| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
B+ |
|
|
| Acting: |
B+ |
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|
| Direction: |
B+ |
|
|
| Visuals: |
B |
|
|
Great Movie. Historically accurate (mostly)
by --- (movies profile)
Apr 22, 2007
44
of
52 people found this review helpful
The movie is very entertaining, has everything,
character development, romance, battles, siege.
Better than Gladiator and up there with Troy.
As for the historical facts, most of the
details were accurate :-
1. Reynald of Kerak was in fact evil. He did
led the Templars killing pilgrims and merchants
breaking peace treaty repeatedly.
The final straw was the "real" murder of
Saladin's sister.
2. The King of Jerusalem with leprosy was
a good king.
3. Saladin was a great general and compassionate.
Often times he pardoned his enemies and sue for
peace when possible.
Whats not accurate was :-
1. Balian was not from France. He was born and
brought up in Jerusalem as nobility.
2. Balian did not have romantic affair with Sybelle, the queen of Jerusalem.
3. Balian refused to battle at Hattin. This is
not true. He did battle there, then captured
by Saladin. He begged Saladin to release him
so that Balian could tend to his wife in
Jerusalem. Saladin let him go by making him
promise not to take arms against him again.
Balian returned to Jerusalem, finding city
defences lacking. The leaders beg him to take
charge as no one else has higher rank. Balian
then apologized to Saladin for breaking his
promise. Saladin not only forgave him but sent
his own troops to safely escort Balian's wife
from Jerusalem to Tyre.
In the end, after four days of battle, truce was
made. Saladin spared the christians. Those who
could pay were free to go, those were not would
be taken as slave. The ransom is about 5 dinar
each (dont remember exact detail).
Its important to note that Balian and Saladin
themselves paid ransoms to save thousands of
christians who were too poor to pay.
Because of several charity works, Saladin was a
poor man So much that when he died and they broke
open his treasury, they found there was not enough
for his own funeral. He was treated with respect
and friendship by his enemies, even by Richard
of England
Conclusion :-
This is not anti-christian movie as some reviewers
might think. If christians such as Reynald
and the Templars were potrayed as evil thats
because they actually committed very evil things (even according to WESTERN Historians)
Even so they are good characters like Balian,
King, Godfrey and Tiberius. Too bad in the US, there's more people like Reynald than Balian
who believe in their leader no matter what crime
and lies he did. |
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