Thursdays at the local video shop they have a discount.. so I ususlly get a few out. I have a look at the first sequence of a movie (10 mins) before I hit the eject button. I end up watching about three out of ten.. per week.
Last night I got a ridley scott movie ‘kingdom of heaven’ (2006) from the adventure section. It was a surprise. I didn’t even notice the end of the first sequence. I was a bit pessimistic about it as the cover kinda hypes it as orlando bloom against the hun.
Well.. it describes itself as a ‘scott free’ production. And well, one bold scott told the story how he saw fit.
I don’t know how many crusades into the historical interface it was but at this point, the concerted effort of Europe met with salaah uddin who ended up taking back the holy city from the crusaders who had established a kingdom there. ( as transpired about 1000 years ago..) What surprised me about this dvd is that it was everything I didn’t expect. The crusaders were portrayed as pillaging bastards. But it was the sympathetic portrayal of salaah uddin who stole the show with really cool acting from the Syrian actor ghassan someone or other. He didn’t get a mention on the dvd box incidently.. well.. they tried .. in the editing room as well… to make it into a bloom vrs the hun flic….but it still flopped at the usa boxoffice.. heheheh. ( make sure you get the directors cut.)
Now.. in the 1980s I had the good fortune to live for 2 years in the holy city.. I recall that the current walls about the old city were said to be constructed by salaah uddin.(they actually meant something till the development of modern artillery.). the main street leading up to Damascus gate is the salaah uddin st. I know how highly esteemed this guy still is. I think the palestinians call him salaah uddin al ayyubi. He was a hero and the movie doesn’t take anything away from him.
The holy city (called Jerusalem in English) is portrayed as the city of god. “a kingdom of conscience and a kingdom of heaven” as the protagonist’s dying father calls it. *** in my book, that is an impressive take.
Well.. this is what I think it has to say to you and me and the state department….
While the movie fails to pander to popular us sentiment and so flopped at a commercial level, the movie is no flop… it faces a serious issue.
(among other things )It is a statement about just how wrong one can get foreign policy.
I think the ultimate point of it is that the holy city cannot be taken by force alone. Nor can it be held by the unholy. This is not an adventure movie. It is an historical drama. It is about ( the then European) policy in Palestine which was wrong .. wrong .. wrong.
I’m not going to mince words: the usa is not a positive force in the middle east. If they are looking for another salaah uddin, then that is what they will get..(if they haven't found one already.)
(at the risk of sounding apocryphal)… what is left of American foreign policy in Palestine will be tossed out of jeusalem al quds like the failed crusaders in the movie. Shock troops and those who have desecrated the holy places should not expect such good fortune.
Only time will tell. .والله اعلم
this movie gives a hint of the kind of thing to expect.
Full marks. :check:
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