In nome della fede

The best Bulgarian movie ever made-well,there is a lot of propaganda of course,but still the movie is excellent.Bulgarians must remember their history and origins.The performance of Karaibrahim and the priest is very good and the soundtrack is not bad also.I have never seen a movie like this made in the neighbour countries of Yugoslavia,Romania or even Greece.I guess the communist regime injected a big amount of money in this project-everybody knows that at this time half a million ethnic Turkish Bulgarian citizens were forced to leave the country and the other part were repressed,names changed.Still it is a really emotional artwork!

The movie is very true to the book it's based on, Vreme razdelno (Time of Division) by Anton Donchev, and the casting is near flawless. Very good soundtrack too. Highly recommended.

As to how representative it is of Bulgarian history, I beg to differ from the user who commented before me. The Rhodopa mountains (which is where the movie takes place) are, to this day, populated by Bulgarian "turks," that is, Bulgarians converted to Islam in the 1500-1600 period. Some of them, when interviewed, relate stories (dating back to the period in question and carried across generations) that are very reminiscent of the picture painted by Vreme razdelno. It's no coincidence (or accident) that the book claims to be based on the accounts of two people who witnessed the events described. Anton Donchev did his own bit of extensive research before setting out to write the book (as he usually does, he specializes in the history genre) - what he found out is reflected in the book, and hence the movie. Whether the accounts of those who suffered the conversion to Islam (as retold by their descendants) can be defined as harsh or "historically inaccurate" is obviously a question of perspective. However, the fact remains some of those accounts are what's reflected in the book (and the movie). Claims that they are fiction are, to put it mildly, overblown.

This, shown also in Cannes (Un certain regard), film is about personal and group tragedy. It perplexes and unfolds, complicates and simplifies the main character's contradictory points of view.

It is a very intensive story about important historical events happened 3 centuries ago and barely known to people today. It also reveals forgotten personal values in modern life like honor, self-conscious, independence, deep love.

It is an epic film showing beautiful feelings weaved into a political and religious drama.

It is time of violence. Time of blood and vengeance. Time when life doesn't matter but only the last thing left: People's faith.

This seems to be follow up to Kozi rog another bulgarian movie with similar and painfull theme trying to survive 500 years of Turk's tyrany and save bulgarian identity.Since I am half Bulgarian I was deeply moved by this movie because I'm feeling that if there would not be Bulgarians like these in the movie then I would NOT exist.I also felt that actors who played in this amazing picture were not just acting.It is going to be very difficult to watch it for people who like easy going films beacause there is so much sadness and tragedy in it.This one doesn't have happy ending but somehow it gave you some kind of satisfaction on the end I just can't describe why. I am very sad that this movie is not more recognised in the world as it should be.I can not recall any other historical movie which could surpass this one,there is no any way.Beautifull sceneries,great actors,could not be done better.To me it is treasuare of world cinema and I don't understand how it can be ignored by the world.This is another example how hollywood=money rules the world.Must see,highly recomended. I'm lucky I have it on video.

This movie explains the story of the people that lived in the region of Rodopi mountains in Bulgaria during the 17-th century. This is a region in south-central contemporary Bulgaria. All the facts presented in the movie are true, I don't mean now the small details but the general idea - What used to happen during the period, that the movie describes. I read somewhere a comment for the movie, sounding like this: "The movie is interesting, but the happenings are not real." Well I will give you one incontestable fact in favor of the main line of the movie: Bulgaria falls finally under the Otoman conquerors in 1396 and gains its independence in 1878. The population before the first date is only consisted of orthodox Christians. Now in contemporary Bulgaria, besides the ethnic Turks also known as Bulgarian Turks, there is a specific group of people that speak Bulgarian language as their native language but their fate is Islam. These people are mainly located in the Rodopi mountains, where the story of the movie goes. History of the Balkans is full of blood and violence. We can live now in peace and on good terms, but this doesn't mean to strike the history out, because we all should know where we come from.