Objectivists, you'll love this movie
I didn't know what to expect when I went to see this today with my mother. I mean, it's a movie about the crusades. I figured it was going to be something to do with Christianity and the holiness of the whole thing. Man, was I wrong.
At the very beginning we get an inkling of what this is about. On one of the beams of the blacksmith's forge in Latin is a phrase (sorry for the killing of it, I can't remember it exactly) "A man is not a man who has not made the world a better place."
We later see more of this, when Orlando Bloom, the same blacksmith is "given" 1000 acres of desert, and promptly sets out with his own hands and those that he is responsible for, to improve that land by finding water, and creating an irrigation system.
The Kingdom of Heaven, is the American dream. I won't give away the rest of the movie, but suffice it to say, that if you watch the movie, and really watch what it is saying, it is telling you about the American dream, and how to achieve it. Not through religion. Through the mind, and the soul, working for what is right. Telling the truth always, and always doing what is right, even if it means your death. (to paraphrase the father)
This movie is as powerful and important a movie as The Matrix (original) was. While the last two matrix movies blew it (probably because the Brothers actually wrote those two and clearly didn't understand the story that they stole in the first one) the Matrix is a clear tail of obviscation, twisting the truth through over-information to control the minds of others and the lesson that one man, who sees the truth, and understands reality can change it. If he does, he can use those same rules to bend reality to his wishes. This movie does the same thing. It worships truth and right and in so doing, assumes that there is such a thing as truth and right and wrong and that everyone can know it. From that it demands that everyone has the power to be good or evil and it is the responsibility of the choices that they make that determines that.
A lot of reviewers (Time Magazine) seem to either not have bothered to watch the whole movie, or didn't want to see the obvious that is portrayed in this movie. If you believe in life. If you believe in freedom. If you believe in the inherent right to be free to achieve whatever it is that you are willing to work for, then you owe it to yourself to ignore those reviewers and go see this movie. Even if you only wish that these things could be true, then you should go see this movie because it will show you that they can be true and are true, and it is only a matter of courage that holds us back from achieving them.
Every man, woman and child, "disabled" or not has the ability within them to achieve whatever it is that they want through hard work. None of us are limited in any way, and none of us require anyone else to live our lives for us. It is from that belief that capitalism springs. While this movie isn't about capitalism per say, it is implicit in "the kingdom of heaven". Dare to not only believe in yourself to be able to achieve your dreams, but believe that everyone else can do the same.