Dubby Bhagat

Kathmandu:

You meet zealots, fundamentalists who murder because it’s a principal, a basic tenet. You meet a turbulent region. You meet statesmen with ideas, noble people with a desire to see that a conflict of beliefs does not harm the innocent. You see tenuous peace shattered. You meet savage death. Sounds familiar? Are we looking at Nepal today? No but, ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ director Sir Ridley Scott’s plea for peace in 12th century Jerusalem, is a paean for sanity that applies with immediacy to Jerusalem today or to any place where values, ideas clash and there is blood shed. Ridley Scott’s canvas is as huge and filled with startling beauty as his message which is for all times, all places, all clashes: “Find peace on earth as it is in heaven.” Said Ridley Scott,”I went to writer Bill Monaghan and told him,’I want to do a film about Knights and everything that personifies but I don’t want to waste it on just an action adventure. I want something that shows religiously pure and noble men driven to destructive deeds by fanatics.’ ‘’

Said critic Tom Brooks,”We follow the story of a French blacksmith, played by Orlando Bloom, who ends up in Jerusalem. He is a man who is disheartened and emotionally lost, yet he emerges as a charismatic unifying figure, fighting for the right of Christians and Muslims to live alongside one another in peace. Strangely, while most Muslims saw the movie in a,”positive light,” Christian scholars have been know to call it, ‘Osama Bin Laden’s view of history’.” “The film’ oddly enough, is not about war, it’s about peace,’’says director Scott about ‘Kingdom Of Heaven’ which pivots around a siege of Jerusalem. “And what happens between two very strong characters. “Scott, who restored the epic to vigour with 2000’s

‘Gladiator’ and has since watched other attempts fall far short, tapped his Black Hawk Down actor Bloom to play Balian’s despairing French blacksmith who travels to the Holy Land, and Syrian actor Ghassan Massound to play Saladin, Balian’s opponent in battle.”It’s a journey for one man to find forgiveness and some kind of clarity on who he is,”says Bloom, whose character is based on a real historical figure but with much material added.(Quote courtesy Premiere magazine)

A strong supporting cast includes Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Eva Green and Edward Norton. Says Neeson “Here’s what it’s about: Let us protect these men ,women, children.” And adds, “There at the end of the world, you’re not what you were born but what you have it in yourself to be.” Orlando Bloom sums it up rather well,” All the characters in the movie seem to have something to give Balian, to pass on a piece of information he takes and carries with him-like guides and mentors. He really is a very true but reluctant hero by the time the movie reaches its climax.” Ridley Scott feels that there is nothing sentimental about the movie and yet the knights’ oath alone is emotional enough for a giant epic on a gigantic scale and it is as relevant today as it was in the crusades. “Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love you. Speak the truth even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless. That is your oath.” Then the new knight gets slapped across the face,” And that is so you remember.”