[Steppes] Kingdom of Heaven

[Vicki Marsh]

Xene here:

We didn't make it to the demo tonight, but we were able to see the movie at
our new theater in Cedar Hill.

Awesome. I did want to stand up and explain to the audience *why* a knight
received the buffet in the knighting ceremony - it annoyed me that they
laughed and thought it was a joke.

We wished they would have mentioned the Hospitallers - the Knights of St.
John - and described the difference between the Templars and the
Hospitallers.

Good things - reference to the Italian sword masters, but Llywelyn thought
it came from Fiori - published way after the Crusades.

Llywelyn wanted to explain to the director why a blacksmith hits an anvil. I
wanted to explain to the princess (who looked a lot like Colete) that there
are spies everywhere. The director didn't explain the Sinead O'Connor look
on the princess - was she trying to hide, or was she going crazy, or just
mourning the death of the people and planning to take vows and enter a
convent? No telling.

The end was kind of bland.  But the armor of Saladin was to *die* for. The
siege engines, the double recurve bows for the army of Saladin, the
balistas, and the large-scale armies were way cool.
Some of the music sounded like the Cantigas, but much of it was hollywood
modern or Bach.  It didn't quite fit.
I loved the linen tunics, the wool surcoats, and the silk veils. Yummm.

Still, one that we want for our DVD collection.

We would love to go see this with Da'ud and Mahdi.

Check it out.

Xene