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Kingdom of Heaven (film)

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Kingdom of Heaven
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRidley Scott
Written byWilliam Monahan
Produced byRidley Scott
Starring
CinematographyJohn Mathieson
Edited byDody Dorn
Music byHarry Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • 2 May 2005 (2005-05-02) (London premiere)
  • 5 May 2005 (2005-05-05) (Germany)
  • 6 May 2005 (2005-05-06) (North America, United Kingdom)
Running time
144 minutes[2]
Countries
  • United Kingdom[3]
  • Germany
  • United States
Languages
  • English
  • Arabic
  • Italian
  • Latin
Budget$130 million[4]
Box office$218.1 million[4]

Kingdom of Heaven is a 2005 epic historical drama film directed and produced by Ridley Scott and written by William Monahan. It features an ensemble cast including Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Marton Csokas, and Liam Neeson.

The film is a heavily fictionalised portrayal of the events leading to the Third Crusade, focusing mainly on Balian of Ibelin who fights to defend the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem from the Ayyubid Sultan Saladin.

Filming took place in Ouarzazate, Morocco and in Spain, at the Loarre Castle (Huesca), Segovia, Ávila, Palma del Río, and Seville's Casa de Pilatos and Alcázar. The film was released on 6 May 2005 by 20th Century Fox and received mixed reviews upon theatrical release. It grossed $218 million worldwide. On 23 December 2005, Scott released a director's cut, which many reviewers called the definitive version of the film.[5][6]

Plot

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In medieval France, Crusaders visit the village of Balian, a blacksmith haunted by his wife's recent suicide after a miscarriage. Their leader introduces himself as Balian's father, Baron Godfrey, and asks him to return with him to the Holy Land, but Balian declines. Later that night, Balian kills his half-brother, the greedy and immoral town priest, after discovering that he ordered Balian's wife's body beheaded before burial. The next day, Balian joins his father's group, hoping to gain salvation for himself and his wife in Jerusalem. They are soon confronted by soldiers sent to arrest Balian, during which many are killed, and an arrow strikes Godfrey. Reaching Messina, they have a contentious encounter with Guy de Lusignan, a prospective future king of Jerusalem who intends to break the fragile treaty between the Crusader states and Sultan Saladin with help from the brutal anti-Muslim Templar Knights. A night before the departure, Godfrey knights Balian, anoints him the new Baron of Ibelin and orders him to protect the helpless before dying of his arrow wound.

Balian sails for the Holy Land, but his ship runs aground in a storm, leaving him the lone survivor. Balian walks toward Jerusalem, finds a horse, and fights a Muslim cavalier over the horse. Balian slays the cavalier but spares his servant, who guides him to Jerusalem. Arriving in the city, Balian frees the servant, who tells him his mercy will earn the Saracens' respect. Balian meets Jerusalem's leaders: the leper King Baldwin IV, Tiberias the Marshal of Jerusalem, and the King's sister Princess Sibylla, Guy's wife and mother to a boy from an earlier marriage. Balian travels to his inherited estate at Ibelin and uses his knowledge in engineering to help the struggling residents irrigate the land. Sibylla visits him, and they become lovers.

Guy and his ally, the cruel Raynald of Châtillon, attack many Saracen caravans, provoking Saladin to march on Raynald's castle. Balian defends the castle and the nearby villagers at the king's request despite being outnumbered. After a fierce battle that ends with the Crusaders defeated, Balian encounters the servant he freed, learning that he is actually Saladin's chancellor Imad ad-Din. Imad ad-Din releases Balian in repayment of his earlier mercy. Saladin and Baldwin later arrive with their armies and negotiate a truce. After punishing Raynald and Guy, a weakened Baldwin asks Balian to marry Sibylla and take control of the army, but Balian refuses. Baldwin dies and is succeeded by Sibylla's son. As regent, Sibylla continues the peace with Saladin. Sibylla learns to her horror that her son is developing leprosy like his late uncle, tearfully poisons him while he sleeps in her arms, and hands the crown to Guy.

Guy declares war on the Saracens, attempts to assassinate Balian, who barely survives, and releases Raynald, who kills Saladin's sister. Despite Balian's advice to remain near Jerusalem's water sources, Guy marches to war, and the Saracens overwhelm the exhausted Crusaders in the ensuing desert battle. Saladin captures Guy, kills Raynald, and marches on Jerusalem. Tiberias leaves for Cyprus while Balian stays to protect the people. After a devastating three-day siege, Saladin parleys with Balian, who reaffirms he will destroy Jerusalem before Saladin can take it. Saladin offers safe conduct to everyone within Jerusalem in exchange for the city. Under these terms, Balian surrenders Jerusalem to Saladin. The Christians leave Jerusalem. Balian defeats a humiliated Guy in a sword fight and spares his life. Sibylla renounces her claim as queen and returns with Balian to France.

A few years later, English knights en route to the Holy Land visit the village of Balian, now the famed defender of Jerusalem. Balian refuses the English king's offer to join his army, stating that he is merely a blacksmith. Later, Balian passes by his wife's grave as he rides with Sibylla towards the unknown. An epilogue notes that "nearly a thousand years later, peace in the Kingdom of Heaven still remains elusive".

Cast

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Many of the characters in the film are fictionalised versions of historical figures:

Production

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Director Ridley Scott in 2005

Filming

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Filming 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.[7] Cinematographer John Mathieson created many large, sweeping landscapes,[8] and a large set of ancient Jerusalem was constructed based on the production design of Arthur Max.[9]

Orlando Bloom reportedly gained 10 kilograms for the part of Balian of Ibelin.[8]

Visual effects

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British visual effects firm Moving Picture Company (MPC) completed 440 visual effects shots for the film.[10] Additionally, Double Negative and Framestore CFC also contributed to complete the CGI work on the film.[11]

Music

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Main article: Kingdom of Heaven (soundtrack)

The music differs in style and content from the soundtrack of Scott's earlier 2000 film Gladiator[12] and many other subsequent films depicting historical events.[13] A combination of medieval, Middle Eastern, contemporary classical, and popular influences,[12][13] the soundtrack is predominantly the work of British film-score composer Harry Gregson-Williams. Jerry Goldsmith's "Valhalla" theme from The 13th Warrior and "Vide Cor Meum" (originally used by Scott in Hannibal and composed by Patrick Cassidy and Hans Zimmer), sung by Danielle de Niese and Bruno Lazzaretti, were used as replacements for original music by Gregson-Williams.

Reception

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Box office

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The film was a box office disappointment in the US and Canada, earning $47.4 million against a budget of around $130 million, but did better in Europe and the rest of the world, earning $164.3 million, with the worldwide box office earnings totalling $211,643,158.[14] It was also a success in Arabic-speaking countries, especially Egypt. Scott insinuated that the US failure of the film resulted from poor advertising, which presented the film as an adventure with a love story rather than an examination of religious conflict.[citation needed][15] It has also been noted that the film was altered from its original version to be shorter and follow a simpler plot line. This "less sophisticated" version is what hit theatres, although Scott and some of his crew felt it was watered down, explaining that by editing, "You've gone in there and taken little bits from everything".[16]

Critical response

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Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 40% based on reviews from 189 critics, with an average rating of 5.60/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Although it's an objective and handsomely presented take on the Crusades, Kingdom of Heaven lacks depth."[17] Review aggregator Metacritic gives the film a 63/100 rating based on 40 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews" according to the website's weighted average system.[18]

Roger Ebert called the film "spectacular" and found its message to be deeper than that of Scott's Gladiator.[9] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com praised the cinematography but found the storytelling "muddled and oppressive", the battles "one long gray smudge of action with some talking in between."[8] James Berardinelli wrote, "You may not leave the theater feeling better educated about history or enlightened about the Crusades, but you will leave satisfied that the filmmakers have delivered 145 minutes of exciting, visceral cinema."[19] Geoffrey O'Brien describes, "The film's underlying antiheroic pessimism fits oddly with a style that aspires to the heroic."[20] John Aberth said, "Kingdom of Heaven wants it far too simple to accommodate its unnecessarily convoluted plot innovations."[21]

Most of the cast was praised. Jack Moore described Edward Norton's performance as the leper-King Baldwin as "phenomenal", and "so far removed from anything that he has ever done that we see the true complexities of his talent".[22] The Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud was praised for his portrayal of Saladin, described in The New York Times as "cool as a tall glass of water".[23] Zacharek thought Eva Green's Princess Sibylla had "a measure of cool that defies her surroundings", and commended David Thewlis and Jeremy Irons.[8]

Lead actor Bloom's performance generally elicited a lukewarm reception from American critics, with the Boston Globe stating Bloom was "not actively bad as Balian of Ibelin" but "seems like a man holding the fort for a genuine star who never arrives".[24] Other critics conceded that Balian was more of a "brave and principled thinker-warrior" than a strong commander,[8] and that he used brains rather than brawn to gain an advantage in battle.[25]

Accolades

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Awards for Kingdom of Heaven
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient Outcome
Golden Schmoes Awards Best DVD/Blu-ray of the Year 4-Disc Director's Cut Special Edition Nominated
Goya Awards 26 January 2006 Best Costume Design Janty Yates
Hollywood Film Awards 24 October 2005 Composer of the Year Harry Gregson-Williams (also for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) Won
International Film Music Critics Association Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure Film Harry Gregson-Williams Nominated
International Online Cinema Awards Best Costume Design Janty Yates
Motion Picture Sound Editors 4 March 2006 Best Sound Editing in Feature Film – Foreign
Best Sound Editing in Feature Film – Music
Satellite Awards 17 December 2005 Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama Edward Norton
Outstanding Art Direction and Production Design Arthur Max
Outstanding Costume Design Janty Yates
Outstanding Visual Effects Tom Wood
Outstanding Original Score Harry Gregson-Williams Won
Teen Choice Awards 14 August 2005 Choice Movie: Action Adventure Nominated
Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure/Thriller Orlando Bloom
Choice Movie Love Scene Orlando Bloom and Eva Green
Choice Movie Liplock
Visual Effects Society Awards 15 February 2006 Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture Wesley Sewell, Victoria Alonso, Tom Wood, and Gary Brozenich Won

Academic critique and historical accuracy

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In the time since the film's release, scholars have offered analysis and criticism within the context of contemporary international events and religious conflict, including: broad post-9/11 politics, neocolonialism, Orientalism, the Western perspective of the film, and the detrimental handling of differences between Christianity and Islam.[26]

Academic criticism has focused both on the directors' stylistic and artistic choices and on the depiction of a supposedly peaceful relationship between Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem and other cities.

The historical Sibylla was devoted to Guy, but the filmmakers wanted the character to be "stronger and wiser".[27] Some have said that the character of Sibylla was reimagined to fit the trope of exotic Middle Eastern woman. In contrast, historically, Sibylla and Baldwin belonged to a distinct Western class that sought to set themselves apart from Middle Eastern culture.[28][29]

Jonathan Riley-Smith, quoted by The Daily Telegraph, described the film as "dangerous to Arab relations", calling the film "Osama bin Laden's version of history", which would "fuel the Islamic fundamentalists".

Medievalist Paul Halsall defended Ridley Scott, claiming that "historians can't criticize filmmakers for having to make the decisions they have to make ... [Scott is] not writing a history textbook".[25]

Thomas F. Madden, Director of Saint Louis University's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, criticised the film's presentation of the Crusades:

Given events in the modern world it is lamentable that there is so large a gulf between what professional historians know about the Crusades and what the general population believes. This movie only widens that gulf. The shame of it is that dozens of distinguished historians across the globe would have been only too happy to help Scott and Monahan get it right.[30]

John Harlow of The Times wrote that Christianity is portrayed in an unfavourable light and the value of Christian belief is diminished, especially in the portrayal of Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem.[31]

Scott said: "Story books are what we base our movies on, and what we base our characters on."[29] The story of Balian of Ibelin was heavily fictionalised; the historical Balian was not a French artisan but a prominent lord in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The characters of Godfrey of Ibelin and the Hospitaller were wholly invented, while the stories of others were "tweaked"; for example, Raynald of Châtillon's responsibility for the Christian defeat is downplayed to make Guy "more of an autonomous villain".[27] Scott defended the depiction of the Muslim - Christian relationship in footage on the DVD version of the movie's extra features - Scott sees this portrayal as being a contemporary look at the history. He argued that peace and brutality are concepts relative to one's experience. Since contemporary society is so far removed from the brutal times in which the movie takes place, he told the story in a way that he felt was faithful to the source material yet was more accessible to a modern audience. In other words, the "peace" that existed was exaggerated to fit modern ideas of what such a peace would be. At the time, it was merely a lull in Muslim - Christian violence compared to the standards of the period. The recurring use of "Assalamu Alaikum", the traditional Arabic greeting meaning "Peace be with you", is spoken both in Arabic and English several times.

The "Director's Cut" of the film is a four-disc set, two of which are dedicated to a feature-length documentary called The Path to Redemption. This feature contains an additional featurette on historical accuracy called "Creative Accuracy: The Scholars Speak", where several academics support the film's contemporary relevance and historical accuracy.

Among these historians is Dr. Nancy Caciola, who said that despite the various inaccuracies and fictionalised/dramatized details, she considered the film a "responsible depiction of the period." Caciola agreed with the fictionalisation of characters because "crafting a character who is someone the audience can identify with" is necessary for a film. She said, "I, as a professional, have spent much time with medieval people, so to speak, in the texts that I read; and quite honestly there are very few of them that if I met in the flesh I feel that I would be very fond of."[32]

Screenwriter William Monahan, who is a long-term enthusiast of the period, has said, "If it isn't in, it doesn't mean we didn't know it ... What you use, in drama, is what plays. Shakespeare did the same."[33]

Professor Dawn Marie Hayes states, "Many students felt that 'Kingdom of Heaven' was enjoyable on a cinematic level, but cautioned against being deceived by its historical values, highlighting the perception of deliberate misleading in historical representation."[34]

Murray Dahm says, "Kingdom of Heaven was an examination of the politics and issues of a contemporary, post-September 11, Middle East dressed up in medieval garb."[35]

Extended director's cut

[edit]

Unhappy with the theatrical version of Kingdom of Heaven (which he blamed on paying too much attention to the opinions of preview audiences, and acceding to Fox's request to shorten the film by 45 minutes), Ridley Scott supervised a director's cut of the film, which was released on 23 December 2005 at the Laemmle Fairfax Theatre in Los Angeles, California.[36] Unlike the mixed critical reception of the film's theatrical version, the Director's Cut received overwhelmingly positive reviews from film critics, including a four-star review in the British magazine Total Film and a ten out of ten from IGN DVD.[37][38][39] Empire magazine called the reedited film an "epic", adding, "The added 45 minutes in the director's cut are like pieces missing from a beautiful but incomplete puzzle."[5] One reviewer suggested it is the most substantial director's cut of all time[6] and James Berardinelli wrote that it offers a much greater insight into the story and the motivations of individual characters.[40] In 2005, Scott said, "This is the one that should have gone out".[5]

The DVD of the extended director's cut was released on 23 May 2006. It comprises a four-disc box set with a runtime of 194 minutes. It is shown as a roadshow presentation with an overture and intermission in the vein of traditional Hollywood epic films.[36] The first Blu-ray release omitted the roadshow elements, running at 189 minutes, but they were restored for the 2014 'Ultimate Edition' release.[41]

Scott gave an interview to STV on the occasion of the extended edition's UK release, when he discussed the motives and thinking behind the new version.[42] Asked if he was against previewing in general in 2006, Scott stated: "It depends who's in the driving seat. If you've got a lunatic doing my job, then you need to preview. But a good director should be experienced enough to judge what he thinks is the correct version to go out into the cinema."[43]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Company Information". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2010. Archived from the original on 10 February 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  2. ^ "KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 20 April 2005. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Kingdom of Heaven" Archived 25 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Film.com.
  4. ^ a b "Kingdom of Heaven" Archived 14 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Box Office Mojo.
  5. ^ a b c "Directors Cuts, the Good, the Bad, and the Unnecessary". Empire. 10 January 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Kingdom of Heaven: 4-Disc Director's Cut DVD Review". Ugo.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  7. ^ Cinemareview.com: "Kingdom of Heaven – Production Notes" Archived 26 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ a b c d e Zacharek, Stephanie (6 May 2005). "Kingdom of Heaven". Salon.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2023. Cinematographer John Mathieson gives us lots of great, sweeping landscapes.
  9. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (5 May 2005). "Kingdom of Heaven (review)". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022. What's more interesting is Ridley Scott's visual style, assisted by John Mathieson's cinematography and the production design of Arthur Max. A vast set of ancient Jerusalem was constructed to provide realistic foregrounds and locations, which were then enhanced by CGI backgrounds, additional horses and troops, and so on.
  10. ^ "Kingdom of Heaven VFX breakdown". The Moving Picture Company. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  11. ^ "Kingdom of Heaven". www.dneg.com. Double Negative VFX. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  12. ^ a b "Filmtracks: Kingdom of Heaven (Harry Gregson-Williams)". www.filmtracks.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  13. ^ a b "Kingdom of Heaven Soundtrack (2005)". www.soundtrack.net. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  14. ^ "Kingdom of Heaven – Box Office Data". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2007.
  15. ^ "Kingdom of Heaven Trivia". Hicelebs.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2008.
  16. ^ Garth Franklin. "Interview: Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven". DarkHorizons. Archived from the original on 5 May 2005.
  17. ^ "Kingdom of Heaven". Rotten Tomatoes. 17 January 2022. Archived from the original on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  18. ^ "Kingdom of Heaven". Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021 – via www.metacritic.com.
  19. ^ James Berardinelli (2005). "Kingdom of Heaven: A Film Review by James Berardinelli". reelviews.net. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  20. ^ O'Brien, Geoffrey (2005). Scott, Ridley (ed.). "Kingdom of Heaven". Film Comment. 41 (3): 71–72. ISSN 0015-119X. JSTOR 43457937.
  21. ^ Aberth, John (October 2005). "Kingdom of Heaven". The American Historical Review. 110 (4): 1235–1236. doi:10.1086/ahr.110.4.1235. ISSN 0002-8762.
  22. ^ Jack Moore, Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut DVD Review Archived 22 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ Manohla Dargis, The New York Times review of Kingdom of Heaven
  24. ^ Ty Burr, "Kingdom of Heaven Movie Review: Historically and heroically challenged 'Kingdom' fails to conquer"
  25. ^ a b "CNN "Kingdom of Heaven" Transcript". CNN.com. 9 May 2005. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2007.
  26. ^ Schlimm, Matthew Richard (20 August 2010). "The Necessity of Permanent Criticism: A Postcolonial Critique of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven". Journal of Media and Religion. 9 (3): 129–145. doi:10.1080/15348423.2010.500967. S2CID 143124492.
  27. ^ a b Smith, J. Lewis (2005). Landau, Diana (ed.). Kingdom of Heaven: The Ridley Scott Film and the History Behind the Story. Newmarket Press. p. 51. ISBN 1557047081.
  28. ^ * Neufeld, Christine (2009). "Unmasking the Leper King: The Spectral Jew in Kingdom of Heaven". The Year's Work in Medievalism, 2008. By Toswell, M.J. Wipf and Stock Publishers. pp. 89–90. ISBN 978-1725244504.
  29. ^ a b Francaviglia, Richard V. (2007). Rodnitzky, Jerry (ed.). Lights, Camera, History: Portraying the Past in Film. Texas A&M University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-1585445806.
  30. ^ "Thomas F. Madden on Kingdom of Heaven on National Review Online". Nationalreview.com. 27 May 2005. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  31. ^ Harlow, John (24 April 2005). "Christian right goes to war with Ridley's crusaders". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  32. ^ Creative Accuracy: The Scholars Speak (Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut, DVD featurette). 20th Century Fox. 2006.
  33. ^ Bob Thompson (1 May 2005). "Hollywood on Crusade: With His Historical Epic, Ridley Scott Hurtles Into Vexing, Volatile Territory". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 April 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2007.
  34. ^ Hayes, Dawn Marie (2007). "Harnessing the Potential in Historiography and Popular Culture When Teaching the Crusades". The History Teacher. 40 (3): 349–361. ISSN 0018-2745. JSTOR 30036829.
  35. ^ Dahm, Murray (2016). "Kingdom of Heaven: A MODERN FILM IN MEDIEVAL GARB". Medieval Warfare. 6 (5): 54–55. ISSN 2211-5129. JSTOR 48578615.
  36. ^ a b "Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut DVD official website". Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  37. ^ "Double Dip Digest: Kingdom of Heaven". 6 June 2006. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
  38. ^ "Review: Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut". Preview.reelviews.net. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  39. ^ "Review of Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut,4-Disc) on DVD – Page 1 of 2". DVDTOWN.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  40. ^ Berardinelli, James. "Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut Review". Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  41. ^ Kauffman, Jeffrey (5 October 2014). "Kingdom of Heaven Blu-ray Review". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
  42. ^ "Ridley Scott interview". Archived from the original on 28 July 2011.
  43. ^ Total Film magazine, July 2006: 'Three hours, eight minutes. It's beautiful.' (Interview to promote Kingdom of Heaven: The Director's Cut)

Bibliography

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