Kingdom of Heaven - Sound Off

After being pushed to pay attention to close details while watching Kingdom of Heaven, I decided to re-watch important scenes with the volume set on mute. Basically, I realized that about 90% of the strength of the movie comes from the music/sound effects superimposed with the actual footage. Balian of Ibelin's entry into Jerusalem was very bland on mute; we watch him entering a city with lots of people in it. Cool. Watching it yet again with the sound on, Jerusalem appears to be an exotic, exciting new place for Balian and the streets come through as a cultural melting pot as they are filled with different faces, languages, foods, etc. Background music also plays an important role, setting a mood to scenes which would otherwise appear unimportant or uninteresting. I suggest you watch Kingdom of Heaven with the sound on (obviously) but don't forget to mute some scenes to appreciate the importance of sound in Kingdom of Heaven and any other movie!

The Battle of the Horns of Hattin

I was curious about the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, so I found an article detailing the engagement at the following site: http://historymedren.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&zTi=1&sdn=historymedren&cdn=education&tm=16&f=10&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.intranet.ca/~magicworks/knights/hattin.html. Saladin brought 12,000 knights and an army carrying provisions to Tiberius. The Christian army amassed for the battle consisted of 20,000 foot soldiers and 1,000 knights. The Christian army set out for Tiberius early the day before the battle without enough water to sustain their ranks the next day. By nightfall the Christian army was weary and dehydrated. The only water source nearby was a stream well guarded by Muslim warriors; any Cristian who attempted to drink for the stream was captured and beheaded. The Christian army led a charge the morning of July fourth to which Saladin allowed the advance of the enemy army into his ranks, surrounded the Christians, and slaughtered them. Any soldiers that were captured were sold off as slaves. All Hospitalers and Templars were beheaded except for the Templar Grand master Gerard de Ridefort. The barons were held as hostages and eventually ransomed. King Guy of Jerusalem, who had spent the duration of the battle hiding in a tent at the center of his army, was put under Saladin's protection, and the prince of Antioch, Reynald, after insulting the Muslim prophet Muhammad, was executed. King Guy was released from prison the next year.