ABSTRACT
By all accounts, Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven ought to be considered an epic. Set during the Crusades and tracing the actions of its hero, the historical figure Balian, in his defense of Jerusalem against a Muslim attack led by Saladin, the film depends on many of the genre’s ingredients. What better choice for a composer than Harry Gregson-Williams (Chronicles of Narnia, Prince of Persia, Shrek, among many others) whose ability to draw on early music, choral music, and Arabic music in a masterful blend of musical styles could satisfy the demands of the epic genre and its medieval setting? But the exotic spectacle of medieval Jerusalem, the enormous battles waged over vast terrains, and the clash of Muslims against Christians is only the backstory to the larger narrative of compromise. The climax of the film, what ought to be Balian’s heroic defense of the city and his people, deflates into a decidedly unheroic surrender, his audacious threats to Saladin evaporating like hot air. And yet, applause from the ramparts dispels any notion that Balian acted with cowardice. Meanwhile, Saladin, the clear “winner” in this conflict, enters Jerusalem without the usual trumpet fanfare or cheers from his people, but to the most hyperreal suspense of time. In this sense, Kingdom of Heaven emerges as a kind of “inverted epic”: a film that invokes the classical conventions of the genre but employs these conventions to new ideological ends.
