It is almost 100 years since Christian armies from Europe seized Jerusalem.
Europe suffers in the grip of repression and poverty. Peasant and lord alike flee to the Holy Land in search of fortune or salvation.
One Knight returns home in search of his son.
FRANCE 1184
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Crusaders.
Clear the road if you will.
Wait.
She was a suicide, cut off her head.
And return the axe.
- You know this place my lord? - Know it? I knew all of it.
That is the man.
We need all these horses shod, we need food. And we'll pay.
He says yes.
A blacksmith is the man you seek. His name is Ballian.
I know that he mourns. The barrier we've passed through the crossroads was for his wife.
The child died. She was overcome with grief and killed herself.
You still advise what you advised upon the road?
I do, my lord.
What does that say?
"What man is a man who does not make the world better?"
Leave me with this man.
I am sorry you lost your wife and child.
I also have lost...
Some say Jerusalem is the very center of the world for asking forgiveness.
But myself I call it here. Now.
I knew your mother.
You could hear so I should say that it was against her objections.
But...
I did not force that.
I loved her in my fashion.
Balian, I'm your father.
And I have forgiveness to ask of you.
I am Godfrey, the baron of Ibelin.
I have 100 man in arms in Jerusalem,
if you will come with me you will have a living and
will have my thanks, there it is.
You have your arm, my lord.
My place is here.
What made it your place is now dead.
You will never see me again.
If you want anything of me, take it now.
I want nothing.
I am sorry for your trouble. God protect you.
Jerusalem is easy to find.
Come to where the men speak Italian,
and continue, till they speak something else.
We go by Messina. Good bye.
They would have taken you to Jerusalem.
Away from all this.
I'm your priest, Balian. I tell you God has abandoned you.
I swear to you, you will have no peace as long as you stay here.
No man ever needed a new world more.
The village does not want you.
If you take the crusade,
you may relieve your wife's position in heaven.
I put to tell you, she was a suicide. She is in hell.
Though what she does there without a head?
Wait here.
If you'd come to kill me,
even these days it is not easy.
Well?
I've done...
Murder.
Haven't we all?
Is it true, that in Jerusalem I can erase my sins?
And those of my wife. Is it true?
We can find out together.
Show me your hand.
Pick it up. Let's see what you're made of.
His hand is hurt, my lord.
I once fought two days with an arrow through my testicle.
You have used the low guard. You fight well.
Let's work on your skills. Pick a high guard. Like this.
Italians call it La Hoste de Falcone. The guard of the hook.
You strike from high. This.
Do it.
Do it straighter. Come on.
Take back. Hold your knees. Sword straighter.
Defend yourself.
Blade isn't the only part of the sword.
Attack.
May I have your lead?
Pay attention.
What's this?
You have with you man, Balian.
Who killed the priest. I'm charged by the North Bishop to bring him back.
What he says is true. They have a right to take me.
I say it's a matter of chats. If you say he's guilty, then we'll fight.
God will decide the truth of it.
- My German friend is a close student of the law. - Just give him to me, I'll fight you for something else.
He's a murderer.
So am I.
Whoever dies here today, you will certainly be among them.
You're a lord. Let's keep you the road.
To fight!
Now you broke arrow.
If the ribs are broken, marrow may enter the blood.
In which case you'll take a fever and die.
Or assist will form, and you'll live.
You're in the hands of God.
Give me some more wine.
It was not they had no right to take you,
It was the way they asked.
They had the right to take me.
So do I.
PILIGRIM CAMP - ROAD TO MESSINA
To kill an infidel is not murder, it is the path to heaven.
- Who is this? - My son.
Would I have fought you when you were still capable of making bastards.
I knew your mother when she was making hers.
Fortunately you're too old to be one of mine.
MESSINA - PORT TO THE HOLY LAND
Do you know what lies in holy land?
A new world.
A man who entrants it,
is in holy land the master of the city.
He who was the master of the city begs in the gutter.
There at the end of the world you are not what you are born,
but what you have it in yourself to be.
I hope to find forgiveness.
That's all I know.
Whatever your position, you're of my house.
And that means you will serve the King of Jerusalem.
What could the King ask of a man like me?
A better world than has ever been seen.
A kingdom of conscience.
A Kingdom of Heaven.
There's peace between Christian and Muslim,
we can live together.
Living between Saladin and the King we try.
Did you think that play at the end of crusade?
It does.
My son, you're all that survives me. Do not disappoint me.
- Who are those men? - Muslim.
- Saracens. - And they're allowed their prayers.
If they pay tax.
Praise the God.
Sounds like operas.
It's good.
When the King is dead,
Jerusalem will be no place for friends of Muslims.
Or traitors to crusade, like your father.
I am Guy de Lusignan, remember that name.
And me.
Leave it.
My lord.
How will you ride if you have no stick to beat the horse?
He will be King of Jerusalem one day.
Balian!
Come in.
I can't go any further.
Get on your knees.
Be without fear in the face of your enemies.
Be brave and upright that God may love thee.
Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death.
Save God the helpless and do no wrong.
That is your oath.
And that's so you remember it.
Rise a knight and Baron of Ibelin.
Defend the King.
If the King is no more, protect the people.
It's time now my lord to confess to holy God, not your son.
- Are you sorry for all your sins? - For all but one.
You sail now for Jerusalem as your father wished.
I'll follow within a week. This journey can be perilous.
If God has purpose for you there, he'll keep you safe in his hands.
If not...
God bless you.
- He says that is his horse. - Why would it be his horse?
Because it's on his land!
I took this horse from the sea!
He says you are a great liar! And he will fight you, because you are a liar.
- I have no desire to fight. - Then you must give him the horse!
No.
Fight me felly!
Why? Why should he? He is a knight.
And I am the Baron of Ibelin.
He says the Baron of Ibelin is old.
- He knew him at Damascus. - I am the new one.
That's enough! Stop!
Ibelin, that's enough!
You've taken it very well that I've killed your master.
It was the end of his time.
Old day has got recent.
Now finish this.
Take me to Jerusalem.
Very good horse.
Take the horse.
And be about your business.
This is the price of battle. I'm your prisoner.
- Your slave should you wish. - I've been a slave for very long time.
Why would I want more suffering to begin.
The man you killed was a very great cavalier in Muslims.
- His name was Mammolfice. - I will pray for him.
Your quality will be known among your enemies
before ever you meet them, my friend.
Old man, where is it the Christ was crucified?
God, what is it you want from me?
How can you be in hell, when you're in my heart?
- You must have known him. - What?
This you carry Godfrey sword. You must have known him.
- I did. - A man my size.
- Yes. - Green eyes.
Blue.
Come with us, my lord.
Stop. You hurt him.
- Where's your master? - I have none.
Give me some water.
Thank you for the drink.
If you happen to see Balian, the son of Godfrey.
Tell him that Sibylla come.
- So, how fine is Jerusalem? - God does not speak to me.
Not even on the hill. Where Christ died.
- I'm outside God's grace. - I haven't heard that.
- Anyway it seems I've lost my religion. - I've got no stock in religion.
By the word religion I've seen the lunacy of fanatics
of every denomination be called the will of God.
Holiness is in right action
and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves.
And goodness
what God desires is here and here.
And what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man.
Or not.
Come.
OFFICE OF THE MARSHALL OF JERUSALEM
The King has made a peace with Saladin these past six years,
he holds Jerusalem as a place for prayer for all faiths.
As the Muslims did before we came.
These men are Templars, they killed Arabs.
So they are dying for what the pope command them to do.
Yes. But not Christ I think.
And not this King.
- Who says I raid? - That witness.
All of Jerusalem. Holy God. And me.
That witness, if you call him that, is a Saracen. He lies!
It will come a day, Reynald de Chatillon,
when you are not protected by your title!
When will that be?
That will be a time when men are equal and Kingdom of Heaven has arrived?
Those Templars have been hung for a raid that I know you commanded.
Prove it. I will wait in Kerak until you do.
King will take your castle of Kerak, Reynald.
I'd like to wait when that is. I'll be there.
My lord.
Is it true.
You're a father's son.
He was mine friend. I'm yours.
Godfrey dead. It could have come at a better time.
But it was shouted in the streets that you killed a great lord of Syria.
Saladin inserts a word that you'll fight to breach the peace.
- That you had calls. What know you of Saladin? - That he is King of the Saracens, and that he surrounds this kingdom.
He has 200,000 men in Damascus alone.
He can win a war if he goes to war.
And he's daily been caused for war by fanatics newly from Europe.
By Templar bastards like Reynald de Chatillon.
A year from this one I'll keep the peace, hardly coming up.
But with Saladin and the King, between them.
Would make a better world.
If it leds only for a while, Tiberias, it still has left.
What did your father tell you of your obligations?
That I was to be a good knight.
I pray the world and Jerusalem
to accommodate such a rarity as a good knight.
Have you dined?
The Princess Sibylla of Jerusalem! And her husband Guy de Lusignan.
So how many knights did you find in France?
- Fifty. - It's former legions to the King?
Of course, Tiberias. Obviously.
- You sit at my table! - Is it not a King's table?
Is it? I have not seen the King at it for some years.
I cannot eat, I'm finikin about the company.
In France this could not inherrit. But here, there are no civilized rules.
I have business in East.
My wife does not lamented my absences.
That is either the best of wives, or the very very worst.
- You've got to meet Reynald... - No my lord, he is in disfavour.
I am a member of this court. Why should I make lead with that troublemaker?
- To the very best of wives. - God bless Jerusalem!
The King would see Godfrey's son.
I'll take him.
This morning I spoke without knowing who you were.
I knew who you were. It's unmistakable.
I loved your father. And I sure love you.
- Do you fear being with me? - No.
And yes.
A woman my place has two faces.
One for the world, and one which she wears in private.
With you I'll be only Sibylla.
Tiberias thinks me unpredictable.
I am unpredictable.
No, there.
Come forward. I'm glad to meet Godfrey's son.
He was one of my greatest teachers.
He was there when playing with the other boys, my arm was cut.
And it was he, not my father's physicians who noticed that I felt no pain.
He wept when he gave my father the news.
That I am a leper.
The Saracens say that this disease is God's vengeance
against the vanity of our kingdom.
As ratchet as I am these Arabs believe
that the time that waits me in hell is far more severe and lasting.
If that's true, I call it unfare.
Come, sit.
When I was 16 I won a great victory.
I felt in that moment I would live to be hundred.
Now I know I shall not see thirty.
You see, none of us choose our end really.
The King may move men. A father may claim a son.
But remember that even when those who move you be kings or men of power,
your soul is in your keeping alone.
When you stand before God you cannot say
but I was told by others to do thus.
Or that virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that.
I will.
Then go now to your father's house at Ibelin and from there protect the piligrim road.
Protect the helpless.
And then perhaps one day when I am helpless you will come and protect me.
There my lord. Ibelin.
Your father was supported.
- His lands were not. - It will suit me.
My lord. You have a thousand acres, hundreds camels.
You have Christians, Jews, Muslims.
You have 50 pairs of hogs.
What we do not have is water.
Spread the walls.
I'm on my way to Cana.
Where Jesus changed water to wine.
But a better trick would be to change you to a noble man.
That should be easy. In France a few yards of silk can make a noble man.
- I expect your hospitality. - It is given. Latif.
What?
It seems years since I've seen a woman eat.
Truly?
I was watching you today.
You've been given a patch of land and it seems you will build a new Jerusalem here.
This is my land.
Who would I be if I did not try to make it better?
They try to be one. One heart.
One morality. Their profits are submit.
Jesus says
decide.
Did you decide on Guy?
Guy was chosen by my mother. I was 15 at the time.
Why do you think I'm here?
I know that Ibelin is not on the way to Cana.
- What else do you know, my lord? - I know that you are a princess.
- And I am no lord. - You're knight.
Neither and not proved.
I'm not here with you because I'm...
I'm bored of wicked.
I'm here because...
Because mist between one person and another. There is only light.
Hold!
- This caravan is armed, Reynald. - Good. No smaller than ours.
They've seen us.
- Go after them. Riders getting away. - Poor desert, nothing I've come of it.
- I prefer not to be hanged before my wife is cooled. - Don't worry. Who but Reynald, they'll say.
It's always me. They're believing in Jerusalem, I assure you.
- You're a Nazareth pray. - You're dangerous man, Reynald.
If the war is to be now or later, better have it now.
How long can the leper last?
Guy de Lusignan
and Reynald de Chatillon with the Templars have attacked the Saracen caravan.
It was nought caravan.
But an army had it for better handle to desecrate the birth place of our lord!
Reynald with the Templars have broken the King's bet of peace.
Saladin will come into this kingdom!
Tiberias knows more than the Christian should about Saladin's intentions!
Then I would rather live with man than kill him.
- It's certainly why you are alive. - That sort of Christianity has its uses I suppose.
We must not go to war with Saladin!
We don't want it. But you may not lead.
Blasphemy!
An army of Jesus Christ which bears Holy Cross cannot be beaten!
Has it come of Tiberias suggest that it could be?
There must be war! God with it!
Silence!
Saladin has crossed the Jordan with 200,000 men.
He will make first for Kerak and Reynald de Chatillon, my lord.
We must meet him before he reaches Kerak.
I will lead the army.
My lord, if you travel... you'll die.
Send word to Balian to protect the villagers.
Assemble the army.
What becomes of us?
The world will decide.
The world always decides.
My lord! The King is riding to Kerak.
KERAK CASTLE - STRONGHOLD OF REYNALD DE CHATILLON
Saracen cavalry. They're coming to close rate on there.
These people are not safe outside the walls.
Saladin will certainly come behind them.
Go into the fortress now.
My lord Balian!
My lord Reynald says you bring your force to Kerak.
Thank you but no. If we do this people will die.
We'll hold the Saracens cavalry until the King arrives.
So be it.
We cannot attack that and live.
What are you looking at?
A knight.
His men.
Are you with me?
Your quality will be known among your enemies
before ever you meet them, my friend.
You were not that man servant.
No, he was my servant.
- What becomes of us? - As you deserve.
You reap what you sow.
You have heard of this, no?
Get up.
You may go into Kerak. But you will die there.
My master is here.
Tell my lord Saladin that Jerusalem has come.
Saladin.
I prey you pull back your cavalry and leave this matter to me.
I prey you retire on home to Damascus.
Reynald de Chatillon will be punished. I swear it.
Withdraw or we will all die here.
Do we have terms?
We have terms.
I will send you my physicians.
Reynald de Chatillon!
On your knees.
Lower.
I am Jerusalem. Do you, Reynald
will give me the kiss of peace?
Guard!
- What are you looking at? - A dead man.
Reynald de Chatillon, you're arrested.
If you continue like this, I shall have to find the use for you.
If God could spare you that is.
- God does not know me. - Yes, but I do.
I need you in Jerusalem.
Why did we retire?
Why?
God did not favour it.
God determined the results of battles.
The results of battles are determined by God. But also by preparation,
numbers, the absence of disease and the aviability of force.
Why he cannot maintain us seizure with the enemy behind?
How many battles did God win before I came?
That is, before God had determined that I should come.
That's because we were sent for.
- It is because you were unprepared. - If you think that, you shall not be King for long.
When I'm not King, I quit for us.
Thank you for your visit.
You promised.
You promised to return Jerusalem.
Don't forget.
So my friend, the time has come to conclude my affairs.
We have decided that you shall take command of the army of Jerusalem.
If I leave the army with Guy, he will take power through my sister and make war on the Muslims.
- Whatever you ask, I will serve. - No, hear it all before you answer.
Would you marry my sister Sybilla were she free of Guy de Lusignan?
- And Guy? - He will be executed.
Along with his knights who do not swear your religions.
I cannot be because of that.
Whatever you ask I will serve.
The King may move a man, you said.
But the soul belongs to the man.
Yes I did.
You have my love and my answer.
So be it.
Why do you protect Guy?
He's a man who insults you, hates you. Will kill you himself if he had a chance.
But for the salvation of this kingdom, will it be so hard to marry Sibylla?
Jerusalem has no need of a perfect knight.
No. It is a kingdom of conscience or nothing.
Sibylla.
Who are you to refuse a King?
I am what I am.
I offer you that. And the world.
You say no.
Do you think I'm like Guy? That I would sell my soul?
There'll be a day,
when you will wish you have done a little evil
to do a greater good.
My lord.
Do you really think the King wants you head of the army once he's gone?
You think your wife does?
- I have a problem. - Ah yes, Balian.
I saw him at Kerak.
Celebrated.
Kill him.
Ah, hello.
I was dreaming.
About that summer. When I defeated Saladhudin.
Do you remember it? I was only 16.
- You were a beautiful boy. - Yes.
You've always been beautiful.
My beautiful sister.
So beautiful.
I'm sorry I've got you through this.
- Remember me as I was? - I will.
Sibylla.
If I have your nights, you have your wife.
Behold your rightful queen and heir to the throne to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
I, Sybilla by the grace of the Holy Spirit choose the King Guy de Lusignan,
the man who's been my husband. With the help of God he will rule his people well.
Long live the King in prosperity.
Long live the King!
Is this why you came to the Holy Land? Come on!
Leave us.
- The King is in heaven? - Yes.
- And the Templar's King Balian? - Yes.
Reynald, give me a war.
That is what I do.
I am what I am. Someone has to be.
Saladhudin's sister.
I know.
Speak.
The sultan demands the return of his sister's body.
The heads of those responsible. And the surrender of Jerusalem.
Does he?
What answer do you return to Saladhudin?
This.
Take the head to Damascus.
I am Jerusalem.
Assemble the army!
Now this assembly of barons and all Jerusalem is complete.
There are those among you who may disagree with our succession,
but it is war!
And I am...
the King.
We march at once. What say this council?
No. If you must have war, this army cannot move away from water.
You have a chance to hold the city.
But if you move out against Saladhudin,
this army will be destroyed. And the city left defenseless.
When I wish of blacksmith to advise on war, I will tell it.
Saladhudin wants you to come out.
He is waiting for you to make that mistake.
He knows his men.
We should reach the enemies of God!
So we shall.
- And you do so without my knights. - Then I will have the glory, Tiberias.
You had yours years and years ago.
It's time for mine.
Tiberias.
When Saladin is finished with Guy, he will come.
We must look to the defenses.
The King is dead.
And Jerusalem along with him.
You go with the army?
My order is with the army.
You go to certain death.
All death is certain.
I shall tell your father what I've seen you become.
When Saladhudin comes,
we do not defense upon.
Save the people from a dying time.
I will.
God with it.
- Can you sense it? - There's been my messenger.
I drink water for what it is.
- I did not give the cup to you. - No, my lord.
A King does not kill a King.
Why you're not close enough to a great King? To learn by his example.
I've given Jerusalem my whole life. Everything.
First I thought we're fighting for God,
then I realized we're fighting for wealth and land.
I was ashamed.
Tiberias.
There is no more Jerusalem.
I shall go to Cyprus, will you come with me?
No.
You are your father's son.
Saladin has moved his army from water to water.
Not within four days, maybe five. God be with you.
He's no longer with me.
- Mark four hundred. - Four hundred!
Four hundred!
- They are here. - It is only one man.
No, they're here.
This is the only section of the wall they can attack.
Once they begin to bomb all the walls,
they will stop only to avoid these narrow siege towers as they come in.
You take the bombardment.
When they seize firing, we fire.
- We must leave the city! - How exactly my lord we shall?
The fastest horses we can get.
- And the people? - That is unfortunate about the people,
but it is God's will.
Quiet!
It is fallen to us, to defend Jerusalem.
And we have made our preparations as well as they can be made.
None of us took this city from Muslims!
No Muslim of the great army now coming against us
was born when this city was lost.
We fight over an offence we did not give.
Against those who were not alive to be offended.
What is Jerusalem?
Your holy places lie over the Jewish temples that the Romans pulled down!
The Muslim place is a worship, high over yours.
Which is more homy?
The wool?
The musk?
This applica?
Who has claim?
No one has claim.
All have claim!
- That is blasphemy! - Be quiet.
We defend this city not to protect these stones, but the people living within these walls!
My lord!
My lord, my lord.
How we're to defend Jerusalem without knights?
- We have no knights! - Truly.
- What is your condition? - I'm servant to the patria.
That is so. One of my servants.
Is he? You were born a servant?
Kneel.
Every man in arms who capable of bearing them, kneel!
On your knees!
Be without fear in the face of your enemies.
Be brave and upright that God may thee.
Speak the truth even if it leads to your death.
Save God the helpless. That is your oath.
And that so you remember it.
Rise a knight!
Who do you think you are?
Beyond the world?
Does making a man a knight make him a better fighter?
Yes.
Only God gives victory.
- My lord? - No.
God be with us!
When will it begin?
Soon.
Water! Bring water!
Forth!
- Why don't they fight back? - They wait.
That was only the first day.
- It may be a hundred more. - Saladin will show no mercy.
We must do well.
- Force him to offer terms. - What terms?
We fight for the people.
Their safety and freedom.
- Mercy. - No, I cannot.
Four hundred!
Fire!
Three hundred!
Fire!
One fifty!
Hold your fire!
Hold!
Fire!
Pour out! Now!
Fire!
- Who defends? - Balian of Ibelin. The son of Godfrey.
Godfrey? Godfrey nearly killed me in another one.
- Truly, I did not know he had a son. - It was his son at Kerak.
- The one you let live. - Yes.
- Perhaps you should not have. - Perhaps I should have had a different teacher.
Fire!
When a body is burnt,
it cannot be resurrected until the Judgement day.
If we do not burn these bodies, we will all be dead of disease in three days.
God will understand, my lord.
And if he doesn't, then he is not God. And we need not worry.
The wall, where the entrance gate used to be has been weak.
It's usually when the gate is blocked in, it is weaker than the wall around it.
- Or stronger. - It is weaker, Rashid has seen it.
This will be our door into Jerusalem.
This wall will make us down.
We must prepare.
Brothers! Brothers!
God has sent you this day!
You did not listen as they did!
When this wall comes down,
there will be no quarter.
If you throw down your arms,
your families will die.
We can break this army here!
So I say let them come!
Let them come!
Come on! Come on! Come on!
They will ask for terms.
They must ask for terms.
Convert to Islam, repent later.
You've taught me a lot about religion, reverence.
When you leave the city?
Before I lose it, I will burn it to the ground.
Your holy place is ours.
Every last thing in Jerusalem that drives men mad.
I wonder if it will not be better if you did.
- You will destroy it? - Every stone.
And every Christian knight you kill will take ten Saracens with him.
You will destroy your army here and never raise another.
I swear to God that to take this city will be the end of you.
Your city is full of women and children.
If my army will die, so will your city.
You offer terms, I ask none.
I will give every soul safe conduct to Christian lands.
Every soul. The women, the children, the old and all your knights and soldiers
and your queen. No one will be hurt. I swear to God.
The Christians butchered every Muslim within the walls when they took this city.
I am not those men.
I am Saladhudin.
Saladhudin.
Then under these terms I surrender Jerusalem.
And peace be with you.
What is Jerusalem worth?
Nothing.
Everything.
I had surrendered Jerusalem.
All will be safely escorted to the sea.
If this is the Kingdom of Heaven,
let God do with it as he wills.
Your brother's Kingdom was here. And here.
That Kingdom can never be surrendered.
What should I do?
I'm still the queen of Accra, Escalon.
Decide not to be a queen. And I will come to you.
This horse.
It is not a very good horse. I will not keep it.
Thank you.
And if God does not love you,
how could you have done all the things that you have done?
Peace be with you.
A queen never walks.
And yet you are walking.
We crusades are to come to the kingdom of Jerusalem.
You go to where the men speak Italian.
And then continue until they speak something else.
We've come by this road to find Balian, who was defender of Jerusalem.
I am the blacksmith.
And I am the King of England.
I am the blacksmith.
The King, Richard the Lionheart, went on to the Holy Land and crusaded for three years.
His struggle to regain Jerusalem ended in an uneasy truce with Saladin.
Nearly a thousand years later, peace in the Kingdom of Heaven remains elusive.
Directed by RIDLEY SCOTT