Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1968


Gates to Paradise

Buy Gates to Paradise now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'Gates to Paradise' is a 1968 film by Polish director Andrzej Wajda. The film is set in medieval France and is based on a novel by Polish writer Jerzy Andrzejewski (1960) that seeks to expose the motives behind youthful religious zeal. It was entered into the 18th Berlin International Film Festival.

Synopsis



In 1212, a Children's Crusade is launched after Jakob (John Fordyce) claims to have had a vision in which it is said that the innocence of children would be able to liberate Jerusalem. A monk (Lionel Stander), returning from Jerusalem, joins the crusade and hears the children's confessions, gradually realizing that most of them are taking part not for religious, but for more worldly reasons, like rejected love.

Both Alexander (Mathieu Carrire) and Bianca (Pauline Challoner) are in love with Jakob. Alexander, who has learned that his adoptive father (and his lover), Count Ludwig (Ferdy Mayne), also a crusader, had killed Alexander's Greek parents, is gleeful that Jakob is in love with the count, whom he had met after the count and Alexander had split after an argument. This allows Alexander to take revenge for the count's infidelity by telling his beloved Jakob about the count's recent demise by drowning in a river, watched by an unmoved Alexander.

Finally, it is revealed in Jakob's confession that Jakob received the inspiration for the crusade not from God but from the Count, which means that the crusade must fail because it is not by the will of God. However, the monk is unable to stop the children's progression and is left behind.

Cast



* Lionel Stander Monk

* Ferdy Mayne Count Ludovic de Vendme

* Mathieu Carrire Alexis Melissen

* Pauline Challoner Blanche

* John Fordyce Jacques de Cloyes

* Jenny Agutter Maud de Cloyes

* Dragomir Felba Crusader 1

* Denis Gilmore Robert (as Dennis Gilmore)

* Gojko Kovaevi Crusader 2

* Ljabomir Radavic Crusader 3

* Kynaston Reeves Superior

* Janez Vrhovec Franois

See also



*List of historical drama films

References




Buy Gates to Paradise now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 1968



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1108482478.