The Kingdom of Heaven Page #8

BALIAN:

(not having noticed this)

Where did Christ die?

IMAD:

(points OS)

That is where the Prophet came down

from the sky. I am no expert in the

other matter.

BALIAN:

(almost frantic)

I must know where Christ died.

IMAD:

(bemused)

I thought he did not.

(CONTINUED)

36.

CONTINUED:

BALIAN:

(to a DISREPUTABLE

PASSERBY)

Where was Christ crucified?

The DISREPUTABLE PASSERBY holds out his hand. BALIAN pays him

a coin. The man points solemnly at A HILL. BALIAN starts off

up the hill. IMAD, holding the horses, watches him go,

bemusedly.

EXT. GOLGOTHA/CALVARY (SUPPOSEDLY). TWILIGHT

Balian climbs “Golgotha” with a desperation, as if he will

find every answer, at the top. A ROBBER (turbaned, ghoulish,

but originally French) holds up: a nail.

ROBBER:

It is one of the nails that pierced

Our Lord.

BALIAN starts to move past. The ROBBER in a flash holds a

dagger on BALIAN. BALIAN shoves the man aside (the ROBBER

stumbles and falls, losing his knife). BALIAN curs off his

own purse, throws it at the robber and strides on.

ROBBER (CONT’D)

That is good. That is Godly.

The ROBBER and his FRIENDS scramble and fight for the purse.

BALIAN comes to the apex of the hill and, taking the cross

from beneath his shirt, falls to his knees. He looks

uncertain. He lays down the sword, and closing his eyes,

clutching the CROSS, prays. He waits for an answer. It isn’t

working. We leave him as dust blows around him in the

twilight.

LATER:

STARS have come out. BALIAN still is on his knees but his

arms are at his side. A picture of sadness, confusion,

defeat.

EXT. GOLGOTHA/CALVARY. DAWN

At cock crow, BALIAN wakes up looks into the rising light. He

needs water. He remembers where he is. He looks out over

Jerusalem. He wipes dirt and tears off his face. A man

putting himself back together. In one hand he holds the CROSS

and in the other the SWORD. He looks around to see if anyone

is observing him, and then quickly scratches a hole and

buries the cross, after kissing it. He pats the earth around

it. Scatters stones.

(CONTINUED)

37.

CONTINUED:

BALIAN:

(as if to his wife’s

actual grave)

How could you be in hell if you are

in my heart?

He puts himself together.

BALIAN (CONT’D)

Goodbye.

Heads down the hill.

EXT. A STREET IN JERUSALEM. MOMENTS LATER

IMAD is asleep, the reins of the horses wrapped around his

arm. BALIAN crouches, and wakes Imad.

IMAD:

Did you find what you wanted?

BALIAN:

Take the better horse and be about

your business.

IMAD:

It is your prize of war. I was the

servant of the man you killed. I am

your prisoner. Your slave, should

you wish.

BALIAN:

I have been a slave, or very near

to one. I will never keep one nor

suffer any to be kept. Go.

IMAD looks at Balian with admiration. Not overcooked: he

accepts it.

IMAD:

(mounting)

You killed a very great cavalier

among the Moslems. His name was

Mummad al Fais.

BALIAN:

(seriously)

I will pray for him.

IMAD:

Your quality will be known among

your enemies before ever you meet

them.

(CONTINUED)

38.

CONTINUED:

IMAD raising a palm rides out. BALIAN looks around at the

Holy City.

Nearby:
a BAKER’S STALL. Balian is hungry, but feeling at his

belt, realizes that he gave his purse away. He moves on

through the city.

EXT. A SQUARE IN JERUSALEM. MORNING

TWO MEN in the same livery Balian wears, lean against a wall

outside a wine-shop, checking out the town, and

then...something else.

THEIR POV:

BALIAN, wearing tattered Ibelin livery, Godfrey’s

unmistakable sword strapped to his back, moves through the

crowded square.

MOMENTS LATER:

BALIAN pays a penny to drink at a dirty, crowded, PILGRIM’S

FOUNTAIN, from an iron cup on a chain.

One of GODFREY’S MEN speaks to the other, who departs.

EXT. THE SQUARE IN JERUSALEM. LATER

BALIAN is sitting on the ground, eating dates hungrily from a

wrap of cloth. A shadow falls across him. He looks up to see:

SIX OF GODFREY’S MEN. Sergeant. All in livery.

BALIAN draws his sword. ALAMARIC comes forward. Godfrey’s

number one, top-sergeant of forty-odd, a man with some

education.

ALMARIC:

Since you wear Godfrey’s livery,

you must know him.

BALIAN:

Yes.

ALMARIC:

A man my size.

BALIAN:

No. Taller.

ALMARIC:

Indeed. And with green eyes,

notoriously.

(CONTINUED)

39.

CONTINUED:

BALIAN:

(thinking, remembering)

Blue.

GODFREY’S MEN go onto their knees, and in turn take Balian’s

hand, kissing it. Almaric takes the sword.

ALMARIC:

Come with us. My lord.

EXT./INT. GODFREY’S HOUSE IN JERUSALEM

ESTABLISH GODFREY’S GRATED DOOR. Almaric’s first pounds on

it. BALIAN moves like a sleepwalker into the COURTYARD. One

could no imagine anything greener or more beautiful Falling

water. Fruit trees. Birds. We see (as he sees) that Godfrey’s

house (to one side of the courtyard) is a bit like a

firehouse:
stables below (with a separate walled yard). The

sergeants (now staring out of windows) sleep above. WOMEN OF

THE HOUSE come forward, veiled, and gently guide BALIAN where

he needs to go.

INT. A LITTLE ROOM IN THE HOUSE. MOMENTS LATER

In a dreamlike sequence Balian, standing naked in a copper

bowl, is bathed with sea-sponges by the girls.

INT. GODFREY’S BEDROOM. AFTERNOON

BALIAN is sleeping on silks, in a breeze, in the shadow of

window-lattice. He wakes, feels the fabric. He sees: a bowl

of ROSEWATER. He drinks it uncertainly, and then tries to eat

the petals. SERVANT-GIRLS flee, giggling.

INT. BALIAN’S HOUSE. MORNING

BALIAN, wearing a silk tunic, explores the rooms, nodding at

the people who stare at him, and bow. Bowed at in the

kitchens, he nervously escapes into the STABLES.

ALMARIC:

(eating, to alarmed

SERGEANTS)

He may be mad.

EXT. THE STABLE COURTYARD. DAY

A clumsy use of a hoof-pick. A horse screams. OPEN UP ON: A

BEAUTIFUL WARHORSE is shying from both a YOUNG SERGEANT and

an ARAB BLACKSMITH.

(CONTINUED)

40.

CONTINUED:

BALIAN comes in and grabs the horse by the halter. With great

gentle force. Forearm braced along the head. The horse

settles down.

BALIAN:

You’ve hurt him.

The YOUNG SERGEANT and the ARAB BLACKSMITH back away. BALIAN

slowly gets loops of line around the frightened horse’s neck

and back legs, stable-boys helping.

EXT. GALLERY ABOVE THE STABLE COURTYARD. LATER

ALMARIC is staring dubiously out into the yard.

ALMARIC:

Will you look at that.

The HOSPITALER comes forward out of the gloom, and looks

down, smiling, through lattice. Now in Jerusalem the

Hospitaler is not in his stained travel kit, but resplendent,

looking more the priest, though in armor.

The Hospitaler looks like God.

EXT. THE STABLE COURTYARD. CONTINUOUS

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