Since the success of Gladiator, Ridley Scott has had several Historical films in blockbuster guise brought to the big screen. His latest work, Napoleon, has been in cinemas since last week and tells the story of the eponymous general. However, it’s far from Scott’s best trip down memory lane.
With Kingdom of Heaven, released in 2005, the director delivered his most impressive monumental film to date away. You can currently stream the two and a half hour epic starring Orlando Bloom and Eva Green on Disney+. The story takes you to the 12th century.
Historical adventure on Disney+: Kingdom of Heaven tells of the Crusades and the battle for Jerusalem
With the blacksmith Balian (Bloom) we begin the journey to the kingdom of heaven. He grew up in medieval France. After his wife’s suicide, he joins the crusader Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson). In Jerusalem he hopes to find salvationbut then he gets caught up in a much bigger conflict.
You can watch the trailer for Kingdom of Heaven here:
Kingdom of Heaven – Trailer (German) HD
In the Holy Land, Balian meets King Baldwin (Edward Norton) and befriends Tiberius (Jeremy Irons), the governor of Jerusalem. Also on site: the warmongering Knight Templar Rainald of Chatillon (Brendan Gleeson) and the Princess Sybilla (Green), to whom Balian loses his heart.
Scott tells Kingdom of Heaven as a mixture of battle paintings and tragic love stories in which religious and political questions collide. When Jerusalem is attacked by Sultan Saladin (Ghassan Massoud), Balian tries to… peaceful solution for the devastating bloodshed.
That wasn’t all: there is a much longer version of Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven
The version of Kingdom of Heaven on Disney+ corresponds to the version of the film that was shown in cinemas in 2005. In addition, there is a second version, viz Ridley Scott’s Director’s Cut. Not only does it add a few deleted scenes to the story, it also expands the film with a full 45 minutes of new material.
If you want to go even deeper into the world of Kingdom of Heaven, the Director’s Cut is definitely worth taking a look at. Scott delivers more context to the characters and the historical events and deepens the central conflict of the story. Only here does it really become apparent how well Scott approaches the complex topic.
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