Kingdom of Heaven

Suicide squads by another name introduced the Middle East to terrorism

by Junius

Kingdom of Heaven is too botched a job to command 150 minutes of your life. I was hoping for some insight into historical Islamic-Christian relations that might have pertinence to the present stage of the “Clash of Civilizations” (which that ramrod Samuel P Huntington has placed before us in his book). In the tumult of mixed messages, one main idea comes through, which I will pass on so you don’t have to see the film.

It resides in the irony of the title: Jerusalem turns out to be no “Kingdom of Heaven,” and our hero, the Lawrence of Arabia of 1148, doesn’t do much beyond behaving in sufficient contrast to the rest of the Crusaders in that he is admired by the Saracens, who seem to have a sense of decency, which saves the situation from complete disaster. When he ends up going back to being the blacksmith of his home village, we know that this is good; but then why has it been proposed throughout the main part of the film that there is honour to be found in arms and knighthood? This is one of the many confusions.

Was it intentional that Islam appear a much cleaner sort of deal than Christianity? If so, the director may end up on a Samuel P Huntington blacklist. Kingdom of Heaven doesn’t help in the “war against terror.” Or maybe we are supposed to take the real hero of the film to be the Christian “King of Jerusalem,” who has reigned in peace for a number of years, apparently because he maintained good relations with the Arabs. If it is US policy to create multicultural stasis by force in the Middle East, then the film might be in line with acceptable policy after all. It carefully hides how this particular crusader got to be “king” in the first place.

He must have routed a few patriotic resistance fighters along the way. There must have been a few mornings when he woke up to bad news and said, “Why are these insurgents still bothering?” By the time this film takes us into the historical scene, they have stopped bothering. Do they think that’s what is going to happen in Iraq? It will all quieten down? Maybe. Then watch out for the Whitneys who will say that multicultural friendship is un-Christian and unmanly. There are those with some power who will not let things settle down; on principle they will raise a further murderous crusade. This is what the European villains in this film do, and their apocalyptic mass suicide is what stays in the mind as the most dominant, fearful idea in the film.

The crusaders as one mass of suicide bombers—chilling, though perhaps even more chilling is our supposed hero’s defence of Jerusalem against the Saladin. He’s doing it to save the people who have taken refuge there within the city walls. Ok. But his chief threat to deter the overwhelming enemy force is that he will destroy all the sacred sites within the city, including the Muslim temple of the Mount. Just think about that. He’ll raze Jerusalem to the ground if he has to, to save lives. This is the kind of mad thinking that is forced upon someone in extreme peril. But the choice shouldn’t have to arise. The pertinent question is, “Gee, Orlando, what business do you have being in this part of the world at all?”

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