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Film

'Heaven' gives entree to Muslim hero

By STEVE PERSALL
Published May 6, 2005

The victor in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven is wise and compassionate, and by the time we see his nation's emblem raised above the spoils - the city of Jerusalem - many viewers will feel deep respect for this hero.

His name is Saleh El Din, or Saladin in Westernized form, and he's fighting for Islam against Christian invaders.

Any resemblance to today's war in Iraq isn't coincidental in Scott's version of the third Crusade. The 12th and 21st centuries mirror more than their numerals. What is remarkable, possibly controversial, is the film's uncommonly balanced portraits of heroes on both sides of a conflict still raging today. They're antagonists by definition, yet equals in terms of representing religious values that others proclaim in vain.

Saladin's counterpart among crusaders is Balian of Ibelin, played by Orlando Bloom, a blacksmith whose personal crises initially make him indifferent to the continuing tensions of the Crusades. He's a typically handsome European hero for such sword-and-shield epics, with a strong sense of honor when he adopts a knight's code to preserve and protect. When Balian leads Jerusalem's defense, he urges the fight to save citizens, not the city. He's a moderate among warmongers.

Saladin, played charismatically by Ghassan Massoud, isn't the scary villain type that Hollywood often uses to portray Muslims. Saladin's chivalry with his foes, his charity to allow Christian survivors to exit Jerusalem after crusaders massacred Muslims under similar circumstances, is still revered in the Muslim world. He and Balian are closer in spirit than their theologies allow.

The characterization is a remarkable creative choice for any filmmaker today.

Some Americans may resent a film dealing with Middle Eastern warfare against Christians that doesn't paint Muslims as evil, especially when Scott's parallels to today are so obvious, and so much U.S. policy and rhetoric is colored by religion. Or maybe they've been conditioned by Hollywood to expect anyone of Muslim culture in movies to be terrorists or comic relief.

From the wild-eyed anarchists of True Lies and Delta Force, to the yammering fools of Ishtar and a suburban terrorist cell on the TV show 24, Muslims and Arabs have been convenient villains for screenwriters. The trend slowed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States while positive portrayals remained nearly invisible.

Kingdom of Heaven is Scott's bold attempt to reverse such stereotypes. It's surprisingly successful, having earned praise from advocacy groups that regularly protest Hollywood's portrayals of Arabs and Muslims. Sabiha Khan, communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called Kingdom of Heaven a "balanced and positive depiction" of Muslims as "dignified and proud people whose lives are based on ethics and morality."

CAIR's Central Florida director, Ahmed Bedier, attended a recent Tampa screening of Kingdom of Heaven. He was impressed with the film's portrayal of Saladin, and that Scott makes the reinstallation of the crescent of Islam over Jerusalem a climactic, almost feel-good moment.

"Some people will be unusually surprised at that," he said. "Right now, when some people see the sign of the crescent, they think: the enemy. It's similar to the way they used to see the emblem of the Soviet Union.

"As a Muslim, I was happy to see that; not that he beat the Christians, but he was shown in a positive way."

But this isn't a whitewashed version of Saladin. William Monahan's script has him considering a massacre of Christians after the suggested rape and murder of his sister by crusaders. Only advice from an aide prevents the slaughter, a scene that deepens Saladin's personality and expands the kindness themes of Islam to others.

"It's human nature to seek revenge, but he came back to earth," said Bedier, drawing comparisons to U.S. outrage against Muslims after the World Trade Center and Pentagon bombings that led to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Many people wanted to strike back (in 2001)," he said. "But there were also plenty of people saying: "Let's not revenge. Let's understand. Let's try to figure out how to solve this.' Unfortunately, a lot of people weren't listening."

Kingdom of Heaven also draws comparisons to present-day claims from both sides of the Iraq war that their cause is divinely guided. God or Allah's will becomes a mantra to justify brutal intolerance. If complaints are lodged against Scott's movie, they will likely come from Christians shocked by some crusaders' decidedly nonheroic actions.

Scott gives them a dose of what Muslims and Arab moviegoers have endured for years. Bedier won't gloat about the turnaround.

"Some Christians may see this movie as offensive to some extent," said Bedier. "But it has to be put into perspective. That's not what Christianity is. Just because those (crusaders) are wearing crosses and claim to be fighting for God, that doesn't mean they represent Christianity. They're actually misrepresenting it. That's similar to people like (Osama) bin Laden, misrepresenting Islam.

"The movie indirectly hints at the radicalism and fanatics in religion on all sides. No matter how just your cause, if you're not moral, not behaving in a good way toward people, then you're not a religious person. That's a message for anyone who goes to war."

[Last modified May 5, 2005, 13:45:54]