Rise of the Raven

It was a pleasure watching this series. Not only the story (since I like this historical age), but the actors are very talented. I would emphasise the main character's (Hunyadi János) professionality, but the character of King Ulászló and Cillei Ulrik is amazing also. It's a pity that King Ulászló died so early. His playing is unforgettable, while he is acting one time the young gentleman knight king and then a heroic emperor. Fantastic!

The landscapes are professional also. I'm looking forward to watching the remaining episodes. Well done for everybody, who took part of filming of this series!

Finally, finally, a challenging and satisfying historical series. I was skeptical at first, after so many bad experiences. But this one fits the bill: content, form; you can tell the team put a lot of heart and soul into it. Great! Rise of the Raven can certainly compare to Shogun and Spartacus: War of the Damned. And even if you know a bit more about Eastern European history, the details and context here are truly instructive, and it's not annoying when the director takes unsatisfying historical shortcuts or detours.

The landscapes and locations are well-integrated and cinematically simply fitting and beautiful.

The performances and cast are also well-suited; the Ottomans, despite their antagonism, are not portrayed in a distorted way. The Wallachians fare a bit worse ;-) but I think they're still historically justifiable. The political infighting isn't stereotypical, nor are the relationships; a little less sex and longer social scenes or story building would have been fine, but the surroundings aren't neglected either, and the sex scenes aren't formulaic, but occasionally feature a twist. Hunyadi's character isn't as superior as, say, Spartacus, but despite his human weaknesses, it's still clearly evident from time to time why he leads the country through charisma and integrity, even at the expense of himself or his family.

And unexpectedly for me (because Hungary is what it is), both the female roles are modern and strong (but not generalized), and LGBTQ people aren't neglected either.

It's just a shame that the multilingual approach of the original wasn't replicated in German :-(

I'm looking forward to the sequels, hopefully until the last Hunyadi, who was robbed of his legacy...

A roughly historically accurate series from the 15th century Hungary with monumental battle scenes and traditional male image. During the Osman-Turkish invasion of the Balkan, the vaivode of Transylvania, János Hunyadi tries to expel the muslim conquerors from Europe. Although he has Christian enemies as well (the Habsburgs and their vassal, the sly Count, Ulrik Cillei, who is the "Littlefinger" of the series and Vlad "Dracul" Tepes, the orthodox vaivode of Wallachia), he achieves many legendary victories on the Turks and as the elected Governor of Hungary, he becomes the saviour of Christian Europe and the father of the mightiest Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus. The castle of János Hunyadi is watchable in Transylvania in our days as well: the Vajdahunyad castle is the most beautiful Gothic fortification in Central Europe.

From the very first episode, I was captivated by its exquisite opening sequence - the breathtaking scene of Hunyadi riding his warhorse through colossal statues on the plains, synchronized with an epic and grand musical composition, was utterly awe-inspiring!

Most crucially, the pacing is masterfully controlled, with brilliantly crafted dialogue sequences and cinematic-level battle scenes in the finale.

The visuals are incredibly textured, boasting superb audiovisual effects and meticulous attention to detail. Every gaze, prop, and movement serves a purpose - not a single frame is wasted!

This marks my first experience watching Hungarian film/television production. I believe this series stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Game of Thrones, achieving comparable excellence without relying on magic or fantasy elements.

Regrettably, the distributor shows no intention of global release for this series, which may condemn this remarkable work to collect dust in obscurity prematurely.

My comments are solely focused on the television program itself, and I hold no personal stance on any other matters.

First of all, if you are not familiar with the late medieval history of Central- and Eastern Europe, you should know that it was very complex and diverse, with many nations, factions, religions, full of heroes and battles, intrigue and treason. The most serious threat to this part of the world was the Ottoman Empire, the strongest military power of that time occupying countries, massacring and enslaving whole provinces. So choosing the proper allies (or even betraying them in the right moment) was a question of life or death.

All of these offer a great basis for 'Game of Thrones'-like TV series, but with real historical background.

The Hunyadi (Rise of the Raven) TV series is set into this context.

The title character, John Hunyadi (1407-1456) was a nobleman later becoming the regent of the Hungarian Kingdom. He served two years in the army of the Duke of Milan upon King Sigismund's order, he fought the Hussites and adopted their tactics. All these experiences helped him to build up a well organised army, and gain success against the Ottomans. His ultimate victory was at the siege of Belgrade in 1456, which stopped the Ottomans' western expansion for about 70 years.

One of the greatest pros in this series is using many languages altogether, most of the characters speaking their mother tongue. Which is not just very unique in the whole film industry, but gives a lot of authenticity, and it is highly respectful toward the diverse cultural heritage of Europe.

This TV series is based on a long and quite popular historical novel series, "Hunyadi" by Mór Bán, with 12 already published books and 2 more to come later.

And yes, unfortunately this leads to the downside. The Hunyadi TV series was perfect if one season would just treat one or two books of the novel series. But I suppose there was no chance for that, and they rather put it altogether into a 10-episode-long, single season series. And that's sad, because this leaves not much time to get to know all the characters, or understand the exact political and military situation of those times.

Of course there are fictitious parts in the series, but most of the story line is based on real historical events, most of the characters are based on real historical figures, and there are many small details which are actually historically correct.

This series is not without errors, but the subject and the multi-language approach makes it very unique and a "must-see" to anyone interested in medieval history.