battle sequences and exotic settings this abysmal film doesn't have a leg to stand on when it comes to even basic storytelling even less so in understanding its own complex history what we are presented with is an extremely dumbed down and fictionalized version of the Crusades where the writing has clearly been tailored to fit common misconception on the Crusades rather than being based on some actual [ __ ] history and finally guilty for having quite possibly one of the worst written protagonists I have ever seen in a movie this is kingdom of heaven [Music] [Music] so kingdom of heaven is set between the second and the third crusade focusing primarily on the fall of Christian Jerusalem but in order to truly understand the Crusades it's important to go back to the roots of the first for 400 years the Byzantine Empire had been fighting a losing battle against the rising tide of Islam bit by bit the territories were taken over the centuries first by the Arabs and then by a new dominant force in the region the Seljuk Turks after defeating the Byzantines in the Battle of Mons occurred in 1071 the fiercely warlike Seljuks had conquered almost all of Anatolia in desperation the Byzantine Emperor Alexis the first dispatch messages to Rome pleading for help in 1095 pope urban ii answered the call and rallied the knights of europe to gather arms and March East to liberate their Christian brethren what's more is that he declared that anyone who took up crusade would be completely realist of their sins and allowed into heaven this was an extremely attractive proposition as these Knights were fully aware that their constant warring with each other contradicted the sixth commandment thou shalt not kill Western Europe was tearing itself apart with its feudal wars and this allowed Pope Urban to direct this violence away from Christendom and towards a potentially greater threat just a year later 60,000 men took the cross and they couldn't picked a better moment to strike by this point the Muslims had fragmented into smaller kingdoms with no central leadership the First Crusade carved a bloody path through the Holy Land pillaging and slaughtering Muslims and droves taking city after City before finally retaking Jerusalem in 1099 so when kingdom of heaven begins in 1184 it has nearly been a hundred years since the Christians took the city of Jerusalem and formed the Crusader States things have changed from them however as the Muslims have united under a new leader called Saladin whose armies now surround the Crusaders for the moment there is a tense peace between them but it is one that will not last [Music] now the most obvious thing about kingdom of heaven is its portrayal of Christian Europe the opening text of the movie establishes that Europe is in a state of repression and poverty painting a picture of how bleak and sufferable day-to-day life is for the common man this is especially true the color grading chosen the opening scenes or more appropriately the absence of color we see instead we get dull grays and cold blues and this is all done to give the impression that Christian Europe is a dark backward place whilst the Muslim world is awash with bright and vibrant colors and the markets are jostling with trade and commerce obviously highlighting that the Muslim world is progressive and culturally advanced this may have been act representation of Europe prior to the First Crusade but an eleven eighty four which is the film's time period this is completely ridiculous Kingdom of Heaven completely ignores that Europe was going through the 12th century Renaissance things were actually on the up and up and the standards of living both culturally and economically were at the very least equal to the Muslim world Europeans in the homeland were no more repressed or poverty-stricken than Muslims were in theirs there was a revival in classical literature and academic studying of philosophy science mathematics and medicine and a big reason for all of this was due to the Crusades for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire Western Europe was connected once again to the Orient where it was also flourishing under the Golden Age of Islam the Muslims had rediscovered the ancient knowledge that the Greeks had left behind and through great ingenuity made huge cultural and scientific advances of their own in Baghdad's House of Wisdom Islam's answer to the Alexandria library so the Europeans who went on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land also took this knowledge back home and the increased trade and commerce between the Muslims and the Byzantine Empire encouraged this cultural exchange of information in Western Europe made it readily available to everyone so it's clear that Kingdom of Heaven has some sort of agenda but what is it well it seems to me that this film is taking a moral stance not only refuses to affiliate any positive benefits there may have occurred because of the Crusades to Western civilization but want to brand the Crusades as truly motivated by only one thing here is the gist of what the film is trying to tell you I've given Jerusalem my whole life last I thought we I'm fighting for God then I realize we were fighting for wealth and land it's a shame aside from our main protagonists the Christians are generally demonized to be warmongering barbaric thugs attacking defenseless Muslims and their measure of cruelty is fueled even more so by their religious fanaticism there must be war God wasn't God was it [Applause] [Music] in contrast the Muslims seem to be really reasonable especially in this scene after Saladin sister was just murdered by the Christians the Sultan demands the return of his sister's body the heads of those responsible and the surrender of Jerusalem does what answer do you return to Saladin this noticing a pattern here yet let me sum it up for you the film is trying to tell us that the Crusades were primarily an excuse to conquer and subjugate a peaceful Islamic civilization out of a lust for greed and power what if I was to tell you that the Crusades can be seen as a legitimate response you probably think I wasn't being very PC but hear me out prior to the first crusade the Muslims had conquered and converted nearly two-thirds of the Christian world Syria Palestine Mesopotamia Egypt North Africa Sicily and a big chunk of Spain and Portugal were all originally Christian lands that's not even mentioning their invasion of France and 7:19 and sacking Rome the capital of the Christian world in 846 far from being peaceful Islamic civilization was extremely warlike and had full intentions to wipe out Christian civilization the newly conquered Eastern Christians suffered terrible atrocities and oppression by their new Muslim rulers Christian pilgrims were routinely slaughtered by the Seljuk Turks during their raids against the Byzantine Empire so I'm actually surprised that it took 400 years of Muslim aggression before the crusades finally kicked off however I am not condoning what the Christians did either there are many accounts during the first crusade of Christians committing horrific atrocities on a massive scale and slaughtering Muslims in their tens of thousands when the Crusaders finally took back Jerusalem they slaughtered every Muslim they could find within the city walls so my point is that this movie should not demonize one group and victimized another especially since both groups were just as [ __ ] brutal as each other the character of Balian is so heavily fictionalized that he's almost unrecognizable from the historical figure he's based on but funnily enough that's not what bothers me the most in Kingdom of Heaven it's rather simply this classic case of bad writing where the plot dictates the character rather than the character driving the plot from a storytelling standpoint there are just too many things that happen to Balian that doesn't make sense and the film also seems to be tragically and laughably unaware of the basic medieval environment that contradicts Balian story arc now I'm guessing that bale Ian's origin was written to be a fish out of water story in order to introduce the audience to the world of the Crusades he would be free to ask and have questions answered for him that audiences need to know I know you sadly that he is king of the Saracens and that he surrounds this kingdom he has 200,000 men Damascus alone he could win a war if he goes to war and he's day leading cause for war by fanatics nearly from Europe by Templar bastards like ran out of Shenyang you see if you already knew this stuff and spent his whole life in Jerusalem like the real Balian of Ibelin then they wouldn't be having this conversation from a narrative perspective this makes sense and usually works in other movies but kingdom of heavens historical setting and events run counter to baylin's journey as a character and much of it stems from the simple fact that Balian is a blacksmith and above all a bastard the moment that Kingdom of Heaven really starts to fall apart is when Godfrey Knights Balian be without fear in the face of your enemy we brave and upright that God may love thee speak the truth always even if it leads to your death safeguard the up+ and do no wrong that is your oath that's how you remember it Rhys right and Baron of Ibelin okay you've made him a knight he's still a bastard and has no claim to your land entitles now it's true that a knight can make another Knight but it would have been impossible for Godfrey to legitimize Balian as his successor if Godfrey had no other male heirs next in line then his land and titles would reverted back to the king who would then choose someone else in his court to be the inheritor instead so this idea that with a swish of his sword Godfrey could make Balian the next Baron of Ibelin is just bollocks another thing that is just hard for me to believe it's just how accepting everyone is of a lien when he arrives in Jerusalem yeah father son he was my friend I'm Yours I loved your father and I sure love you keep in mind that this is the first time they've ever met Balian they have no idea who this man is any assumption they might have of him is only based on the fact that he is Godfrey son and even Godfrey didn't really know Balian that well or had anything to do with his upbringing so I must stress that Balian is by all accounts a complete stranger to these people and yet they welcome him with open arms if you continue like this I shall have to find a use for you if God can spare you that is God does not know me ah I'm sorry Your Majesty but no you don't this is only the second time you've ever met the guy I would strongly recommend that you get to know him a little bit first before deciding on how to use him or at least have a conversation with him that lasts longer than five minutes we have decided that you shall take command of the army of Jerusalem really don't you want to I don't know perhaps look at his resume before making this important decision maybe get an idea of his qualifications before risking absolutely everything on him leaving your [ __ ] Army in fact let's do that right now and see if he's fit to be a general see okay that there's that one time he trained with Godfrey never used a low guard you fight well let's work on your skills take a high guard like this Italians call it a foster default Koenig the guard of the hook strike from high this do it which lasted just over 60 seconds we don't see him do any other training so I have to assume that was the extent of it still I guess it came handy when he fought that guy servant like me Farley what do you know why should he he is a knight and that one other time he led that suicide charge against the Muslim horde and getting most of his men killed in the process yes I know he did it to buy time for the peasants to escape but still I wouldn't place this as the highest example of his capability to lead men into battle so King Baldwin since that is the extent of his experience would you please reconsider another role for Balian would you marry my sister's a below is she free of key to loosen yawn okay that's it [ __ ] this movie I'm sorry but if this movie is not going to take itself seriously then why should I care this movie clearly doesn't give a [ __ ] because these characters aren't acting like real people medieval society would never accept a bastard as king the social stigma in doing so would result in political upheaval and outright civil war and yet they expect us to accept this without question I can't understate how much Balian manages to aggravate me and fascinate me at the same time as a character like one minute he doesn't know what a Muslim is who are those men Muslim services and yet somehow despite his previous career as a blacksmith knows the process of agriculture and successful irrigation in the land and climates he is not familiar with and also with no training whatsoever knows the logistics on defensive siege warfare mark four hundred four hundred and has the balls to give strategic advice to a military council on how to fight Saladin despite the fact that he has never fought a real battle in his life know if you must have warm this army cannot move away from water you have a chance to hold the city but if you move out against a Lahani this army will be destroyed and the city left defense when I wish a blacksmith to advise him war I will tell him hopefully it's clear by now why it's so hard for me to buy into this [ __ ] they can't do a fish out of water story and have the main character have all the skill sets of the historical figure they're based on you see the real Balian of Ibelin would be able to do all this [ __ ] because he was born in the kingdom of jerusalem he was also a nobleman by birth and had an extensive military background fighting the Muslims by making him a blacksmith and bastard they severed any credibility this film might have had in telling this amazing story Balian deeds not only seemed improbable but by the simple change impossible you know what the worst thing about kingdom of heaven is it's boring and it shouldn't be boring because it's scented or one of the most fascinating periods in history we have a flat boring protagonist who has to be told what his moral convictions are instead of just discovering them for himself we also have one dimensional cartoonish villains with no real conviction or motivation other than simply just because they're evil someone has to be and so we end up with an historical epic with a clairvoyants disregard of its own history choosing to endow 21st century morals on 12th century characters the thing is that when I look at history I see it as a testament to humanity's greatest triumphs and worst crimes we cannot celebrate one half and ignore the other or worse change details about that half for the sake of appearing politically correct today these things happened and there is nothing we can do about that denne responsible thing we can do is to learn from our past mistakes otherwise they will fade into obscurity and pose the risk of us having to repeat them again well that about wraps it up my name is Nick Hodges and thanks for watching history buffs and remember if you like the show help the channel grow don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button and let me know in the comment section what you thought about kingdom of heaven and of course what historical film should I review next until then I'll see you next time [Music] Oh

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Views: 2,454,842

Rating: 4.3936911 out of 5

Keywords: History (TV Genre), Kingdom Of Heaven (Award-Winning Work), history buffs, the crusades, historically inacurate, historically acurate, historical film review, move review, film review, Review

Id: mTjUu1Bt29o

Length: 21min 59sec (1319 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 15 2015