Kingdom of Heaven

as the title reads, so i write about. this was the second time i watched the movie but only today did i enjoy it. i thought it was an interesting take on the city of Jerusalem and its long bloody history. it will be hard to ignore that the movie did come with a political and philosophical slant. i think that at the end the director of the picture wanted to show that the religious aura that Jerusalem still carries with it is so contrary to all the animosity it leads to. his solution is peace by realizing that religion is within the heart. i suppose that if everybody could be as the main character in the movie, the conflict would have been solved long time ago. the director presents the conflict as a conflict driven by raw hatred, blind religious fervour led by extremist with a passion for blood.

to a certain extent, i can see his point of view. it is true that often men driven by religiosity find a need to shed blood. religion dost caused blood. but by villaining this men, he cast them into a certain figurine and cartoonish character. instead, it is of my opinion, that he should tried to figure out why were this men so driven by their religion. what was it that cause them to be so stedfast (if i may, for a lack of words)? i think a good beginning would be when the main character decides to follow his father to Jerusalem in search for forgiveness. by simplifying the characters in the plot to evil and good, the director subtracts from the plot the intriguing convergence of 3 major religions in Jerusalem and the dynamics that has ensued and survived years and years and years. in the silence of God, Ballian finds his forgiveness in simply doing good and following his conscience. his conscience leads him to sleep with another man's wife while at the same time refusing to marry her and consign her evil husband to death. if he could have save Jerusalem by marrying her, why did he have to waste life and blood? conscience or political miscalculation? the director leads Ballian the character to a religion that simplifies life as something within the heart- the heart that breaks when his first wife dies. maybe Ballian dost grow up a little coming to Jerusalem by the answers to life are far from over in the face of death and other challengers.

it was good food for thought at how we look philosophically and politically at diplomacy, foreign policy and some of the problems in this century. lessons from history and lessons from the movie theater can be very interesting and insightful at the same time.