Arab Actors Hope Crusade Film Improves Muslim Image

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

CAIRO (Reuters) - Arabs starring in a new Hollywood blockbuster set during the Crusades say it will enhance Western understanding of the Muslim world rather than reinforce old stereotypes, as some had feared.

Syria's Ghassan Massoud, who plays the Muslim leader Saladin in "Kingdom of Heaven," says it will also show Washington the benefits of diplomacy over war in resolving Middle East crises.

The film, by "Gladiator" director Ridley Scott, depicts a 12th century Muslim-Christian battle for Jerusalem during the Third Crusade.

<snip>
Kingdom is being tipped as one of the summer's biggest movie releases and has a budget estimated at around $130 million.

Some religious figures and academics are concerned that a film about the Crusades, a term once used by President Bush to describe the war on terror, will fuel the idea of an intractable clash of civilisations between East and West.
<snip>

Link to Story

[Maple]

1. I shall make a point of seeing it

and that would be...gold pressed latinum in your sig?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. Not quite...

It's a strip heater... Sometimes neat things can happen trying to make the mundane exciting.

[Maple]

5. Well, it's exciting alright

the latinum was the first thing that came to mind. :D

[ECH1969]

2. This reminds me of the

Alaxander the Great/Bush compairison that was created in Alaxander. I really don't think it changed any opinions.

[Hatalles]

10. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is also coming out...

And after having read the script, I can say the parallels in that film between Bush and the soon-to-be Emperor Palpatine are very close. Close enough for your average joe to take notice.

[LiviaOlivia]

3. For an early review

link here:

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=19840

[CTyankee]

7. what a thin movie review

I guess I'm used to more substance than this. I think I'd like to see this film, if only because ofits director and its content, but this review didn't reveal too much of substance to me. Well, you know, I live in New Haven...

[LiviaOlivia]

11. Do you really?

Live in New Haven that is.:nopity:

[achtung_circus]

6. I saw the trailer at the show on Saturday.

I definitely have to see this movie. The scale, whether special effects or the real thing is amazing. The battle scenes look so real they are scary. Of course, one can't tell one thing anbout plot or chacter from a trailer, soooo.

[jwirr]

8. Just got done reading "The Crusades: Iron Men and Saints"

by Harold Lamb and I object to portraying the crusades as some kind of western survival wars. Pope Urban II needed to gain power to overthrow his rival for the Papacy so he fabricated a story, just like bushie did, in order to start the crusades. From then on the soldier and rulers who took part in it were more about money and wealth than anything else. I will not buy the movie.

[Hatalles]

9. If I'm not mistaken, I think Urban II is portrayed as the bad guy...

So you might want to consider seeing it.

[okasha]

12. Urban II and Saladin

were a century apart. Unless there's flashbacks or Scott scrambles the timeline a la "Elizabeth," they won't be in the same story.

Okasha

[Hatalles]

13. Ah, sorry. Here's what I meant...

<<The script depicts Baldwin's brother-in-law, Guy de Lusignan, who succeeds him as King of Jerusalem, as "the arch-villain". A further group, "the Brotherhood of Muslims, Jews and Christians", is introduced, promoting an image of cross-faith kinship.>>

[jwirr]

16. I know that but to talk of the Crusades

without talking about their original is like talking about our troops without talking about bushie's lies.

[Lisa]

14. Urban II and Richard the Lionheart both get slammed by Terry Jones ...

... in his "Crusades" miniseries. He also covered the debacle of the Fourth Crusade, when Byzantium itself (the city that had originally called for help from the pope) was looted by the Crusaders. They never taught us that in school!

I taped it when it was broadcast on A&E several years ago, and looking at the tape recently, I noticed an eerie coincidence -- towards the end, where Jones is talking about the long-term negative impacts on the relationships between (Western) Christianity and the other religions in the area, they took a commercial break. The ad showed a futuristic 21st-century NYC with the Twin Towers looming over everything. (But now, not so much -- as Jon Stewart might say.)

I got the series on DVD as a gift for my local library, because I noticed that they already had the Robin Hood film that makes Richard look like such a good guy. (Jones has also written a series of essays in the Guardian, highly critical of the Bush and Blair governments.)

[atreides1]

15. Richard deserved to be slammed

In 1173 he joined his brothers Henry and Geoffrey in a revolt against their father, the plan was to dethrone Henry II and let
Henry the Young King rule England alone, they lost.

Richard was the last to hold out against Henry II; though in the end
he refused to fight his father face to face and begged for pardon.

Richard had as many bad qualities as he had good ones, he loved his family but was ruthless to his enemies, he was a military mastermind,
who was capable of humility, as well as great arrogance.

He never really spent much time in England, preferring his lands in France, especially the Duchy of Aquitaine. He was born in England in 1157, but from 1168 until he was crowned in 1189, he lived in France.

In 1190 he started on his expedition to the Holy Land, he returned to Europe in 1192, was captured, his mother Elanor then personally paid his ransom. They returned to England, which he left in 1194, never to return. He died on April 6 1199, from tghe after effects of an arrow wound that he had received during the siege of Chalus, in France.

Like I've stated, he had good and bad qualities. But, then again, don't we all?

[jwirr]

17. Good - I guess I will take a look at it. Thanks everyone.