Search

The attacks of September 11th, followed by U.S. military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, have brought greater attention to the simmering conflict between Islam and the West--a conflict most brutally played out historically during the Crusades. The series of holy wars for control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land stretched over centuries--from 1096 to 1291 (with subsequent efforts as late as the mid-1400s). Recent statements from Islamic militants denouncing U.S.-led forces in Iraq as "crusaders" show that passions still are fired in the Muslim world by the memory of the Crusades. Into this political environment, film studio Twentieth Century Fox recently released The Kingdom of Heaven, the first Hollywood movie to seriously address the Crusades and their present-day implications. The film is a timely commentary--that nearly a thousand years after the Crusades began, peace in the Holy Land remains elusive. This present-day outlook makes The Kingdom of Heaven a useful educational tool to get students to talk about the ways in which people today make use of the past to explain or critique contemporary events. This article aims to provide educators with supplementary background on the time period and to suggest ideas for using the film in the classroom. (Contains 3 notes.)