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Research Paper On Kingdom Of Heaven

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Kingdom of Heaven is a 2005 reinvention of the historical 12th century crusaders. French blacksmith named Balian is reunited with his father, Sir Godfrey, who convinces him to come to Jerusalem to serve for King Baldwin IV. However Godfrey becomes mortally wounded and dies but not before he confers knighthood to son Balian. Once in Jerusalem, Balian finds himself tempted with love for a forbidden queen and in the midst of decades-long war over the power of Jerusalem. Balian is forced to defend the people of Jerusalem against Saladin’s approaching army.

So is the Kingdom of Heaven just an opportunity for the director to portray Christians in a bad light and give praise to the Muslim community? One would believe so due to the inaccurate, one …show more content…

Firstly the ‘hero’ of the movie, Balian, is scripted to have a relationship with a married women; hence adultery. Exodus 20:14 says “You shall not commit adultery”. This persuades the audience to think that Balian is a bad Christian because he is breaking one of the Ten Commandments. The priest is also a strong Christian figure and when Scott portrays him also in a negative light, there is little hope left that any Christians are ‘good people’. The priest is not living for Jesus and in a godly manner. Firstly he steals a gold cross from Balian’s dead wife out of greed, and then orders her head to be chopped off because she was a suicide. Again the Christian are acting in a sinful way and dishonoring God by breaking yet again another commandant, Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal” but also 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil….” Therefore when the priest steals the cross out of greed, the audience connects the priest with being evil. Which therefore also connects all Christians with being evil because the priest is meant to be the mostly god-like and holist Christian; so when he is greedy and sinful, it puts a negative name for the rest of the Christians. Whilst the priest was stealing the gold cross and ordering her head to be chopped off, there was darkness all around and a cross in the background which was black due to the …show more content…

Since that day many people, not just American citizen believe that all Arabians were atrocious terrorists. Whilst the Kingdom of Heaven portrays Christians in a negative light and Muslims in a positive one, could it be in good will to prove that not all Arabians are awful people and that we shouldn’t hold grudges? One can believe so because there are many time in the movie when Saladin showed forgiveness and respect towards the Christians and their beliefs. A clear example of when Saladin showed respect and forgiveness towards the Christians was when he stated some terms and promised to not hurt any Christian, if he was to take Jerusalem back, even after everything the Christians did to the Muslims. “No-one will be harmed, I swear to God” (Saladin) “Christians butchered every Muslim inside the walls when they took the city” (Balian) “I am not those men, I am Saladin” (Saladin). This scene was not historically accurate because Saladin would only let the wealthy Christian which could afford to pay to leave actually leave and the ones that could would became his slaves, but when making a pro-Muslim movie this fact cannot be added. Instead this scene proved that Saladin was the bigger person because he didn’t hold onto grudges from the past and want revenge them, he just want Jerusalem back and peace amongst them [Muslims] and the Christian. When the war is over Saladin says to Balian “As-Salaam-Alaikum”

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