Kingdom Of Heaven/Crusaders DVD

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: Director Ridley Scott confronts hundreds of years of religious conflict in KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. An epic film set in Europe and the Middle East, the story follows one man's struggle to better himself and the world around him. Orlando Bloom stars as Balian, a French blacksmith who is mourning the deaths of his wife and baby when his estranged nobleman father (Liam Neeson) arrives and asks him to join the Crusades in Jerusalem. Mindful that conducting the Lord's work will help him atone for his sins, Balian agrees, and embarks on the perilous journey. Along the way, he reveals his gifts of inherent goodness and fair treatment of all human beings. Upon reaching Jerusalem, a city where his meager beginnings no longer matter, Balian earns respect and fealty, while the evil Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas) looks down his aristocratic nose at the former laborer. As he did in GLADIATOR, Scott explores the theme of a man who chooses his fate, instead of accepting the fate given to him at birth. Balian comes to life in Jerusalem, protecting the weak and defenseless as his father told him he must, and catching the eye of the beautiful Princess Sibylla (Eva Green), unhappily married to de Lusignan. Scott paints a stirring portrait of the struggle over Jerusalem among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. In doing so, he also shows the passionate fight for religious freedom. KINGDOM OF HEAVEN ably handles these delicate issues, effectively treating characters from all factions as individuals and not as stereotypes. By placing a virtuous man at the center of this conflict, Scott creates a powerful, universal story. CRUSADERS: An Italian made-for-TV movie with high production values, CRUSADERS is the exciting tale of three friends who find themselves torn apart by the wars of the 11th century. When Pope Urban II calls for a Christian war against the Saracens, Peter (Alessandro Gassman), Andrew (Thure Riefenstein), and Richard (Johannes Brandrup) join the Crusaders in order to see the Holy Land of Jerusalem, which the Saracens now occupy. The three come from very different backgrounds: Peter is a humble bell founder, Andrew is a shepherd, and Richard is the very religious son of the wealthy Baron William of Aurocastro. The friends are alienated by the violent methods of the Crusaders; Richard and Peter desert, while Andrew stays on. The two friends join the beautiful young Jewish woman, Rachel (Barbora Bobulova), on her way to Jerusalem, but once there, Richard is arrested, and Peter must feign allegiance to the Saracens in order to save him. Eventually, the three friends find themselves on different sides of the war, and all in love with the same woman--Rachel.

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