Kingdom of Heaven
(with spoilers cut off. the original one is below.)

oh! i just came home from KoH!!
*squee*
i LOVE the leper king!!!
*collective awwwwwwwwwwww.....*
he is AWESOME!!!!!! Oh!
*faints*

question: what race is the leper king? he looks white under the mask, but his sis looks arab.

about the portrayal of the knights templars, templars were shown to be led by a corrupt guy (i think they wisely stopped short of saying all templars were awful, just this particular leader was extreme).

about religion, they showed two different attitudes of "god wills it", so that some people used it as an excuse to do bad stuff, while some people said "god wills it" only when they have already tried their best to prevent unavoidabe shit.

about the christian vs muslim thing, its odd, cos i personally feel the muslims were portrayed as more honourable and with more integrety than the christians. the muslims were portrayed as cleverer, more advanced, and less spiritually corrupt. its pretty unnerving actually.

for me it's a very spiritual movie. they had a few (truncated)islamic prayer sequences-- i actually ended up saying prayers during a hollywood movie!! *gasp*!! never EVER thought that would happen!!-- and the most powerful scenes were during the storming of the castle. it reminded me of the storming of Gondor, except it's not so simple as man against enemy. it's men who just have finished their prayers kill other men who may or may not have just said theirs.

i mean, just *think* about it. a man who just a few minutes ago was talking to god, and now in cold blood taking the living life of god's creation, just like that, without regard for the state of the other's soul.

usually it's man against man (sans god), or man (with divine 'blessing') against 'monster', but for me KoH drummed it in that it's sons of god killing other sons of god... and for the life of me i cannot imagine *how*.

KoH makes me question the cry of "god wills it" (when and how is the appropriate use). Orli's character makes me question what exactly it means to protect the people (is it fair to sacrifice the men to save the women and children? how is the best way to protect the people without compromising oneself?) and best of all it reminds me that there is grace within everyone regardless of whether we (or they) recognise it. and it reminds me that everybody, i mean, EVERYBODY is great.

it didnt leave me floored the way LoTR or Alexander did, but it was a very thinkie type movie. will probably need to rewatch it for fullest effect. about the actual plot/ storyline, it kinda sucked.