Trailer for Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven

[Grolsch]

The visuals look fantastic, which is to be expected from Ridley Scott. I didn’t detect an anti-Catholic rhetoric in the trailer but that’s sure to come in the final film. By all reports this movie is a liberal propaganda piece but maybe they’re wrong.

View the trailer through Yahoo media streaming here:

Kingdom of Heaven
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[Maccabees]

Ridley Scott is not liberal he directed Black Hawk Down a very pro military film and a very realistic film. He is one of Hollywoods few conservatives. However being a Republican conservative does not transalte to him being pro-catholic.
He also directed **1492 - Conquest of Paradis **
a movie about Christopher Columbus. Columbus was a devout catholic and very spiritual history redux make him out to be all about secular ambition. While I am sure he was amibitious he also felt this was his calling by God and that converting people to Christ was part of the divine will of his adventures. The religious reality of Columbus was lost in this film.
I think Ridley will try portray this objectively but I am sure he will struggle to bring some catholic counterpoints to some stereotypes that a sure to crop up in the film.
This film includes two actors that were outstanding in the last objective film Hollywood made about Catholcism. That film would be the Mission, Liam Nielson and Jeremy Irons were just awesome as was Robert Dinero unfortunatley he’s not in this film.
The Mission was not without its problems as well as the bishop was potrayed as a total sellout and indifferent to the needs of oridanry priests and lay catholics.
But it did capture the authentic sense of mission that the Jesuits at that time in the AMericas had and the love and caring they had for the native peoples. You can convert easier by love than by the sword the Jesuits knew this.
If this film can be objective as the Mission was it has potential. But it coudl quickly become just another action movie too I hope Scott doesn’t miss the bigger picture. The Mission while violent at the end did not fail to give us a great back up story.
IT looks like it has some superficial love sequeneces I hope this doesn’t turn into another Pearl Harbor.
Another Ridley Film that did well without such traps was Gladiator.
I hope Scott contacted both catholic and Muslim historians do get a real and objective perspective on this whole issue and not fall for the trap of stereotype on either side.

 

[mlchance]

Maccabees:

The Mission was not without its problems as well as the bishop was potrayed as a total sellout and indifferent to the needs of oridanry priests and lay catholics.

That’s not a problem with the movie. That’s a problem of the particular bishop portrayed in the film. Or do we insist, despite facts the contrary, that all bishops everywhere are fine, decent men who never compromise their faith and their flock?

That point aside, your characterization of the bishop is inaccurate. He may have made the wrong choice, but he certainly wasn’t neither a sellout nor indifferent to others’ needs. His situation, between the rock of faith and the hard place of cutthroat politics, was a source of great distress for him.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[Maccabees]

mlchance:

That’s not a problem with the movie. That’s a problem of the particular bishop portrayed in the film. Or do we insist, despite facts the contrary, that all bishops everywhere are fine, decent men who never compromise their faith and their flock?

That point aside, your characterization of the bishop is inaccurate. He may have made the wrong choice, but he certainly wasn’t neither a sellout nor indifferent to others’ needs. His situation, between the rock of faith and the hard place of cutthroat politics, was a source of great distress for him.

– Mark L. Chance.

After rewatching the film I do see the vailidity of your point of the portrayal of the bishop. I do think he is potrayed as a weak man who gives into politics rather than do the right thing. And it is right to conculde many bishops do this. But since this is the only bishop potrayed one can get the sense that all bishops put politics ahead of the needs of the people. But he does seem symphathetic and distressed on the decision that he made.
The Mission was the last movie by Hollywodd that gives the catholic church a fair shake though and it was well done hopefully
the same can be said of the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

[mlchance]

Maccabees:

After rewatching the film I do see the vailidity of your point of the portrayal of the bishop. I do think he is potrayed as a weak man who gives into politics rather than do the right thing. And it is right to conculde many bishops do this. But since this is the only bishop potrayed one can get the sense that all bishops put politics ahead of the needs of the people.

That isn’t the fault of the film though. That’s the fault of generally shoddy thinking. We cannot generalize from a sample of one.

But, I will admit this: Hollywood does a generally lousy job of portraying religious faith of any kind.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[Maccabees]

mlchance:

That isn’t the fault of the film though. That’s the fault of generally shoddy thinking. We cannot generalize from a sample of one.

But, I will admit this: Hollywood does a generally lousy job of portraying religious faith of any kind.

– Mark L. Chance.

They did a good job with Gandhi and the 10 Commandments!
Maybe its just Christianity they can’t get right.