Kingdom of Heaven (movie)

Kingdom of Heaven

Directed by Ridley Scott

Produced by Ridley Scott

Written by William Monahan

Starring Orlando Bloom

Liam Neeson

Eva Green

Jeremy Irons

Music by Harry Gregson-Williams

Cinematography John Mathieson

Editing by Dody Dorn

Chisako Yokoyama (director's cut)

Distributed by 20th Century Fox

Released May 6, 2005

Running time 145 min.

Language English

Budget $135 million

IMDb profile

Kingdom of Heaven is a movie that was released on May 6, 2005, written by William Monahan, directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Alexander Siddig, Ghassan Massoud, Edward Norton, Michael Sheen and Liam Neeson. Its story deals with the Crusades of the 12th century, and involves a blacksmith who aids the city of Jerusalem in its defense against the great Islamic leader Saladin, who battles to reclaim the city from the Christians. The script is loosely based on the life of Balian of Ibelin. Professor Hamid Dabashi of Columbia university was the film's chief academic consultant.

It was reported that the Moroccan government sent hundreds of soldiers to protect the set and crew. However, the Moroccan cavalry were actually on hand as extras in the epic battle-scenes.

Most filming took place in Ouarzazate in Morocco, where Scott had filmed Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. A replica of the ancient city of Jerusalem was constructed in the desert. It was also filmed in Spain, at the Loarre castle, Segovia, Valsaнn, Бvila, Palma del Rнo and buildings in Seville.

Cast/Characters

Many of the characters in the movie are fictionalized versions of historical figures:

Orlando Bloom - Balian of Ibelin

Eva Green - Sibylla

Liam Neeson - Godfrey of Ibelin

Jeremy Irons - Tiberias (the movie's name for the historical Raymond III of Tripoli, lord of Tiberias)

David Thewlis - Hospitaller

Brendan Gleeson - Reynald of Chatillon

Marton Csokas - Guy of Lusignan

Ghassan Massoud - Saladin

Edward Norton - Baldwin IV

Alexander Siddig - Nasir

Jon Finch - Patriarch of Jerusalem

Iain Glen - Richard I of England

Brief Outline of Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Kingdom of Heaven follows the story of a blacksmith, who, after finding out the existence of his out-of-wedlock father, Baron Godfrey of Ibelin (Neeson), and having to cope with his wife's suicide, goes to Jerusalem in hopes of redemption and forgiveness.

Balian (Bloom), heads off to Jerusalem, after being knighted by his newfound father, to purge his sins and those of his wife (in hell due to her suicide following her delivery of a stillborn child). Following Godfrey's death from complications of an arrow injury, and upon arriving in Jeruslaem, he finds that he has the favor of many men who were under his father Godfrey's command. He is befriended by the masked King of Jerusalem Baldwin IV (Norton), who suffers from disfiguring, advanced leprosy, and the Marshal of Jerusalem, Tiberias (Irons). He subsequently has an affair with the King's sister, Princess Sibylla (Green), and goes on to defend Jerusalem from Saladin's (Massoud) army. He also contends with the war- and power-hungry men of Guy de Lusignan (Csokas) and Raynald de Chatillon (Gleeson) who want nothing more than to annihilate the armies of Saladin.

As the film progresses, King Baldwin dies from leprosy and is succeeded by his sister Sibylla, whose husband Guy becomes the King Consort. Guy, with Raynald's assistance, provokes Saladin to war and a great battle ensues, in which