During that time Sibylla visits him and watches him as he interacts with his tenants, and they become lovers. The land quickly turns into lush farmland which both improves the residents' lives and earns Balian the love and respect of his people.

He quickly gets to work, using his knowledge of engineering to irrigate the dry and dusty lands, while working right alongside the workers. Balian travels to his inherited estate at Ibelin and finds the residents struggling and the land almost barren from lack of water. Guy supports the anti-Muslim brutalities of the Knights Templar and intends to break the fragile truce between the King and the sultan Saladin to make war on the Muslims. Balian is forced to slay the cavalier but spares his servant, who tells him that this mercy will gain him fame and respect among the Saracens.īalian becomes acquainted with Jerusalem's political arena: the leper King Baldwin IV Tiberias, the Marshal of Jerusalem the King's sister, Princess Sibylla, who is Guy's wife and also mother to a little boy from an earlier marriage. Balian is confronted by a Muslim cavalier, who attacks in a fight for his horse. During the journey to Jerusalem, Balian's ship runs aground in a storm, leaving him as the only survivor. Godfrey knights Balian, names him the new Baron of Ibelin, and orders him to serve the King of Jerusalem and protect the helpless, then succumbs to his arrow wound and dies. In Messina, they have a contentious encounter with Guy de Lusignan, prospective future king of Jerusalem. Soldiers sent by the bishop arrive to arrest Balian, but Godfrey refuses to surrender him, and in the ensuing attack, Godfrey is struck by an arrow that breaks off in his body. After the town priest (Balian's half-brother) reveals that he ordered Balian's wife's body beheaded before burial, Balian inspects the priest thoroughly, noticing the priest had stolen his wife's necklace and kills him before fleeing the village.īalian joins his father, hoping to gain forgiveness and redemption for himself and his wife in Jerusalem. A Crusader passing through the village introduces himself as Balian's father, Baron Godfrey of Ibelin, and asks him to return with him to the Holy Land, but Balian declines. In 1184 France, Balian, a blacksmith, is haunted by his wife's recent suicide, after the death of their unborn child. On 23 December 2005, Scott released a director's cut, which received critical acclaim, with many reviewers calling it the definitive version of the film. Pictures in India and received mixed reviews upon theatrical release. The film was released on May 6, 2005, by 20th Century Fox in worldwide and by Warner Bros. 1143–93).įilming took place in Ouarzazate, Morocco, where Scott had previously filmed Gladiator (2000) and Black Hawk Down (2001), and in Spain, at the Loarre Castle ( Huesca), Segovia, Ávila, Palma del Río, and Seville's Casa de Pilatos and Alcázar.

The screenplay is a heavily fictionalised portrayal of the life of Balian of Ibelin (c. A French village blacksmith goes to the aid of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in its defence against the Ayyubid Muslim Sultan, Saladin, who is fighting to claim back the city from the Christians this leads to the Battle of Hattin. The story is set during the Crusades of the 12th century.

It stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Ghassan Massoud, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Edward Norton, Marton Csokas, Liam Neeson, Michael Sheen, Velibor Topić and Alexander Siddig. Kingdom of Heaven is a 2005 epic historical fiction drama film directed and produced by Ridley Scott and written by William Monahan.

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