Imagine Jerusalem during 11xx, when European crusaders flocked the roads in order to reach Jerusalem and conquer it and while Muslims also wanted to reclaim the holy land. The fights went on and on, and after all these centuries of holy quests, the land is still far from what we can call, "the Kingdom of Heaven"

A friend of mine from Poland is going to leave the U.S. for Vienna, Austria, where he works; so, we caught this movie, "Kingdom of Heaven" together. It proved to be an instructive story.

A blacksmith, son to a knight who led other knights to protect the king, Ballion left his village for Jerusalem in search for forgiveness from God for his wife who had commited a suicide and for himself. Following his father's trail towards being a perfect knight, he learned to be truthful, conscientious, protective of the weaker, and eventually peace-promoting in light of the crusade war(s). Human beings have made so many mistakes under the slogan "God's Will" or the "Will of God"! Ballion realized that after having saved the innocent by givning a great fight with the Muslim crusaders and giving up Jerusalem to them in return for the safety of people.

"Heaven is not in bricks, but in the heads and the hearts of people!" He did not give up the sacred city to anybody! Indeed, I liked many lines spoken by this blacksmith!

I find the movie quite instructive, although the fighting scenes were of the same genre as that in Gladiator or The Last Samurai.