Soldier of God

The characters from this movie are far a way from any culture (Christianity, Islam,...)

A muslin woman living alone in the desert...with two man...some time she rise the voice and both man calm down.... Do you really know how was the condition of woman in that age ..in Islam ?

Someone say: "I highly recommend this movie to all students of medieval history, and those interested in comparative religious studies." D. Chaltry, Florida.

Ha Ha Ha...

Mr. Mir Bahmanyar and Kathryn Kuhlen.....please...read at least one book before to write a movie.

I was fortunate enough to see this film at the Straford Upon Avon International Digital Film Festival, where it won Best Film. In this day and age of "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" no-brainer action films and simpering synthetic rom coms, it was such a relief to have an intelligent film with characters that needed to be understood rather than handed out on a plate, that was beautiful but still harsh and brutal in its intensity.

It was a pleasure to watch. I for one am exceedingly grateful that it was nothing like "Kingdom of Heaven" (a pale comparison) and for once, which is unusual for Hollywood, historically accurate or as accurate as you can be in the 21st century. I am not a great historian of the period though I do have an interest in the Crusades, but I recently read another review of this film that praised it's historical accuracy -

"I highly recommend this movie to all students of medieval history, and those interested in comparative religious studies." D. Chaltry, Florida.

Praise indeed.

Historically accurate, beautifully shot and well-acted. What more could you want?

Rae

Before watching this film, leave behind any references to The Kingdom Heaven. This is an extremely low budget film shot somewhere in the desert (certainly not the judean desert) and with no sets to speak of. The film gives the impression it's going to lead you to some profound revelation at some point. This never happens and by the end I was left feeling cheated that I struggled through Rene's (The Templar) rare, mumbled, accented dialogue for nothing. I will never cease to be amazed at how easily some film goers are pleased. The reviews that paint this as some sort of beautiful, well acted, historical treat are myopic in my opinion and I am being kind. This was an awkward, pointless film, with a pointless story.

After the Battle of Hattin in 1187, a grim Knight Templar named Rene (Tim Abell) wanders the desert where he encounters a Muslim named Hassan (Bill Mendieta). They meet a Muslim woman, Soheila (Mapi Galán), and discuss sectarian differences and the human penchant for conflict & killing while the woman seems intrigued by one of the men.

This is basically a low-budget companion piece to the events of "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005). "Soldier of God" came out later that same year, but only cost $325 thousand while "Kingdom" cost a whopping $130 million. Thankfully, the filmmaking doesn't seem THAT low-budget: There's a lot of beautiful desert photography, the editing is proficient and the score is aesthetic and moving. I encourage you to watch or re-watch "Kingdom of Heaven" first because it provides the background events and key names that will help you understand the situation here.

This is a dialogue-driven sword & sandal drama with flashes of action. The acting is well done for such low-budget fare. The problem is that too much of the verbiage is hard to discern and there's no subtitle option. Another reviewer called the movie "a pointless exercise in verbose pretentiousness," but some of the dialogue is quite good, at least what I heard anyway, particularly the discussion when the Jewish merchant visits.

Someone criticized the actions of a certain character on the grounds that a such-and-such wouldn't do such-and-such. I disagree. I just went to coffee with a devotee of a certain noble belief system who recently got out of prison for murder, which he committed in a flash of angry frustration. Plus you have to consider the adrenaline rush of battle frenzy and the desire to remove something lingering & troubling.

I probably would've liked this flick a lot more if I was able to discern more than 50% of the dialogue.

The film runs 1 hour, 34 minutes and was shot in Dumont Dunes, California, with some exteriors done in Málaga, Andalucía, Spain.

GRADE: C

I noticed some really bad reviews of this movie so decided to comment. Firstly the movie isn't a story of the Knights Templer or the crusades, it is about life, the decisions we make, how we can spend our lives chasing the unimportant and miss the real life staring us in the face. Secondly if you look at the really bad comments,you will see that they were written by people who seem to think the know all truths. One of the reviewers wanted something that was on par with the Da Vinchi code!!!! I have no beliefs in any Gods but I would stand with Christians denouncing that book/film, because a 12 year old could have produced much better (no insult meant to 12yr olds). So if you have a bit of a brain and are open minded enough and realise that we are always learning, well this film is of a reasonable enough standard to spend some time on.