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Kingdom of Heaven, Propaganda?
Just heard about the new Ridley Scott movie, Kingdom of Heaven. I’ve yet to download the trailer or read much of anything about it beside the entry at IMDB. While I obviously haven’t seen this movie, I must say though the plot line description makes me rather suspicious of this movie’s motives and timing:
During the Crusades of the 12th Century, Balian of Ibelin (Bloom), a young blacksmith in Jerusalem, rises to protect his people from foreign invaders.
Hm, a movie designed to inspire us to protect the Holy Land from foreign invaders… HMMM!! This appearing on the same day that several articles appear claiming how Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has “vowed” that Israel is not planning to attack Iran (at least not unilaterally).
While people are claiming that this movie portrays Muslims “nobly,” I do have to suspect foul play here. Or at the very least, extremely fortuitous timing. Also check out the comments on the movie left by somebody who’s already seen an advanced copy:
Bloom as the protagonist who doesn’t believe in God or religion, “I am just a blacksmith”, undergoes a spiritual journey that tests both his values as a man (do I stay here and fight for people of Jerusalem) and his ideals about religion.
It sounds to me (wearing my conspiracy hat) that this movie thus works on two levels. On one, it’s a clear call to mobilize religious Americans for a “Holy War.” All they need to hear is the cry, real or symbolic, of “Holy Land Under Attack!!” and they’ll be swarming over there like flies on shit. Then you have the rest of America who doesn’t give two turds about God or religion. This is the America that’s just concerned with their personal life and their work: ie, “I am just a blacksmith”. This faction of American society will not respond to the religious overtones of a Holy Land invasion, but they can be towed along with the humanist values to help their fellow man (especially against those nasty rock-eating Arabs), and who knows, they just might even find themselves in a “spiritual journey” of redemption along the way.
Again, I’ve not seen this movie, and I could be reading the omens all wrong … but I’ll shit in my hat if that’s the case. This kind of thing doesn’t happen as a mere coincidence.
- Kickass Propaganda Links
- Vatican Lost Keys to Heaven
- Jacques Ellul on Propaganda and Education
- Fisher King
- Secret taught by living Jesus:
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April 15th, 2005 at 8:54 am
Black Hawk Down (preceeds some war)- Alien (preceeds some aerospace initiatives) - I don’t knw but Ridley sucks ass - BUt as I have said a billion times now - WE WILL BE GOING TO WAR WITH ISRAEL IN THE NEAR FUTURE - and it will be the second time nuclear weapons are used - who cares if we bomb all the little brown people and totally fuck up the world over another 100 years of oil - - - - not me said the evil man - not me
April 15th, 2005 at 1:30 pm
i wonder if scott’s apparent interest in gnosticism (re the prada ad) has anything to do with this? ‘kingdom of heaven’ is a pretty prominent phrase in the gnostic corpus. maybe he’s some crazy gnostic double-agent.
April 15th, 2005 at 1:43 pm
yeah ive been trying really hard to reconcile those two items, and havent hit anything solid yet. i feel like i ought to go out and rent alien and some of his other movies and watch it with “gnostic eyes”
April 16th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
I haven’t seen “Kingdom of Heaven” yet (the film is due to show on May, 6th, and we have no screenings for the film here). Having read the plot and various comments, and having seen the trailer, I think a non accidental “ideological” thread can be established with two fairly recent films.
“Troy” (Wolfgang Petersen - 2004) starts reminding us lazy and cosy westerners something we don’t have much time for, how “sweet and seemly” is to die for one’s country, even if it is only to rescue a spoilt beauty like Helen, the “face that launched a thousand ships”. So why not do it for Hussein in Iraq, where there is the added value of real crude oil?
“Alexander” (Oliver Stone - 2004) goes somewhat further, and reminds us Westerners that we have a superior mission to accomplish, some kind of “Babylonia or bust”! OK, to be sure Alexander sometimes seem a bit confused, but there is no doubt him mom Olympias constantly inspires him with powerful telepathy, and also Zeus/Jupiter who seems to have dabbled more than a bit in Alexander’s conception, sends messages with eagles (white necked ones?) galore.
“Kingdom of Heaven” (in Italy just a low-profile “The Crusades” so the Vatican does not file a legal suit for Trade Mark abuse!) tries to strike the balance right with between West and East, yes even with Islam. OK the West seem to have lost its Faith, but what really matters, says the Spiritual-Master-Hospitallier-Monk (David Thewlis) to the (post-modern) unbelieving Balian of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom) is that Religion is “about your rite of actions”, more like a free-masonic initiation. True, there lingers a feeling there is “something rotten in the West” (King Baldwin’s leprosy), but there is still hope. And The Crusades are not some kind of dress rehearsal for WWIII, provided Eastern chieftains, and Muslim in particular (Saladin) share our same Chivalry Code. One is left only to wonder if Baldwin and Saladin (the game is open for guesses on present-day counterparts) are meant to be some sort of 33rd Degree Masonic Masters.
April 18th, 2005 at 11:47 am
[…] e or just “mere” entertainment. I’m reminded of a recent commenter who connected Ridley Scott’s various war movies to certain conflicts […]
April 18th, 2005 at 1:59 pm
The plot is vaster, much vaster at least Wolfgang Petersen, Oliver Stone and Ridley Scott are involved. I have seen thing you humans cannot even imagine…”May the Force be with you”, but beware, you who evoke it, the Force has a dark side…