Crusaders.
Clear the road, if you will.
Squire.
Wait.
She was a suicide. Cut off her head.
And return the axe.
- You know this place, my lord? - Know it? I know all of it.
Come on, Thomas. I told you to stop that now.
Out of the way of the horses.
That is the man.
We need all these horses shod. We need food. And we'll pay.
He says yes.
The blacksmith is the man you seek. His name is Balian.
But know that he mourns.
The burial we passed at the crossroads was for his wife.
Their child died. She was overcome with grief and killed herself.
Do you still advise what you advised upon the road?
I do, my lord.
What does that say?
"What man is a man who does not make the world better?"
Leave me with this man.
I am sorry you lost your wife and child.
I, also, have lost.
Some say Jerusalem is the very centre of the world for asking forgiveness.
But myself, I call it here.
Now.
I knew your mother.
To be courteous, I should say that it was against her objections.
But
I did not force her.
I loved her in my fashion.
Balian, I'm your father.
I have forgiveness to ask of you.
I am Godfrey, the baron of lbelin.
I have 100 men at arms in Jerusalem.
If you will come with me, you will have a living and
will have my thanks - there it is.
Whoever you are, my lord, my place is here.
What made it your place is now dead.
You will never see me again.
If you want anything of me, take it now.
I want nothing.
I am sorry for your troubles.
God protect you.
Jerusalem is easy to find.
You come to where the men speak Italian.
And continue until they speak something else.
We go by Messina.
Goodbye.
They would have taken you to Jerusalem.
Away from all this.
I'm your priest, Balian. I tell you, God has abandoned you.
I swear to you, you will have no peace so long as you stay here.
No man ever needed a new world more.
The village does not want you.
If you take the Crusade
you may relieve your wife's position in hell.
I put it delicately. She was a suicide. She is in hell.
Though what she does there without a head...
Wait here.
Have you come to kill me?
Even these days, it is not easy.
Well?
I have done
murder.
Haven't we all?
Is it true that in Jerusalem I can erase my sins?
And those of my wife? Is it true?
We can find out together.
Show me your hand.
- Pick it up. Let's see what you're made of. - His hand is hurt, my lord.
I once fought two days with an arrow through my testicle.
Never use a low guard. You fight well.
Let's work on your skills. Take a high guard, like this.
The Italians call it la posta del falcone - the guard of the hawk.
Strike from high. Like this.
Do it. Sword straighter.
Come on. Leg back. Bend your knees. Sword straighter.
Defend yourself.
The blade isn't the only part of a sword.
Attack.
I have your leave?
Pay attention.
What's this?
You have with you a man - Balian - who killed a priest.
I'm charged by the lord bishop to bring him back.
What he says is true. They have the right to take me.
I say he's innocent of the charge. If you say he's guilty, then we'll fight.
God will decide the truth of it.
My German friend is a close student of the law.
Just give him to me. I'll fight you for something else.
He's a murderer.
So am I.
Whoever dies here today, you will certainly be among them.
You're a lord. I must give you the road.
To the flanks.
Thank the bishop for his love.
You broke the arrow.
If the ribs are broken, the marrow may enter the blood,
in which case you'll take a fever and die.
Or a cyst will form,
and you'll live.
You're in the hands of God.
Will you get me some more wine?
It was not that they had no right to take you.
It was the way they asked.
They had the right to take me.
And so do I.
To kill an infidel is not murder.
It is the path to heaven.
To kill an infidel is not murder.
It is the path to heaven.
To kill an infidel is not murder.
It is the path to heaven.
Who is this?
My son.
Would I had fought you when you were still capable of making bastards?
I knew your mother when she was making hers.
Fortunately, you're too old to be one of mine.
All will be settled.
Do you know what lies in the Holy Land?
A new world.
A man who in France had not a house,
is, in the Holy Land, the master of a city.
He who was the master of a city begs in the gutter.
There, at the end of the world,
you are not what you were born, but what you have within yourself to be.
I hope to find forgiveness.
That's all I know.
Whatever your position, you are of my house.
And that means you will serve the king of Jerusalem.
What could a king ask of a man like me?
A better world than has ever been seen.
A kingdom of conscience.
A kingdom of heaven.
There is peace between Christian and Muslim.
We live together. Or, between Saladin and the king, we try.
Did you think that lay at the end of a crusade?
It does.
My son, you are all that survives me.
Do not disappoint me.
- Who are those men? - Muslims.
- Saracens. - And they are allowed their prayers?
If they pay the tax.
"Praise be to God. It is proper to praise him."
Sounds like our prayers.
It's good.
When the king is dead, Jerusalem will be no place for friends of Muslims,
or traitors to Christendom,
like your father.
I am Guy de Lusignan.
Remember that name.
And me.
Keep it.
My lord.
How will you ride if you have no stick to beat the horse?
He will be king in Jerusalem one day.
Balian.
Hurry.
I can go no further.
Get on your knees.
Be without fear in the face of your enemies.
Be brave and upright that God may love thee.
Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death.
Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong.
That is your oath.
And that's so you remember it.
Arise a knight and Baron of lbelin.
Defend the king.
If the king is no more, protect the people.
It's time now, my lord, to confess to holy God, not your son.
Are you sorry for all your sins?
For all but one.
You sail now for Jerusalem, as your father wished.
I'll follow within the week. This journey can be perilous.
If God has purpose for you there, He'll keep you safe in His hands.
If not
God bless you.
He says that is his horse.
Why would it be his horse?
Because it is on his land.
I took this horse from the sea.
He says you are a great liar.
And he will fight you because you are a liar.
- I have no desire to fight. - Then you must give him the horse.
No.
Fight me fairly!
Why? Why should he? He is a knight.
And I am the baron of lbelin.
He says the baron of lbelin is old.
He knew him at Damascus.
I am the new one.
Stop.
That's enough.
Stop! Stop!
lbelin, that's enough!
lbelin! Stop!
You have taken it very well that I have killed your master.
It was the end of his time.
All is as God wills it.
Now finish this.
Take me to Jerusalem.
Very good horse.
Take the horse and be about your business.
This is your prize of battle.
I am your prisoner, your slave should you wish it.
I have been a slave or very near to one.
I will never keep one nor suffer any to be kept.
Go.
The man you killed was a very great cavalier among the Muslims.
- His name was Mummad al Fais. - I will pray for him.
Your quality will be known among your enemies
before ever you meet them, my friend.
Old man, where is it that Christ was crucified?
God,
what is it you want of me?
How can you be in hell when you're in my heart?
- You must have known him. - What?
Since you carry Godfrey's sword, you must have known him.
- I did. - A man my size.
Yes.
And green eyes.
Blue.
Come with us.
My lord.
Stop. You're hurting him.
- Where's your master? - I have none.
Give me some water.
Thank you for the drink.
If you happen to see Balian, the son of Godfrey,
tell him that Sibylla called.
So how find you Jerusalem?
God does not speak to me.
Not even on the hill where Christ died.
I am outside God's grace.
- I have not heard that. - At any rate, it seems
- I have lost my religion. - 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
and 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.
Come.
The king has made a peace with Saladin these past six years.
He holds Jerusalem as a place of prayer for all faiths,
as the Muslims did before we came.
These men are Templars. They killed Arabs.
So they are dying for what the Pope would command them to do.
Yes, but not Christ, I think. Nor this king.
- Who says I raid? - That witness,
all of Jerusalem, Holy God,
and me.
That witness, if you call him that, is a Saracen. He lies.
There will come a day, Reynald de Chatillon,
when you are not protected by your title.
Oh? When will that be?
Alert me, Tiberias, when men are equal and the kingdom of Heaven has arrived.
Those Templars have been hung for a raid that I know you commanded.
Prove it. I will wait at Kerak until you do.
The king will take your castle of Kerak, Reynald.
Try to take it, Tiberias. I'll be there.
My lord, Tiberias.
My lord.
It's true.
You're your father's son. He was my friend.
I'm yours.
Godfrey dead. It could have come at a better time.
Come.
It was shouted in the streets that you killed a great lord of Syria.
Saladin himself sent word that your fight did not breach the peace,
that you had cause.
What know you of Saladin?
That he is king of the Saracens. And that he surrounds this kingdom.
He has 200,000 men in Damascus alone.
He could win a war if he goes to war.
And he's daily given cause for war by fanatics newly from Europe.
By Templar bastards like Reynald de Chatillon.
Here, from this room, I keep the peace, as far as it can be kept.
But Saladin and the king between them
would make a better world.
If it lives only for a while, Tiberias, it still has lived.
What did your father tell you of your obligations?
That I was to be a good knight.
I pray the world and Jerusalem
can accommodate such a rarity
as a perfect knight.
Have you dined?
The princess Sibylla of Jerusalem and her husband, Guy de Lusignan.
So, how many knights did you find in France?
50.
They've sworn allegiance to the king?
Of course, Tiberias. Obviously.
- You sit at my table? - Is it not the king's table?
Is it? I have not seen a king at it for some years.
I cannot eat. I am finicky about company.
In France, this could not inherit.
But here, there are no civilized rules.
I have business in the East.
My wife does not lament my absence.
That is either the best of wives,
or the very, very worst.
- Do you go to meet Reynald? - No, my lord. He is in disfavour.
I am a member of this court.
Why should I make leave with that troublemaker?
To the very best of wives.
- The king will see you now. - The king would see Godfrey's son.
I'll take him.
This morning, I spoke without knowing who you were.
I knew who you were. It's unmistakable.
I loved your father.
And I shall love you.
Do you fear being with me?
No.
And yes.
A woman in my place has two faces.
One for the world, and one which she wears in private.
With you, I'll be only Sibylla.
Tiberias thinks me unpredictable.
I am unpredictable.
No. There.
Come forward.
I am glad to meet Godfrey's son.
He was one of my greatest teachers.
He was there when, playing with the other boys, my arm was cut.
And it was he, not my father's physicians, who noticed that I felt no pain.
He wept when he gave my father the news
that I am a leper.
The Saracens say that this disease is God's vengeance against the vanity of our kingdom.
As wretched as I am, these Arabs believe
that the chastisement that awaits me in hell is far more severe and lasting.
If that's true, I call it unfair.
Come. Sit.
When I was 16, I won a great victory.
I felt in that moment I would live to be 100.
Now I know I shall not see 30.
You see, none of us choose our end, really.
A king may move a man.
A father may claim a son.
But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power,
your soul is in your keeping alone.
When you stand before God, you cannot say, "But I was told by others to do thus",
or that virtue "was not convenient at the time".
This will not suffice. Remember that.
I will.
Then go now to your father's house at lbelin.
And from there, protect the pilgrim road.
Protect the helpless.
And then, perhaps one day when I am helpless, you will come and protect me.
There, my lord.
Ibelin.
Your father was important.
His lands were not.
That will suit me.
My lord, you have 1,000 acres, 100 families.
You have Christians, Jews, Muslims.
You have 50 pairs of oxen.
What we do not have is water.
Right. Stone the walls.
I'm on my way to Cana.
Where Jesus changed water to wine.
A better trick would be to change you to a nobleman.
That should be easy. In France, a few yards of silk can make a nobleman.
- I expect your hospitality. - It is given.
- What? - It seems years since I've seen a woman eat.
Truly?
I was watching you today.
You've been given a patch of dirt and it seems
you will build a new Jerusalem here.
It is my land.
Who would I be if I did not try to make it better?
They try to be one.
One heart, one morality.
Their prophet says, "Submit."
Jesus says,
"Decide."
Did you decide on Guy?
Guy was chosen by my mother.
I was 15 at the time.
Why do you think I'm here?
I know that lbelin is not on the way to Cana.
What else do you know, my lord?
I know that you are a princess.
- And I am no lord. - You're a knight.
Neither earned nor proved.
I'm not here with you because I'm bored or wicked.
I'm here because...
because in the East, between one person and another,
there is only light.
Halt!
- This caravan is armed, Reynald. - Good. No sport otherwise.
They've seen us.
- Go after them. The rider is getting away. - Nothing will come of it, nothing.
I'd prefer not to be hanged before my wife is queen.
Don't worry. "Who but Reynald", they'll say.
It's always me. They'll believe it in Jerusalem, I assure you.
- You were at Nazareth, praying. - You're a dangerous man, Reynald.
If the war's to be now or later, I would have it now.
- How long can the leper last? - God wills it. God wills it!
- God wills it! - Jerusalem!
It's you!
Guy de Lusignan and Reynald de Chatillon,
with the Templars, have attacked a Saracen caravan.
Silence! It was no caravan.
It was an army headed for Bethlehem to desecrate our lord's birthplace.
Reynald, with the Templars, have broken the king's pledge of peace.
Saladin will come into this kingdom...
Tiberias knows more than a Christian should about Saladin's intentions.
That I would rather live with men than kill them
is certainly why you are alive.
That sort of Christianity has its uses, I suppose.
We must not go to war with Saladin.
We do not want it and we may not win it.
Blasphemy!
An army of Jesus Christ which bears his holy cross cannot be beaten.
Does the Count of Tiberias suggest that it could be?
There must be war. God wills it.
God wills it!
Silence!
Saladin has crossed the Jordan with 200,000 men.
He will make first for Kerak and Reynald de Chatillon.
My lord.
We must meet him before he reaches Kerak.
I will lead the army.
My lord, if you travel, you'll die.
Send word to Balian to protect the villagers.
Assemble the army.
What becomes of us?
The world will decide.
The world always decides.
My lord, the king is marching on Kerak.
Saracen cavalry. They're coming to close Reynald in.
These people are not safe outside the walls.
Saladin will certainly come behind them.
Go into the fortress now.
Visitors.
My lord Balian.
My lord Reynald prays you bring your force into Kerak.
Thank you, but no. If we do, these people will die.
We'll hold the Saracen cavalry until the king arrives.
So be it.
We cannot attack that and live.
My lady.
- What do you look at? - A knight.
His men.
Are you with me?
Forward!
Divide!
Your quality will be known among your enemies
before ever you meet them, my friend.
- You were not that man's servant. - No. He was my servant.
- What becomes of us? - As you deserve.
You reap what you sow.
You have heard of this, no?
Get up.
You may go into Kerak, but you will die there.
My master is here.
Tell my lord Saladin that Jerusalem has come.
Saladin.
I pray you pull back your cavalry and leave this matter to me.
I pray you retire unharmed to Damascus.
Reynald of Chatillon will be punished. I swear it.
Withdraw or we will all die here.
Do we have terms?
We have terms.
I will send you my physicians.
I am Reynald of Chatillon!