The Human Element

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Come, my tan-faced children, follow well in order. Get your weapons ready. Have you your pistols? Have you your sharp-edged axes? For we cannot tarry here. We must march, my darlings. We must bear the brunt of danger. We, the youthful sinewy races—all the rest on us depend,
“The 30 Day Movie Challenge” Day Eleven: A movie which changed your outlook on something Depending on a number of factors - including but not limited to time of year, current level of self esteem, and orientation of the stars - I sometimes cannot keep my head above the wake of my own misanthropy. Luckily, the panacea that is Kingdom of Heaven always manages to soothe my soul. Ridley Scott’s film is filled with scenes of senseless violence. But when the smoke clears, allowing you to finally rise above the rabble, the historically rooted characters of Saladin and Baldwin IV (Ghassan Massoud and Edward Norton, respectively) dominate. In appealing to the viewer’s rationale, these two provide hope in an atmosphere of extreme pessimism. They are diamonds in the rough. When confronted with the draconian perspective that “Humans are bastards,” they serve as flesh-and-blood representations of the opposing viewpoint. Although technically on different sides of the fence - they share great respect for one another and approximate that a man’s worth should be based on the moral content of his soul, not those trivial opinions generated by the mind. While Saladin and Baldwin understand that humanity has gone off the beaten path, they represent the change that they hope to see in the world.

“The 30 Day Movie Challenge”

Day Eleven: A movie which changed your outlook on something

Depending on a number of factors - including but not limited to time of year, current level of self esteem, and orientation of the stars - I sometimes cannot keep my head above the wake of my own misanthropy. Luckily, the panacea that is Kingdom of Heaven always manages to soothe my soul. Ridley Scott’s film is filled with scenes of senseless violence. But when the smoke clears, allowing you to finally rise above the rabble, the historically rooted characters of Saladin and Baldwin IV (Ghassan Massoud and Edward Norton, respectively) dominate. In appealing to the viewer’s rationale, these two provide hope in an atmosphere of extreme pessimism. They are diamonds in the rough. When confronted with the draconian perspective that “Humans are bastards,” they serve as flesh-and-blood representations of the opposing viewpoint. Although technically on different sides of the fence - they share great respect for one another and approximate that a man’s worth should be based on the moral content of his soul, not those trivial opinions generated by the mind. While Saladin and Baldwin understand that humanity has gone off the beaten path, they represent the change that they hope to see in the world.

Posted: Thu March 3rd, 2011 at 4:45pm
Tagged: 30 day movie challenge Kingdom of Heaven Ridley Scott Jerusalem Saladin Baldwin IV Orlando Bloom Eva Green Jeremy Irons Brendan Gleeson Liam Neeson Edward Norton Ghassan Massoud Religion Movies
Notes: 123
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    If I pull that off, will you die? -It would be extremely painful. You’re a big guy. -For you.
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    I swear, I think I have seen it like 15 times.
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