Kingdom Of Heaven

A kingdom of conscience, a kingdom of heaven, there is peace between Christian and Muslim;
well live together ---- Baron Godfrey of Ibelin

Synopsis
Balian, a young French blacksmith, is mourning the loss of his wife and young
son. Destiny comes seeking Balian in the form of a great knight, Godfrey of
Ibelin, a Crusader briefly home to France from fighting in the East. Revealing
himself as Balian's father, Godfrey shows him the true meaning of knighthood
and takes him on a journey across continents to the fabled Holy City.
In Jerusalem at that moment -- between the Second and Third Crusades -- a
fragile peace prevails, through the efforts of its enlightened Christian king,
Baldwin IV, aided by his advisor Tiberias, and the military restraint of the
legendary Muslim leader Saladin. But Baldwin's days are numbered, and strains
of fanaticism, greed, and jealousy among the Crusaders threaten to shatter the
truce.
King Baldwin's vision of peace -- a "kingdom of heaven" -- is shared by a handful
of knights, including Godfrey of Ibelin, who swear to uphold it with their lives and
honor. As Godfrey passes his sword to his son, he also passes on that sacred
oath: to protect the helpless, safeguard the peace, and work toward harmony
between religions and cultures, so that a kingdom of heaven can flourish on
earth.
Balian takes the sword and steps into history
1

Greek Virtues
A virtue is a right inner disposition, and a disposition is a tendency to act in certain ways.
Disposition is more basic, lasting and pervasive than the particular motive or intention behind a
certain action. It differs from a sudden impulse in being a settled habit of mind, an internalized
and often reflective trait. Virtues are general character traits that provide inner sanctions on our
particular motives, intentions and outward conduct.
2

Courage
Courage according to Wikipedia is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty,
or intimidation. Physical courage is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death, or threat
of death, while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular
opposition, shame, scandal, or discouragement.
3


1
IMDb., Plot Summary for Kingdom of Heaven
2
Ethics: Approving Moral Decisions, Contours of Christian Philosophy, ed. C. Stephen Evans
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1984), 116.
3
Wikipedia Courage
In some literature, courage is called fortitude or bravery. In artwork, it is depicted as armour, a
tower, a lion or a broken column. The purpose of courage is to remove that which would stand in
the way of justice. It was considered a military virtue, the virtue of the standing army, in ancient
Greece. A man who demonstrated courage was stoic, using all his energy and emotion to stand
firm in his convictions. Developing courage calls for the strengthening and training of the will into
subjection of justice.
4

I have seen the courage of Balian to overcome the pain to cleanse his sins and
the hardship he is struggling because of the death of his wife. He had faced the
difficulty or the responsibility of becoming a knight to help the helpless and
protect the kingdom and maybe someday protect the king when needed. He had
the valour or the heroic courage to fight for the right to defend the people behind
the walls of the city until the very end.
This much courage from a blacksmith to a knight in such a short period of time is
an insane transformation though weve known that he has the genes of his father
Godfrey that made him a noble knight and maybe he, being a blacksmith before,
had the skills on how to handle or swing a sword.
Wisdom
According to Wikipedia wisdom is the judicious application of knowledge. It is a deep
understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to
apply perceptions, judgments and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires
control of one's emotional reactions (the "passions") so that universal principles, reason and
knowledge prevail to determine one's actions. Wisdom is also the comprehension of what is true
coupled with optimum judgment as to action.
5

In artwork, wisdom is depicted as a book or scroll and in some cases as a mirror being attacked
by a serpent. It is an ability to know and discriminate between what is right and what is wrong.
Im amazed that Balian has that kind of wisdom to lead an army of knights to
come up with all the strategies he could think of to attack the opposing team that
clearly worked after all specially on the fight to defend the walls of Jerusalem
even in their last breath. He measured the distance of how far the catapults can
go and when to throw them.
Balian has a wise attitude that could lead an entire army out of nowhere likewise
on how he bestow all the man-at-arms to become a knight, a perfect example of
leadership that can surpass a kings leading abilities. Its like what the priest said
for who is he to alter the world because he cannot make a man a knight he could
only make him a better fighter that answered all the doubts of the priest and

4
eHow., What Virtues Are Important to the Ancient Greeks?
5
Wikipedia Wisdom
disregard all beliefs and started to believe that they could get out of the situation
alive.
Acquiring that kind of wisdom made Balian the ability to discern inner qualities
and relationships that tends to befriend Muslim and Christians he has the
principle in which religion is not about the worship it is about the relationship to
the God for he said when they are about to burn the bodies of the deceased God
would understand what he was about to do for if he did not therefore he is not
God.
His wisdom also acquired him friends may them be allies or enemies of the plot
for one character told him that his good quality will be known among his enemies
before he ever meet them that was stated true because it once saved his life at
his first battle as a knight when hes troops were defeated and captured he
realize that the commander of the opposing team was the one he spared when
he was alone in the desert and met two cavaliers when one of them wants his
horse.
Justice
Justice is depicted in art as scales and balances, a sword and, in some cases, a crown. Justice is
the ability to consistently treat people fairly. Those who are just give people what is rightfully
theirs promptly, and with a good attitude. Justice also means defending those who are unable to
defend themselves, fighting against the unjust. In ancient Greek culture, justice was the virtue of
the commonwealth because it represents the harmony of the whole. It is also called the social
virtue because without justice a civilized nation would fail.
6

According to most contemporary theories of justice, justice is overwhelmingly important: John
Rawls claims that "Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of
thought."
7
Justice can be thought of as distinct from and more fundamental than benevolence,
charity, mercy, generosity, or compassion. Justice has traditionally been associated with
concepts of fate, reincarnation or Divine Providence, i.e. with a life in accordance with the cosmic
plan. The association of justice with fairness has thus been historically and culturally rare and is
perhaps chiefly a modern innovation.
[8][9]
They say the good will always prevail that Justice will end all the war between
two opposing teams but kingdom of heaven taught me that whether you are the
main character or the antagonist of the story you still have the good inside you
There are two kinds of Christians or Crusaders on the Christianity side of the
story; one that brings havoc to the Arabs or Muslims and one that protects the

6
eHow., What Virtues Are Important to the Ancient Greeks?
7
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (revised edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 3
8
Daston, Lorraine (2008). "Life, Chance and Life Chances". Daedalus 137: 514.
doi:10.1162/daed.2008.137.1.5
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Wikipedia Justice
name of the king. This taught me that not all Christians are good that they fight
for the right even if you say that it is the right that they should kill the entire
caravan who brings anti-Christian activities to other cultures because when you
look on the other side they all serve one God, Christians and Muslims, they just
have different activities to worship the God and specially different language to
say peace on each other.
But still, which Justice will prevail? Will it be on the Christian side or the Muslim
side?
None of their Justice conquered the other because a third, I would not say a new
religion but rather a Man who opposed their meaning of religion, appeared in the
battle who define Religion as the relationship between others, between families,
friends, enemies, and God. Because of this he stood up from nobody to
somebody to lead his knights and man-at-arms to battle which they had survive
for at least three days of battle between the Muslims and decided to have the talk
of what they call the terms in which the Commander of the Muslim army will ask
for a truce with corresponding terms to be filled up.
When you acquire Justice will you have peace?
In such terms, yes but this may be for a while and then another war will erupt
again to defend the other or rather conquer the other.
According to the Epilogue of the Film Kingdom of Heaven that the peace in
Jerusalem remains elusive or somehow evasive that war is still going on to fight
for the right, to save many lives, to protect families and lands.
Peace is temporary, change is the only permanent thing in the world thats why
when you acquire peace there will be a sudden change on everything; the way
everyone works, talks, and fight thats why there is an endless cycle between war
and peace it depends on the team who wins or loses.
Reflection
Kingdom of Heaven has taught me that Religion is not the important subject here
in reality it is the relationship to God, to your friends, families, even enemies and
others you are about to meet that is the true meaning of Religion.
We may have sinned about almost everything but this doesnt mean you are the
worst human being in the world you have to do anything to repent those sins you
dont go murmuring in the corner of your room and feel depressed all the time
when opportunity knocks on your door grab the handle and slowly open it and
you will see how it will change your life that there is much more in life than what
you are doing right now.
Kingdom of Heaven gave me the virtues I could rip off from the film specially the
wisdom I saw on the main character of the film. He has this wisdom that could
make an entire army of Muslims go on with the terms and stop the violence of
conquering Jerusalem. Also what could wisdom do if he doesnt have the
courage to stand up for himself and go on with his Father to study the skill of
becoming a knight this Courage plus Wisdom is the key to good leadership that
could make your army fight and acquire much bravery that could bring Justice to
the things you are fighting for.



KENNETH RODRIGUEZ MANGURIT
Mobile No.: 09055986560

Student
AB Theatre Arts II 1
Department of Humanities
College of Arts and Letters
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Mabini Campus