Return to Crusades-Encyclopedia Return to Table of Contents
Sir Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott, an avowed agnostic, was born November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England, UK. He began producing and directing films as early as 1965 and has thirty-six movies to his credit. Perhaps his most popular film during this time was his 1982 release Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford, but naturally among historians it is his historical films that generate the most interest.
Scott is no stranger to either historical epics or scholarly criticism. Beginning in 1992, with the release of his film on the discovery of the New World, 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Ridley Scott has been subjected to criticism by historians for his willingness to embrace a-historical stereotypes in the making of his movies. A number of Latin American historians were disappointed with the film and made their their opinions known. His 2000 film Gladiator faired much better at the box office and a little better with Classical history scholars, although it was still subjected to much scholarly criticism. Yet it is his most recent historical epic, Kingdom of Heaven, that has generated by far the most friction with the scholarly community.
Concerning the film's historical reliability, Jonathan Riley-Smith relected the worries of many crusades scholars over the films reported reliance on the novel The Talisman, by 19th century novelist Sir Walter Scott. He expressed his concerns about the use of the novel as the basis for the film when he told the U.K. Telegraph "It sounds absolute balls. It's rubbish. It's not historically accurate at all. They refer to The Talisman, which depicts the Muslims as sophisticated and civilised, and the Crusaders are all brutes and barbarians. It has nothing to do with reality."(1) After seeing the film, Thomas Madden noted, "As a historian it naturally irritates me that there are people who will leave theaters certain that Scott and his writer, William Monahan, have served up something that approximates reality in the Middle Ages. They haven’t. In fact, there is very little that is medieval about The Kingdom of Heaven. It is instead a mixture of 19th-century Romanticism and modern Hollywood wishful-thinking." (2) University of London historian Jonathan Phillips pointed out, "The Templars as 'baddies' is only sustainable from the Muslim perspective, and 'baddies' is the wrong way to show it anyway. They are the biggest threat to the Muslims and many end up being killed because their sworn vocation is to defend the Holy Land." (3)
The concerns of crusades historians were not limited to only historical inaccuracies, but also the political message of the film in the modern world. Again, Jonathan Riley-Smith noted "It's Osama bin Laden's version of history. It will fuel the Islamic fundamentalists."(4) Thomas Madden wrote, " Based on media interviews, Scott, Monahan, and the leading actors clearly believe that their story can help bring peace to the world today. Lasting peace, though, would be better served by candidly facing the truths of our shared past, however politically incorrect those might be. (5) Among the specific concerns of the political impact of the film are the following listed by Riley-Smith, "Kingdom of Heaven will feed the preconceptions of Arab nationalists and Islamists. The words and actions of the liberal brotherhood and the picture of Palestine as a Western frontier will confirm for the nationalists that medieval crusading was fundamentally about colonialism. On the other hand the fanaticism of most of the Christians in the film and their hatred of Islam is what the Islamists want to believe. At a time of inter-faith tension, nonsense like this will only reinforce existing myths." (6)
Not surprisingly, Ridley Scott was essentially forced to respond to such criticism. BBC correspondant Neil Smith in an April 28, 2005 story titled, Film Maker Defends Crusades Epic, quoted the following from Scott, "I showed the film to one very important Muslim in New York, a lecturer from Columbia, and he said it was the best portrayal of Saladin he's ever seen... The characters portrayed in the film are so important in Muslim culture that I knew we had to do it absolutely properly and correctly." (7) The problem with Scott's comments are that he does not mention the name of the scholar from Columbia, so we do not know what he is a scholar of, but certainly not the crusades. Second, Scott's comments reveal his concerns with modern Arab cultural sensitivities, rather than historical scholarship.
Kingdom of Heaven- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Third Crusade- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Jonathan Riley-Smith- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Thomas Madden- Crusades-Encyclopedia
Jonathan Phillips- Crusades-Encyclopedia
1. Charlotte Edwardes Ridley Scott's New Crusades Film 'Panders To Osama Bin Laden' U.K. Telegraph, January 18, 2004
2. Thomas Madden Onward PC Soldiers National Review May 27, 2005
3. Charlotte Edwardes Ridley Scott's New Crusades Film 'Panders To Osama Bin Laden' U.K. Telegraph, January 18, 2004
4. Charlotte Edwardes Ridley Scott's New Crusades Film 'Panders To Osama Bin Laden' U.K. Telegraph, January 18, 2004
5. Thomas Madden Onward PC Soldiers National Review May 27, 2005
6. Jonathan Riley-Smith Truth is the First Victim [Review of Kingdom of Heaven] U.K. Times Online May 5, 2005
7. BBC: Neil Smith Film Maker Defends Crusade Epic April 28, 2005
(c) Andrew Holt, December 2005- Permission is granted for electronic copying or distribution in print for educational or personal use. No permission is granted for commercial use.