Near the end of the movie, Saladin and his army arrive at Jerusalem around sunset. When night falls, they begin an offensive on the walls of Jerusalem with perhaps hundreds of trebuchets. This continues all night, and the next morning they assault the walls directly with siege towers and a ram. There are several things wrong with this set of events.
Firstly, there is no way the army could have constructed so many siege towers overnight, even if they had the wood. Remember that they are situated in a barren and apparently treeless desert. Pushing the siege towers with them to Jerusalem isn't a plausible idea either, because they entered through the mountains-very unwieldy terrain to push something such as a siege tower.
Secondly, if we are to assume they constructed siege towers on site, it would have taken weeks, perhaps months. There would be near-constant attacks on the walls with the trebuchets and the affected area would most likely be destroyed save the walls. This is why sieges were typically year-long affairs, and dramatic siege battles did not happen within days of the siege being laid. Also, it would not be logical or common for the besiegers to risk everything in a final struggle for a single breach in the walls. A sensible army would simply resume the bombardment and spend another few months building siege towers. The city might run out of food and starve, and the besiegers could take the city without further fighting. The developers most likely sped up the siege length for the sake of the movie, because it would be jarring to the viewer to skip forward months at a time. [According to historical accounts, Saladin and his army arrived at the city on September 20th 1187 and the surrender of Jerusalem was negotiated on October 2nd, thirteen days later. The accounts also mention the repeated use of siege engines of many varieties. So they either brought the siege engines with them, or were able to create them speedily on-site. While, yes, the filmmakers have compressed events to a small degree, this is simply artistic licence - the film is not intended as a documentary and thus is entitled to take liberties with the precise timeframe. Certainly the historical references do not support your assertation that the creation of numerous such machines should take weeks or even months. Your suggestion that the besiegers of the city would not concentrate all their force on a small area also fails to conform with the historical accounts. There are references to Saladin moving his army to a specific tactically-advantageous location near the Mount of Olives and opening a breach in the walls, much as depicted in the film, with an inconclusive battle being fought at that point. While the film-makers have taken some liberties, which is entirely allowable as artistic licence, the film sticks reasonably close to the true events.]
Movie news
Great sites
Quotes
Hospitaler: I put no stock in religion. By the word religion, I've seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the 'will of God'. Holiness is in right action an courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves. And goodness - what God desires - is here and here. By what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man - or not.
Mistakes
The Patriarch of Jerusalem was (and is) not addressed as 'Your Eminence', which is reserved for Cardinals, but as 'Your Beatitude'. See more...
Trivia
When the Christians fire their first volley at the Muslims, one of the guys screams a Wilhelm as he falls. See more...
Kingdom of Heaven (2005) - 13 corrections
Directed by Ridley Scott, starring Alexander Siddig, Brendan Gleeson, Edward Norton, Eva Green, Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, David Thewlis (add more)
Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click the edit icon under an entry, then choose "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.
Near the end of the movie, Saladin and his army arrive at Jerusalem around sunset. When night falls, they begin an offensive on the walls of Jerusalem with perhaps hundreds of trebuchets. This continues all night, and the next morning they assault the walls directly with siege towers and a ram. There are several things wrong with this set of events.
Firstly, there is no way the army could have constructed so many siege towers overnight, even if they had the wood. Remember that they are situated in a barren and apparently treeless desert. Pushing the siege towers with them to Jerusalem isn't a plausible idea either, because they entered through the mountains-very unwieldy terrain to push something such as a siege tower.
Secondly, if we are to assume they constructed siege towers on site, it would have taken weeks, perhaps months. There would be near-constant attacks on the walls with the trebuchets and the affected area would most likely be destroyed save the walls. This is why sieges were typically year-long affairs, and dramatic siege battles did not happen within days of the siege being laid. Also, it would not be logical or common for the besiegers to risk everything in a final struggle for a single breach in the walls. A sensible army would simply resume the bombardment and spend another few months building siege towers. The city might run out of food and starve, and the besiegers could take the city without further fighting. The developers most likely sped up the siege length for the sake of the movie, because it would be jarring to the viewer to skip forward months at a time. [According to historical accounts, Saladin and his army arrived at the city on September 20th 1187 and the surrender of Jerusalem was negotiated on October 2nd, thirteen days later. The accounts also mention the repeated use of siege engines of many varieties. So they either brought the siege engines with them, or were able to create them speedily on-site. While, yes, the filmmakers have compressed events to a small degree, this is simply artistic licence - the film is not intended as a documentary and thus is entitled to take liberties with the precise timeframe. Certainly the historical references do not support your assertation that the creation of numerous such machines should take weeks or even months. Your suggestion that the besiegers of the city would not concentrate all their force on a small area also fails to conform with the historical accounts. There are references to Saladin moving his army to a specific tactically-advantageous location near the Mount of Olives and opening a breach in the walls, much as depicted in the film, with an inconclusive battle being fought at that point. While the film-makers have taken some liberties, which is entirely allowable as artistic licence, the film sticks reasonably close to the true events.]
In the film, the dome on the Dome of the Rock is gilded with gold. However, the gold plating was not added to the shrine until the 1920s courtesy of a donation on behalf of the Turkish government. [While restoration has been necessary over the years, including the one in the 1920's, the dome has always had a gilt colouring.]
In the scene where Balian of Ibelin is preparing the defense of Jerusalem and he sets white markers at a distance from the city walls, he measures this distance in meters. The meter was established in 1875 A.D, almost 700 years later. [As with the language throughout the film, terms have been translated into their modern-day equivalents so that audiences can understand what they mean.]
When Godfrey tells Balian how to get to Jerusalem he tells him to 'go to where the people speak Italian and keep going'. Italy and the Italian language did not exist at this time, instead people spoke various regional dialects which were formed into Italian circa the 14th Century. [So what was he supposed to say? 'Go to where people speak various regional dialects and keep going'? And he's speaking modern English - do you have a problem with that too? The script has been modernised, and this is one element of that.]
Far from letting the inhabitants of Jerusalem go free, Saladin actually ransomed those who could pay and enslaved the rest. [As stated in the disclaimer at the end of the film, although the story was based on real events and real people, some characters and events have been altered, added or left out for dramatic purposes. As the film-makers are specifically claiming not to be making a 100% accurate historical document, this is not a mistake.]
Guy de Lusignan was not paraded around by Saladin on a donkey. He was treated with honour and later released. [As stated in the disclaimer at the end of the film, although the story was based on real events and real people, some characters and events have been altered, added or left out for dramatic purposes. As the film-makers are specifically claiming not to be making a 100% accurate historical document, this is not a mistake.]
Balian was present at the Battle of Hattin, where Saladin defeated Guy, but managed to cut his way out of the encirclement and return to Jerusalem. [As stated in the disclaimer at the end of the film, although the story was based on real events and real people, some characters and events have been altered, added or left out for dramatic purposes. As the film-makers are specifically claiming not to be making a 100% accurate historical document, this is not a mistake.]
Count Raymond of Tripoli was the actual Lord of Tiberias. He did not refuse to accompany Guy and was present at the Battle of Hattin, but managed to cut his way out and escape. [As stated in the disclaimer at the end of the film, although the story was based on real events and real people, some characters and events have been altered, added or left out for dramatic purposes. As the film-makers are specifically claiming not to be making a 100% accurate historical document, this is not a mistake.]
Balian's father's name was actually Barisan, not Godfrey as is stated in the movie. [As stated in the disclaimer at the end of the film, although the story was based on real events and real people, some characters and events have been altered, added or left out for dramatic purposes. As the film-makers are specifically claiming not to be making a 100% accurate historical document, this is not a mistake.]
Guy de Lusignan and Reynald de Châtillon weren't Knights Templar. Moreover, the Templars weren't allowed to marry. They were a religious order and took vows of celibacy and poverty. [It's fiction, so they can make anyone a Templar that they wish to. As far as the vows, Catholic priests take those same vows, but many (especially in that time period) chose to ignore them and marry and have children anyway. Many popes even had children.]
You may also like: Gladiator | The Dark Knight | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | Titanic




Facebook
StumbleUpon
reddit
Delicious
Slashdot