Kreuzritter 7 - Schlacht um die Ehre

far from accuracy but scene for impressive battle scenes. patriotic speech and nationalist thesis. a piece from Communist regime last year. and the old precise recipes about hero by Sergiu Nicolaescu. this film is part of a time and sensitivity. sure, dialogs are not really credible and facts are not very realistic, the Romanian Medieval history is modeled by director and the instrument is a script who present a mythical shadow. and the political command is not avoided, but, out of a page ad usum delphini, it is a testimony. about society values and freedom of creation in its borders. about art of an interesting film maker. about perception of past in space of East. about frustrations, passeisme and form of propaganda.

A powerful movie! One that every Romanian should watch at least once in his lifetime. Not to brag about anything but to be inspired by the untamed forever freedom fighter spirit our kin had naturally since it's creation. After communism seized power in the country, they hunted down and eliminated the intellectual freedom loving elite that would not bend the knee to the new authoritarian regime, so those who have this flame burning inside them were rare. However, we are having a slow yet steady recovering of our soul values.

I highly recommend you with all my heart to watch this movie! I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the imagery, splendid natural landscapes, beautiful vintage soundtrack, large scale battles with awesome suits of armor, incredibly beautiful costumes and so on.

The movie is far from perfect, the dancers in the beginning are completely out of sync, some seem lost really and one almost falls, the acting is in some seconds clumsy, yet it does not break the immersion and magical feeling of the movie.

For the time and resources it had, is a true gem of the past!

one of games with historical events of Sergiu Nicolaescu. not bad and not credible. not only for the low respect for facts - it is not a documentary - but for the status of film as political tool. national proud is the only theme. the image of Mircea - confuse in many scenes- is source to legitimate the regime. or, after 1990, in declarations of the director, subtle form of resistance against dictatorship. the film has not a precise line but a mixture of problems and characters and unrealistic scenes. the desire to give the portrait of an almost superhero compromise the good premises. and that does for the actors an impossible mission to save the story. the absurd dialogues between grandfather and grandson, the Almighty Mircea, the strange hypothesis of plan against him, the miraculous resurrection are suffocated for a film who could be real interesting.

Sergiu Nicolaescu is one of best film directors in Romania. "Mircea" is devoted to the history of Medieval Romania (Wallachia). Old Mircea, prince of Wallachia, is trying to stop Turkish invasion into Europe, there are political intrigues inside his own family, he should fight against his brother... The film is long and epic, sometimes it could seem naive and too long, and truly "Mircea" is not the best film by Sergiu Nicolaescu. It's not as dynamic and impressive as his other films. But Nicolaescu made here very original step which could be interesting for the foreign viewers.

All events here are shown from the point of view of a kid - Vlad Tepes (Tsepesh) i.o. Dracula himself, who was the grandson of Mircea. Mircea, Vlad, Romania (Wallachia) are shown here as a parts and participants of Euro-Asian policy and culture. Sultan Bayazid, Timur the Great are appearing in this film. And it's very original if you see the Dracula not as fantasy monster of Hollywood movies but as future freedom fighter. That's why this film is worth viewing for the lovers of historical cinema.

I could suppose that Coppola saw this film and it influenced his vision of Dracula. As example battle sequence in the very start of "Mircea", view of Turkish camp in the night behind the river could remind you of the first minutes from "Bram Stocker's Dracula" by F.F. Coppola. Film was banned by Romanian dictator Nicolae Caushescu in the last year of his reign.

The action takes place around year 1393, when the Ottoman Empire was seeking to conquer the whole know world. On their route to Rome, only one small, insignificant country (on their opinion) is trying to resist : Roumanian Principate of Valahia. This country have a great man: the King Mircea the Old. He has fought for decades all the invaders, including the ottomans, and has allways succeeded to keep his country independent. But now he is very old and the enemy is very strong. His greatest task is to pass the Proud Heritage of the Freedom to his sons, nephews and to all the romanians who live in his country. For this, he must win the ultimate battle which will decide the future of the country: Free Men or Slaves Forever !

This movie makes all the roumanians fell again the proud but above all, de great responsibility of their ancestors heritage: LIBERTY !