Kingdom of Heaven

I saw the movie Kingdom of heaven this past week and I have to say that I liked it, although I do think that it puts down religion a lot. I mean the action is great and both the Christian and Muslim sides are portrayed with respect, despite what some commentators have said. And yet religion as a whole is portrayed as a corrupt organization that is fuelled by blood thirsty war lords. Some of it may be true, but the lack of authentic Christianity is appalling. The closest thing we get is the vision of peace possessed by the young king of Jerusalem.

In addition to that, I also think that the anti-religious sentiment is more of a reflection of contemporary society's views on religion. In this I believe that the movie is not truly being faithful to the spirit and ideologies of the time, but is a depiction of 21st century beliefs in a 11th century landscape. It makes for a great social commentary on today's view of religion and the role it is believed to have played in history. The role it actually di play is irrelevant in such a movie which is more concerned with making the story pleasing to the masses by infusing it with post modernist beliefs of what really happened. It is unfortunate that most will believe that this is the only way it could have happened simply because it agrees with popular conecptions of history. Having said that, it still was a kick ass action flick. Just not a very accurate socio-historical depiction of the actual events.