Flick of The Day: Kingdom Of Heaven (Directors Cut)

In the early to mid Noughties, there was quite the resurgence in the old school swords 'n' sandals epics that had largely been extinct since their heyday in the 50's and 60's when films like The Robe, Spartacus or Cleopatra bestrode your Technicolour Cinemascope screen like the weighty tomes they were. Providing much needed work for the (mainly English) classically trained Shakespearean actors of the day, they were the zenith of the Studio picture which had defined an era which was soon to come to an end as the so called "movie brats" took over Hollywood, giving more power to the Director then at any time previously. These, the last greats of the Studio era, were epic in scope and scale. Cleopatra almost bankrupted its maker, 20th Century Fox, costing almost $300m when adjusted for inflation.

Actors like Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier or Peter O'Toole chewed through text like it was going out of style, which perhaps it was.
That's enough of a history lesson from the golden age for the moment though. Suffice as to say the historical epic never went away, it just got smaller and less frequent, which brings us neatly to that previously mentioned resurgence. It was perhaps inevitable that Ridley Scott's Gladiator would lead to more of the same after it won 5 Oscars and propelled Russell Crowe to international stardom upon its release in the Summer of 2000.

Unfortunately, it spawned a slew of films which ranged in quality from the awful such as Wolfgang Peterson's misbegotten Troy starring Brad Pitt in full on pretty boy mode to the downright dull in Oliver Stone's imagining of the life of Alexander The Great where all the Macedonians have Irish accents apart from Alexander played by the able Colin Farrell.
Ultimately, it took the man who had started this mini revival to bring about its end and perhaps produce one of the finest movies of the decade. Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven. The story is set during the Crusades of the 12th century. A French village blacksmith goes to aid the city of Jerusalem in its defense against the Muslim leader Saladin, who is battling to reclaim the city from the Christians. The film script is a heavily fictionalised portrayal of Balian of Ibelin.

Right about now, you are perhaps considering the wisdom of bothering to read on and indeed questioning the sanity of this writer because you no doubt saw this critically mauled film upon its cinematic release in 2005. The current score on Rotten Tomatoes of 39% would perhaps indicate that this is not a film worthy of a second glance let alone of praise. However, you'd be wrong because while that film released in cinemas is a true dog, the Directors Cut of which I write is a different kettle of fish entirely.
The cinematic version comes in at 144 minutes and while there are some fine performances in it such as an all too brief appearance by Liam Neeson and some old school screen chomping from Jeremy Irons and David Thewlis, it largely does not really make much sense as so much of the scenes explaining the characters motivations are omitted. Indeed, a whole section of the plot involving the ascent of Sibylla's son to the throne is removed resulting in a mess of a film. Eva Green who plays the role of Sibylla of Jerusalem with aplomb goes from a small and underused role in the cinematic cut to a major character in the Directors Cut.

However when the film was originally submitted to the 20th Century Fox (remember them?) Studio Head, it was 194 minutes in length, this is the Directors Cut and the version I urge you to see. Studio head Tom Rothman ordered the film to be trimmed down to only two hours, as he did not believe that a modern audience would go to see a three hour and fifteen minute movie. In any case, they didn't go to see the two hour version either as Kingdom of Heaven earned a paltry $47m at the box office.

Ultimately, this film is a tale of the folly of religious conflict, something that is very relevant to modern times. It does play with historical accuracy for dramatic effect of course but you can't help but have your interest piqued in all things to do with that era after viewing it.

So, if you have the chance, seek out this hidden gem on DVD. It has Liam Neeson, the lovely Eva Green, Swords, Sandals, Battles on a grand scale and Yes that is Edward Norton as King Baldwin IV, the leper King.