Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Here Comes Trouble

Not really trouble, but controversy. The trailer is now out for Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven. It's a movie about the crusades in which, so far as I can tell, the hero is a young Christian knight fighting to protect Jerusalem against the invading Muslim hordes.

How do you think that's going to go over?

In the past, Scott has been fairly unflinching in his depiction of certain enemies of Western civilization (see Black Hawk Down and G.I. Jane). It will be very, very interesting to see how the Kingdom of Heaven handles the crusades and how the CAIR-style backlash is manufactured leading up to the film's release (expect Time and Newsweek cover stories in April). Also of interest will be the European reaction to the movie. What happens to European anti-Americanism when Europe is cast in the role of America?

Kingdom of Heaven is a loaded proposition; keep your eye on it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is just a hunch, but I'll bet they'll simply hedge and cheat on the history, perhaps by creating some Arabic/Muslim good guys.

It'll be like the recent movie remake of the Four Feathers. The filmmakers turned a classic tale of a British soldier trying to regain his honor and self-worth by going to Sudan and fighting the Muslim warriors into a tale of how a British man learns self-worth and honor from an educated Muslim, completing turning the 1939 version on its head.

Expect something similar this time. Hollywood does not have the guts to risk genuine bad publicity. (As opposed to the good publicity of "right wing" groups criticizing your film.)

That Dude said...

Yo,
My guess is the movie company is hoping that CAIR makes a HUGE deal out of this movie to create some buzz. Can't watch the trailer at work since QT is blocked, but if it's as good as Black Hawk Down, look out.

http://upnorthdownsouth.blogspot.com/