Ashamed of the Kingdom of Heaven
by Dr. Marc T. Newman
May 13, 2005
(AgapePress) - In Hollywood, no good film idea goes unpunished. Make a film that does big box office and you can be certain that a slew of similar films will be in the offing. Disney gives us A Bug's Life and the next thing you know Dreamworks give us Antz. This spring brought us Dreamworks' Robots and next year Disney will have the mechanized Cars. If one horror film leaves them screaming in the aisles, it is a sure bet that there will be a dozen similar films crowding the multiplex in short order.But when The Passion of the Christ debuted last year, its $370 million domestic box office caught Hollywood off guard. Movie companies discovered that Christians have money, and if films are made that they can support, they will spend it. I know that films are planned years in advance, but one finds it hard to imagine that absent the Passion's success, movies like Constantine, or last week's Kingdom of Heaven would have deserved the push they received. What Kingdom of Heaven demonstrates is that Hollywood still doesn't "get it" -- they make a film about the Christian Crusades, but conveniently decide to leave out the Christians. Oh, there are people identified in the film as Christians (you know they are Christians because of the gargantuan crosses they have on their tabards or are carrying through the desert like a totem), but they only advance the stereotype Hollywood has promoted for years, only those who abandon their faith are depicted as noble, and instead the film preaches a gospel of tolerance that rings hollow in a jihadist world.
Advancing the Stereotype
By Kingdom of Heaven's account, apparently, in medieval Europe, there simply were no faithful, compassionate Christians. The first priest the audience meets robs the dead and then, with no small delight, orders the gravediggers to decapitate the body before burial, as the deceased was a suicide. Regardless of one's viewpoint on the eternal consequences of the sin of suicide, is it difficult to believe that a priest might mourn at such a burial? The same priest later taunts a young blacksmith in an attempt to force him to leave town because the blacksmith, being of illegitimate birth, is not wanted. Another priest abandons the civilians of Jerusalem, about to come under siege by Muslims, in order to seek his fortune in Syria.
The Knights Templar -- they are the ones with the giant crosses -- adhere to orthodoxy in word and are quick to sneer at, or punish, those outside the faith. Never is there a single act of evangelism attempted on their part (or any good work whatsoever). Instead, they are portrayed as greedy warmongers who prey on wayward Arab caravans and plot murder, using deceit to lure in unsuspecting Muslims and kill them for political gain.
The Bishop of Jerusalem is another political schemer who puts more faith in strength of arms than in the power of God. When faced with what appears to be the fall of Jerusalem to the Muslims, and fearing for his own life, he advises his followers to convert to Islam now, repent later -- so much for the courage of one's convictions.
The only Christian in the film that gives good advice is the king of Jerusalem who is presiding over an uneasy peace. He is self-sacrificial, and in a beautiful speech explains that every person must give his or her own account to God, and that no one will be excused for finding virtue inconvenient. Of course, this Christian king is never really seen because he perpetually wears a mask to hide his face, hideously deformed by leprosy. The king is also not without faults, and offers what appears to be a politically motivated act of murder in order to remove what he perceives to be a mortal threat.
Juxtaposed to the bleak, sullen, deformed, and often unwashed Christians are the colorful Muslims. Willing to recognize and publicly proclaim even their enemies' outstanding qualities, they are quick-witted, carefree desert nomads. They are never the instigators of violence; instead they are frequently initiators of mercy. Their religion is treated with respect -- one might even say deference.
Ashamed of the Gospel
But since this film is about the surrender of Christian Jerusalem to Saladin, there has to be a good guy on the side of the Crusaders. Enter Lord Balian, the bastard son of Baron Geoffrey. He has come to Jerusalem ostensibly to seek forgiveness of his sins, but he is a self-proclaimed defector from the Church. Balian climbs Golgotha searching for a word from God, but he is a doubter (James 1:5-7), and later an adulterer.
Unbeliever though he is, Balian is the most compassionate character in sight. He takes over the land his father left to him and works alongside the people he rules. His efforts bring water to the parched landscape and the desert blooms. He slays evil "Christian knights," but gives fair warning to, and says he does not want to fight, an Arab lord intent on stealing his horse.
When the Muslim king, Saladin, offers everyone safe passage out of Jerusalem, Balian feels compelled to remind him that when Christians took the city, they slaughtered every Muslim. Saladin responds that he is not like those men -- he is Saladin; he can be trusted to keep his word.
The Gospel of Tolerance
In masterminding the surrender of Jerusalem, Balian's only concern is with the lives of the people behind the walls. In a speech designed to arouse applause, he names the different religions that hallow the city: Jews, Christians, and Muslims, and rhetorically asks if any of their sites are any more holy than the others? The "obvious" answer is "no" and Balian makes it clear that any who would fight must lay aside religious affiliations and simply war for survival.
The Muslims under Saladin are magnanimous. They give safe passage to all within the walls of Jerusalem -- one of their lords even gives Balian back his horse. One keeps waiting for Rodney King to emerge asking if we can't "just all get along." The message is clear enough. Cultural Christians, those with no real religious conviction, can be loving and tolerant neighbors. Muslims are too, unless provoked, and even then their anger can be assuaged by seeing a wrongdoer punished or a city, once theirs, surrendered. But all of the self-proclaimed Christians are, nearly to a person, intolerant greedy bigots who, in the end, get their just deserts at the hands of the agnostics and the Muslims. And once all the ugly Christians are killed, then everyone else can get along famously.
Any Redemption?
Despite the fact that there are no reasonable, compassionate Christians in Kingdom of Heaven, the story is so heavy-handed in this regard that it actually opens up opportunities for dialogue. There is no need to be defensive, immediately launching into all of the good Christians have done over the centuries. Christians can go with their non-Christian friends to Kingdom of Heaven and when the lights come up, they can ask a simple question: "Do you know anyone who thinks that Christians are really like that?" Then sit and wait for the response.
Kingdom of Heaven also gives Christians a chance to talk about what it means to hold to a creed and even to discuss the differences between Islam and Christianity -- you can find these and other discussion questions on MovieMinistry.com's website. Christians must let their words be seasoned with salt. We should be slow to take offense, and quick to forgive and explain. God is patient, and we should walk in imitation. Christians should not be holding their breath waiting for a slew of positive portrayals of people of faith. Be thankful for Because of Winn-Dixie, and wait for Narnia. In the meantime, we can still use films that portray Christians as shameful caricatures by demonstrating that we are not. The best way to overcome a stereotype is to bring the people that hold them into direct contact with the people they misunderstand. Get a coffee with a non-Christian friend, and show them Who you belong to by the way you love.
Marc T. Newman, PhD (marc@movieministry.com) is the president of MovieMinistry.com -- an organization that provides sermon and teaching illustrations from popular film, and helps the Church use movies to reach out to others and connect with people.
