Console
best movie i've ever seen.
Lucia Ayala
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
troyhking
I was walking around Wal-Mart looking at their DVDs when all of a sudden something caught my eye,. a DVD with a list of Awards from various festivals including Deep Ellum Film Festival winner of Best Picture and the Stratford-Upon-Avon winner of Best Picture,.. Its called " Soldier Of God",. It stars Tim Abell known for his roles in" We Were Soldiers" and "Miracle At Sage Creek" he was also listed as a Producer,. the story was written by Mir Bahamanyar who also acted as Executive Producer I'm not entirely sure what the budget of this film was but its an absolutely beautiful film full of images that flow like an animated work of art,. the story revolves around a Templar Knight and his struggle to understand the "what" and "why" he fights after becoming friends to a man who essentially is to be his enemy ,..Tim Abell portrays Rene brilliantly as a conflicted dedicated Christian ,.the whole cast did a stellar job in recreating the simplistic sensibilities that surround the vision this film wants you to feel,. this movie parallels the same feelings and same decisions that are being made today,. some people I've talked to have compared "Soldier Of God" to "Kingdom Of Heaven" but for my money if you want thought provoking story telling over the urge to open big on a singular weekend then do yourself a favor and check this film out,.. You will not be disappointed…Well acted,well crafted,. Well done.I love it when I find gems like this,. I enjoy movies I can tell other people about and this is one of those movies.I even bought a few copies to give out to a few local filmmakers here around town so they could see what a beautiful HD Independent movie should be like. Thanks for reading
rae2412
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
Consul_Incitatus
I was not impressed.Rene is a Knight Templar (a warrior monk) who is wandering in the desert after surviving the battle of Hattin in which most of the Crusaders were killed. He meets a Muslim named Hassan, they end up saving each other's lives, they become buddies to the point where they at least wont kill each other. Rene is a humorless, religious fellow, prone to mumbled, barely intelligible voiceovers about God and stuff. Supposedly Hassan is an Assassin, who were a group of brainwashed violent fanatics, yet in the movie he just seems like a totally reasonable regular guy, much smarter than the humorless, oxlike Frenchman. They meet a Muslim widow who is kinda hot and has a not-very-good imitation of an Arab accent. What is the woman doing permanently out in the desert? She keeps no animals, doesn't grow anything, what does she do for a living? They spend most of the movie hanging out around her tent and demonstrating trite lessons about how religious fanaticism and hatred are bad. The woman tries to tempt Rene away from his crazy religious vows, so to remove the temptation he offs her at the end in a way that seems abrupt and not believable. His character never really develops into anything more than a cardboard dumb dirty guy who's nuts. The whole thing seems like a pointless exercise in verbose pretentiousness.And another thing- there's a scene where Hassan hands Rene some soap, and he tries to eat it. I'm sorry, Europeans of that time period may have been a bit sketchy about personal hygiene, but they did have soap, and they used it.
dfwphotos
An excellent film...Acting is excellent. Camera work is fantastic, especially noting that the film was shot in HD video. Tim Abell is especially notable in his role as it is a departure from the special forces and sci-fi thrillers we're used to seeing him in. Mapi and Mendieta were unbelievable. Bill Mendieta's transformation from a nice looking yuppie type to the assassin role is pretty unbelievable as well. The plot follows a Knight of Templar (Abell)through the Crusades. Nice work all around and kind to the eye.I really enjoyed this film as presented at the Deep Ellum Film Festival in 2005.
