c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Despite initial controversy surrounding “The Kingdom of Heaven,” Ridley Scott’s new film about the Crusades, it is getting generally positive reviews from Muslims in the United States and in Arab countries.

“It was really nice to go into a movie and feel so dignified, not feeling that you have to be ashamed or anything and feel proud of your history and your heritage,” said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based Council of American-Islamic Relations, after seeing the film, which opened Friday (May 7).

Laila al-Qatami of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Center in Washington also walked away happy.

“He provided a fair and multi-faceted portrayal of cultural and religious realities during that time,” she said. “We were also quite glad that he used two Muslim actors in the movie.”

In its first weekend, the movie grabbed the top domestic box office spot, earning $20 million in U.S. ticket sales, which is hardly considered a blockbuster start. In 2000, Scott’s epic “Gladiator” garnered $34.8 million in its opening weekend.

The two American-Muslim organizations began with some reservations about a film based on a bloody 12th Century clash of culture and religion, especially given the 2005 political strife in the Middle East.

But Ahmed said that it was satisfying to finally see her people portrayed as something other than a one-dimensional stereotype.

Al-Qatami added that Muslim characters usually are played by American actors with dark skin, but Scott chose famed Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud to play the revered warrior, Sultan Salahuddin al-Ayubi (Saladin).

Saladin, a character who is kept out of most western tales of the Crusades, was the king of Syria and Egypt who captured Jerusalem for Islam in 1187.

The film has also opened in several Arab countries, where Reuters reported that reviews have been generally positive.

“The film goes against religious fanaticism very clearly. All that goes against hatred, fanaticism and systematic opposition between those two worlds is welcome,” Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, author of “The Crusades Through Arab Eyes,” said, according to Reuters.

“The aim of the film is to heal wounds, not reopen them,” Egyptian film critic Tarek al-Shenawy said.

While most Muslims seemed happy, some critics complained, even before the film’s release, that it unfairly portrayed Christians.

Jonathan Riley-Smith, a Cambridge University professor and expert on the Crusades, called the film “Osama bin Laden’s version of history” in an interview with Britain’s Daily Telegraph.

Riley-Smith, who received a script last year, but had not seen the film when he made that comment, said it falsely portrayed Muslims as sophisticated and the Christian Crusaders as barbarians.

In a news release, Ted Baehr, founder of MOVIEGUIDE, a nonprofit guide for Christian families in the United States, said the film inaccurately and unfairly blames Christian leaders for their role in the Crusades.

Editors: Search the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for photos from the film, and of director Ridley Scott, to accompany this story.

MO/JL RNS END