Kingdom of Heaven is a
movie that was released on
May 6,
2005, written by
William Monahan, directed by
Ridley Scott, and starring
Orlando Bloom,
Eva Green,
Jeremy Irons,
David Thewlis,
Marton Csokas,
Brendan Gleeson,
Alexander Siddig,
Ghassan Massoud,
Edward Norton,
Michael Sheen and
Liam Neeson. Its story deals with the
Crusades of the
12th century, and involves a
blacksmith who aids the city of
Jerusalem in its defense against the great Islamic leader
Saladin, who battles to reclaim the city from the Christians. The script is loosely based on the life of
Balian of Ibelin. Professor
Hamid Dabashi of
Columbia university was the film's chief academic consultant.