Introduction
There are some movies that leave you with some pieces of advice
that at point or another in your life or in the lives of others prove useful.
This movie: “Kingdom of Heaven” was terrible to watch (too
many battle scenes and people dying) but offered some very useful messages.
In this post, I have presented a few, that have come in
handy at point or another.
Just to give you a bit of context, the movie is about the
crusades, where the French and English were trying to defend the “Holy City” –
Jerusalem from Islamic occupation. The topic of religion and God is a constant
theme in the movie. It is very violent though, matching it frankly, quite awful
to watch.
Your Soul is in Your Keeping Alone
An interesting dialogue between the French appointed king of
Jerusalem and French Knight, the protagonist of the movie. Note, the king wears that metal mask because he has leprosy.
King Baldwin IV:
Come forward. I am glad to meet Godfrey's son. He was one of my greatest
teachers. He was there when, playing with the other boys, my arm was cut. It
was he, not my father's physicians, who noticed that I felt no pain. He wept
when he gave my father the news... that I am a leper. The Saracens say that
this disease is God's vengence against the vanity of our kingdom. As wretched
as I am, these Arabs believe that the chastisement that awaits me in hell is
far more severe and lasting. If that's true, I call it unfair. Come. Sit.
[they sit down on opposite sides of a chessboard]
King Baldwin IV:
Do you play?
Balian of Ibelin:
No.
King Baldwin IV:
The whole world is in chess. Any move can be the death of you. Do anything
except remain where you started, and you can't be sure of your end. Were you
sure of your end once?
Balian of Ibelin:
I was.
King Baldwin IV:
What was it?
Balian of Ibelin:
To be buried a hundred yards from where I was born.
King Baldwin IV:
And now?
Balian of Ibelin:
Now I sit in Jerusalem, and look upon a king.
King Baldwin IV:
[Baldwin chuckles] When I was sixteen, I won a great victory. I felt in that
moment I would live to be a hundred. Now I know I shall not see thirty. None of
us know our end, really, or what hand will guide us there. A king may move a
man, a father may claim a son, but that man can also move himself, and only
then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember that howsoever you are
played or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone, even though those who
presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you
cannot say, "But I was told by
others to do thus," or that virtue was not convenient at the time. This
will not suffice. Remember that.
Balian of Ibelin:
I will.
War Over the Holy City
Saladin: Will you
yield the city?
Balian of Ibelin:
Before I lose it, I will burn it to the ground. Your holy places - ours. Every
last thing in Jerusalem that drives men mad.
Saladin: I wonder
if it would not be better if you did.
All of Nothing
Balian of Ibelin:
It is a kingdom of conscience, or nothing.
True Image Made
Godfrey of Ibelin:
You are not what you were born, but what you have within yourself to be.
Ethics for Humanity
Balian of Ibelin:
What man is a man who does not make the world better.
Where but in my Heart
Balian of Ibelin:
[praying to his wife] how can you be in hell when you're in my heart.
End (2168).
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