Orlando Bloom Crusades in 'Kingdom of Heaven'

Hollywood Confidential ^ | April 30th, 2005

[Lakeshark]

Do you believe the Crusades were all the Christian's fault, and they had no reason to go to war?

[brothers4thID]

These avenging angel crusaders.. would they be the same as those who sacked (Christian) Byzantium?

Just curious....

[Darkwolf]

Grafting PC politics onto such an old story surely is weird. The Crusades were far more complicated than most seem to believe--Paul Johnson has called this the most mis-taught era of history--and the problem seems to be that it's hard to isolate one crusade or one limited series of events as indicative of the whole.

The Christians of the Crusades are not the Christians of modern times. Unfortunately, the most visible and vocal Islamists today are as bad or worse than the Muslims in this era. Sorry for the naysayers on this thread, but that's the truth. Trying to buff up the present-day face of Islam by saying "Oh YEAH, well hundreds of years ago look what you Christians did!" is, uh, lame.

[Barney59]

Hollywood and it's people and products are nothing more than hollow shells... void of true content or truth...

They are but a metaphor of the stage set.. fake walls, doors and windows... not real but 2 dimensional...

[Wallace T.]

Prior to the 7th Century, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon had been Christian countries, at least formally so. The Muslims were the initial aggressors, imposing their religion from Spain to Pakistan by the sword. In contrast, the Christian faith was spread by missionaries armed with the Word. The armies of Christian evangelism were the Twelve Apostles, Paul, and a host of others through the centuries. The record of those who claim the name of Christ is far from perfect, but we should not forget that it was the Muslims who were the initial aggressors in the Christian-Muslim wars.

[StoneColdGOP]

You don't kill the entire Muslim and Jewish population of Jerusalem after you capture it, and in a later crusade destroy, plunder, and rape your way through (Orthodox Christian) Constantinope without being bloodthirsty and rapacious.

Thank you. It bears repeating that it wasn't just Muslims victimized by the Crusades.

Wasn't it the Byzantine Emperor who asked for Western Europe's aid against the encroaching Muslims that got the whole mess started to begin with?

[LiveBait]

The "Islamic onslaught" of the holy land was half a millenium before the crusades.

[wideawake]

See post 39. The history of the Siege of Constantinople, when examined in detail, is far different from the standard story - the standard story was formulated to denigrate Christianity, not to publish fact.

[Old Sarge]

Call me that after I get back from theater a year from now.

Don't bother replying, parasite, living off the freedom I give you.

[Borges]

Can you recommend a good book about the Crusades that would redress the mistaught aspects of it?

[MikefromOhio]

DEATH!!

Nah I agree with you. But some on here would rather just eradicate people, eerily reminiscent of the crusades, because those worked out sooo well....

[ReeseKev27]

No, those were the Muslim INVADERS! You see the MUSLIMS invaded and the crusades were all about taking them back. If they had been the original invaders then fine they're blood thirsty but that isn't the case and that's why people should be upset. Muslims came north and invaded Jerusalem, and then were about to invade what today is called Turkey, so the leader of Constantinople asked the Pope for help. Also, any Christians trying to make a religious pilgrimage to Jerusalem were being slaughtered by MUSLIMS.

[what's up]

Liam Neeson...gross.

I will never look at him the same again since he played that Kinsey pervert.

[Strategerist]

Do you believe the Crusades were all the Christian's fault, and they had no reason to go to war?

The point is that a movie showing a lot of the Crusaders being vicious and barbarous isn't particularly inaccurate. The article notes that Islam isn't glamorized in the film either, so that's not the issue.

You're not going to find clear cut good guys vs. bad guys in that time period. Any movie that attempted to do so either way - either showing the Crusaders as noble heroes fighting criminal hordes of Muslims, or Islamic noble heroes fighting off criminal hordes of Crusaders - would be highly inaccurate.

[Darkwolf]

"It is tired considering this is mostly a British/Spanish co production. Of course all movies around the world are from Hollyweird! (sarcasm) My FReind, it's very tired. :-)"

Wow, talk about tired. Even if "Hollywood" wasn't shorthand for movies released in America by Hollywood studios, and Ridley Scott among many others involved work out of Hollywood, you are, simply, wrong. Please take a look at the production credits for the film; 20th Century Fox is not only releasing this in the US--thus making this a Hollywood film--it also co-produced it.

In your effort to be a smartass, you might not trip over yourself so often if you'd research before you post.

[wideawake]

Thank you. It bears repeating that it wasn't just Muslims victimized by the Crusades.

the Muslims weren't victimized by the Crusades. They bloodily overran majority Christian lands, and then they started kidnapping, murdering and harassing unarmed pilgrims to the holy places.

Only after four centuries of unending Muslim cruelty did the Christian West strike back.

And they struck back in a very measured fashion.

[Borges]

Actors play unpleasant people sometimes. It's part of their job. He's played Macbeth too who was a brutal murderer.

[Borges]

20th Century Fox is one of three production companies. The other two being British and Spanish. I was talking about Production not distribution. I said 'mostly' a British-Spanish coproduction. Two out of three.

[tumblindice]

Sarge: I also hate anti-western Hollywood screen operas. Western civilization--particularly Great Britain--has done more to eradicate slavery (we pitched in the last part of the 19th century, along with the French) than any other civiliazation in history. 'Empire', by Niall Ferguson; `Black Rednecks/White Liberals', by Thomas Sowell, books that 'blame-us-first' bigots are too lazy to read.
Slavery still exists in Africa and the middle east.
And I hate modern Hollywood, too, along with the big three networks because they are liars. When I hear apologists for them I think of such things as soggy toast, creeping underwear and food lodged between my teeth.
Ranting on a Friday Afternoon

[Darkwolf]

But people emotionally venting and calling for death on a message board is nothing like people strapping on suicide bombs (as you have probably already considered) and flying planes into buildings.

People here talk a big game sometimes. But I'd wager none of them blew themselves up for Allah, and were celebrated in the streets for it. When we went to war, we were uncomfortable with the idea that we might just up and leave without repairing the nations we invaded. You and your fellows have gone to war to preserve lives, stop butchery, and bring freedom to millions.

I see nothing even remotely like that in today's Muslim world. Nothing.