Kingdom of Heaven was a historical epic released in 2005, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Orlando Bloom as Balian who travels to the kingdom of Jerusalem with his knight father in the hopes to gain redemption for the spirit of his wife who recently committed suicide, as well as redemption for the sins he has committed in his life. Kingdom of Heaven was ultimately met with mixed reviews, dividing critics and audiences alike. While many felt the film itself was lackluster, particular praise was given to the performances from actors like Edward Norton as King Baldwin IV and Eva Green as Sibylla.
Kingdom of Heaven follows Scott’s previous historical epic Gladiator. The director had so much material for the film that, per Collider, he was asked to trim 45 minutes of footage in order to be allowed a cinematic release. This meant that the story had to be chopped, which, in turn, resulted in a story that felt less fleshed-out and left fans wanting more. A director’s cut was eventually released which featured this footage, and ended up being a better version than the theatrical release. Here are they key differences between Scott’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven and the original.
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4 The Priest is Responsible for Burying Balian’s Wife and is His Half-Brother
Scott Free Productions
One of the major changes that is noticeable in the director’s cut of Kingdom of HEave is the explanation that the priest (played by Michael Sheen) is responsible for burying Balian’s wife and stealing her cross, and that he is, in fact, Balian’s half-brother. The cut includes a scene with Balian at his wife’s grave while his half-brother taunts him. This causes Balian to snap and kill him. Without this being explained in the regular version, audiences are left confused around his motives and why he chose to commit murder.
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3 Violence is Less Censored
Another key difference that can be observed is that the director’s cut version includes much more uncensored violence. There are battle scenes in Kingdom of Heaven that feature much more blood and gore, and these may have been cut from the final version in order to appease a wider audience and make the film more viewer-friendly.
2 Sibylla Has a Young Son
Probably the most major thing that we discover through the director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven is the sub-plot that Sibyalla has a son. She becomes Balian’s love interest throughout the film. In the director’s cut, we discover that her son is next in line to be king, however, he is also a leper, which makes her decide to euthanize him so that he does not suffer the same pain as her brother. This development is crucial to understanding her character on a deeper level, and it’s a shame that it was left out of the final version of the film.
1 Longer Opening Sequence
The most obvious difference between the Kingdom of Heaven director’s cut and the original release is that the sequences in general are longer. One of these sequences is the opening, which in the director’s cut is 55 seconds longer. The sequence features more dialogue than the theatrical release, and we see a scene in which a priest orders a woman to be beheaded. What’s more, this is actually his own sister, a fact that doesn’t seem to bother him at all. This adds more layers to the sequence and helps us understand his character better.
