Saturday, September 29, 2007

Boredom of Heaven

I recently watched--intermittently--Kingdom of Heaven (2005), directed by Ridley Scott of Gladiator fame. This Orlando/Liam fest attempted to reduce all of crusade history into some small window of the Middle Ages, as if it all kinda squished into about 30 years. The moslem stereotypes, while not exactly offensive, were pretty hackneyed, and someone let the costume designer go wild: the crusaders apparently had every kind of anachronistic cross embroidered on everything! Even St. George's cross was on banners. As a liturgical symbolist, I think I know my crosses pretty well, and trust me, this film is a little historically incorrect.... And nary a scallop shell anywhere (the pilgrim's symbol). I guess that's where I started to lose interest. The flying cgi blood also got irritating. I awoke three times to find Orlando was doing something honourable and brave again. Blech! So glad I didn't rent the dvd.

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