Vrata Raja on AllMovie

Nominated for the Golden Bear at the 1968 Berlin Film Festival, this tragic historical film from director Andrzej Wajda is an adaptation of Jerzy Andrzejewski's novella Bramy Raju about the ill-fated Children's Crusade of the 13th century. Lionel Stander stars as a monk who leads a group of children from France to Jerusalem to protest the carnage of the Crusades between the Christians and Moslems for ownership of the holy land. When some the 12-year-old boys admit their reasons for participating in the event are due to their homosexual leanings toward the handsome Count Ludwig (Ferdy Mayne), the monk tries to stop the pilgrimage. Vrata Raja was released in the U.K. in 1968 under the title Gates to Paradise.