Ivanhoe, Kingdom of Heaven

Author

By Joel Hill

Publish Date

Nov. 13, 2013

Kingdom of Heaven

When I was a kid I remember seeing Ivanhoe — starring Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, and Joan Fontaine — when I was home sick from school. The jousting scene was the first time I had witnessed any kind of jousting and it’s stuck with me ever since.

As my involvement in medieval historical reenactment grew, it became harder to look at medieval films without a critical eye. While Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven was no exception, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. The story — involving Liam Neeson and Orlando Bloom on a 12th-century crusade — was engaging and I found myself overlooking many of its inaccuracies.