Release Date:  May 6, 2005
Rating:  R (for strong violence and epic warfare)
Genre:   Drama/Action
Run Time:   145 min.
Director:     Ridley Scott
Actors:   Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson
 
In these days of political correctness, you can’t help but wonder what historical movies might look like if filmmakers could move beyond their personal, political agendas and tell stories the way they actually happened.  It’s as if they are somehow afraid that we might actually learn from history, as opposed to learning from them.

It’s 1186 in a small French town, during the Second and Third Crusades, and a young blacksmith by the name of Balian (Orlando Bloom) has lost his wife and child – along with his faith.  The child’s death, from illness, prompted the suicide of Balian’s wife.  Soon after, a band of knights arrive, led by Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson).  Godfrey announces that he is Balian’s father, thanks to an illicit love affair with Balian’s mother, and asks Balian to become a Crusader.  Balian refuses, but when a self-satisfied, sanctimonious priest taunts Balian about his wife’s eternal condemnation, Balian kills the man with a fire-soaked piece of iron and joins Godfrey on the road to Jerusalem, hoping to find the oft-promised redemption of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Balian receives a few sword lessons from his fellow soldiers and mercenaries, under the watchful eye of the Hospitalier (David Thewlis), a knight-confessor from an order of monks created in the 11th century to cater to the needs of Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land.  After Godfrey is mortally wounded in a surprise ambush, he knights Balian and tells him that his mission is to keep the peace in Jerusalem. 

Given the factions among Christians in the ancient city, that’s easier said than done.  Tiberias (Jeremy Irons, with a bad scar), the king’s trusted advisor and marshal of Jerusalem’s army, believes that war is wrong and that the way to righteousness is peace.  Guy de Lusignan (Martin Csokas) is another commander who believes in fighting to the death to keep Jerusalem from the Muslim vermin.  Of course, there’s also a woman – de Lusignan’s betrothed, Sibylla (newcomer Eva Green), the king’s sister who falls madly in lust with Balian, on first sight.  (Why, one can only wonder.)

It’s all held tenuously together by the peace-loving King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton), who is dying of leprosy and who hides behind a slew of artistic, silver masks, never showing his face or hands.  The other peacenik is the infamous Muslim warrior, Saladin (Ghassan Massoud), who just hates that he has to fight the Christians, because he really doesn’t believe in it, either.  But hey, they were the ones who struck first.  Such a shame.  Also, although we’re in Jerusalem, we don’t meet any Jews.  One can only presume that they are hiding from the indomitable, charismatic, terrifying Bloom.