I've been seeing a sentiment pop up on X more and more regarding the movie "The Kingdom of Heaven," a Ridley Scott film made in 2005. According to many, many X users, the film is blatantly anti-Christian, depicts Muslims as heroes, and casts the Crusades as a colonial effort by evil and corrupt people.
But that's not the vibe I get from the movie at all. It's actually one of my all-time favorites, and part of that reason is that I think it actually gives Christianity a fantastic depiction beneath the surface. I can say that I don't think Scott intended for that to happen. According to interviews, he wanted to make a film about how the Abrahamic religions could get along if we all put away our extremism, and how this all looks from an agnostic point of view.
But after watching the film more times than I can count, especially the director's cut, I can easily say that this is a film that makes Christianity the good guy.
The film takes place in the 12th century, after the Second Crusade, and somewhere on the eve of the Third. Balian (Orlando Bloom), a man living in France who has just lost his child to sickness and his wife to suicide, is plagued with grief that isn't helped by his step-brother, a priest corrupted by his own jealousy and greed. He is soon visited by a Lord named Godfrey (Liam Neeson), who reveals to him that he is the Baron of Ibelin and his father. Godfrey asks Balian to come back with him and be his heir, but he declines.
However, his step-brother reveals that he chopped off his wife's head and mocked him about her soul being in Hell, driving Balian to kill him in a rage. Balian then flees, joining his father on the way back to Jerusalem, but not before a fight between Godfrey's band and the local lord wounds Godfrey. Before they can reach Jerusalem, Godfrey makes his son a knight and gives him the order to follow Christian virtues while giving him his signet ring, making him the new Baron of Ibelin:
"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath."
From here, Balian tries to do just that. He keeps to his oath no matter what, but he soon finds that the political situation in Jerusalem is filled with corruption and evil. Meanwhile, Balian continues to try to connect to his faith, but finds it difficult. He confesses to the Hospitaller (David Thewlis) that God doesn't speak to him and he's outside His grace, to which the Hospitaller replies, "I have not heard that."
The Hospitaller is, in my opinion, the most interesting character. He's never given a name, and especially in the director's cut, he appears and disappears at critical moments, dropping wisdom and sometimes a mysterious sort of aid. I'm not entirely sure if Scott intended this or not, but I can't help but think the Hospitaller is an angel in human form.
In fact, when Balian tells this Hospitaller he's "lost his religion," the Hospitaller gives one of the best lines in the film.
"I put no stock in religion," he says. "By the word religion, I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of God... Holiness is in right action and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness."
If you left it there, it could be taken as a somewhat anti-Christian statement, but he goes on to talk about what God expects out of us, separating the institutional expectations from those actually desired of us by God.
The Hospitaller points to Balian's head and heart, saying, "What God desires is here, and here, and what you decide to do every day — you will be a good man, or not."
It's this line that I think defines a lot of my attitude toward this movie, and it's not the only line like it. Balian meets King Baldwin IV, the "Leper King," where he also demonstrates the idea that God doesn't shrug off abandoning virtue because it's convenient or that someone higher than you ordered you to do so, but that God will judge your decisions, no matter your situation:
"Even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power, when you stand before God you cannot say, ‘But I was told by others to do thus,’ or that ‘virtue was not convenient at the time.’ This will not suffice. Remember that.”
He tells Balian to go to his new home in Ibelin and protect the roads so that anyone may use them, not just Christians, but Jews and Muslims as well. Baldwin's concern is protecting the peace of his kingdom, and anyone who falls under his territory is treated humanely.
As the movie goes on, you witness two sides of the Christian presence that I think are important and shouldn't be conflated. There are those loyal to Baldwin who do, in fact, behave as Christians in the way of Christ, and those who view Christianity as a way to power. These two sides are often at conflict, and one side is consistently trying to push Baldwin into open war with Muslims as he tries to maintain the peace hanging by a thread.
But what I love about this movie is that it doesn't just make the "good Christians" passive pushovers who think they'll just make everything better by being nice, or what I often see secularists telling Christians they should be like.
There's a scene where both the Christian army and the Muslim army converge on Karak, overseen by Reynald de Chatillon (Brendan Gleeson), over Templars led by Guy de Lusignan, killing innocent Muslims. Guy had been trying to start the war and force Baldwin's hand by consistently breaking the peace through murder and intrigue. Baldwin gathers the Christian forces and marches to Karak just in time, and it's here that Baldwin tells the Muslim leader Saladin that unless he withdraws, "We will all die here."
This is also one of the coolest entrances Christianity has ever had in a movie.
The film depicts Christians — the ones that actually follow Christ — as beset on all sides, both by the Muslims and the corruption within Jerusalem. Balian having to navigate all of it to keep to the code his father gave him makes up the core of this film. He's a man who does his best to be the man Christ would approve of, even though he's losing his faith amid everything, be it his past or his present. It's especially apparent in the director's cut that God is actually looking after Balian.
Imad, Balian's Muslim frienemy, even says something of that nature to Balian at the end, after Balian defends Jerusalem enough to the point where he secures passage for Christians out of Jerusalem in exchange for the city saying, "If God does not love you, how could you have done all the things you have done?"
When you put it all together, you see a film that celebrates a kind of Christianity that I think doesn't get enough recognition in popular media, unless by complete accident. Balian is a man of deep hurt and doubt that is shouldering a responsibility too great for him, and the only reason he sees it through is that he holds to the oath he made to his father, his King, and his God, even while Balian doubts Him.
To be clear, the film takes liberties with historical accuracy, and it does paint Saladin and the Muslims as being far more noble than they actually were. That is, in my opinion, my one big issue with the film, but I find the depiction of Christianity so overwhelmingly good that it outshines that blemish.
If you haven't seen the film yet, I heavily recommend the director's cut, and you can decide for yourself.
