Gladiator, Part Deux

Taking a few minutes away this afternoon from discussing the Marquette ‘Gold’ debacle, though it is safe to say that I am far from putting a close to this debate, I want to quickly brief you on a few developments that have come about from the preview screening of Ridley Scott’s new summer blockbuster, Kingdom of Heaven, starring Orlando Bloom.

Though I was certainly excited about the project upon first hearing of it, the effect sadly has worn-off quite a bit as the opening date for the film quickly approaches (tomorrow to be precise). If Scott had held off working on this project a little further down the road from Gladiator then I do not believe there would be so much critical backlash as there is presently, but I will have to see for myself this Friday.

Normally I would restrain myself from doing something like this but since the film certainly deals with a subject related to the modern political spectrum which is often discussed here (according to reports, the allusions made between the Crusades and the War on Terror are clear and obvious), I will be posting my personal review of Kingdom of Heaven on the weblog on Saturday, May 7th, 2005, for everyone to read.

Another reason I feel as though I should place the film review on the weblog is that Muslim association within the United States, as well as abroad I would suppose but I can not confirm that at this time, have praised Scott for his ‘accurate’ portrayal of the Muslims during the time of the Crusades, whatever that may mean exactly. I apologize in advance for the extreme sarcasm but who is surprised in the least that the Communist Hollywood moguls produced a motion picture in which Muslims were portrayed ‘accurately’, at least according to the Muslims in this country? I am not! I am more worried, however, on how the Christians are portrayed in the film. In discussing the history of the Crusades when has anyone ever questioned the portrayal of the Muslims during that time? Never, because there is a captive audience who has grown up believing that the Crusades were unjustifiable conflicts waged by greedy and landless second sons of lords in search of fame and glory against the defenseless and peaceful Muslims.

I am currently reading up on the Crusades, particularly the Third Crusade in which the film is set against, so when I go into the film I will at least have an understanding of what the circumstances were in those times and whether there is an ‘accurate’ portrayal or not. Sadly I doubt even a small percentage of audience members will do the same as I have and will come out gobbling everything that is presented in the film, whether it is historically accurate or not. I do not assume that Scott will take outrageous creative liberties with Kingdom of Heaven and I have even greater doubts that he would use this film as a vehicle against the Bush Administration’s War on Terror, seeing as how it was started up back in early 2001, but as yesterday proved quite clearly, always expect the unexpected.