Barbarossa

Rousing movie based on historical events , including impressive battles , intense drama , love stories and noisy action . It deals with German Emperor Barbarossa who wants to return the Holy Roman Empire , following his ascendant , the great emperor Charlomagno. Federico I Barbarossa , Rutger Hauer , of the dynastic Hohenstaufen (1122-1190) married a very young Queen called Beatriz , Cecile Cassel . Federico I of Suabia will stop at nothing to conquest , and defeat his enemies and to build his powerful empire . However, a young man from Milán called Alberto de Giussano : Raz Degan, along with his troops of 1000 men known as the Company of Death , is prepared to challenge to the emperor . Battlefields run Red with warriors' blood .

Breathtaking and overlong miniseries dealing with historical happenings , about a merciless war between Emperor Federico I and the bustly city of Milan. It delivers acceptable interpretations from Rutger Hauer as the cruel emperor , Cecile Cassel as his wife Beatrice , Raz Degan as Alberto da Giussano , Angela Molinas as a rare clairvoyant and F. Murray Abraham, the Oscarized Salieri, as traitor Barozzi , the latter gives overacting , as usual . The picture contains spectacular scenarios , being shot on several locations from Bucharest , Hunedoara, Transylvania , Alba Lula , Romania .Being sponsored by Italian Cultural Ministry and partially financed by the Northern league or Lega Nord , a political party presided by Umberto Bossi that wants the Italy separation between North and South. Having as main symbol the famous rebel warrior Alberto de Giussano. The motion picture was professionally directed by Renzo Martínelli, though it has some flaws , gaps and failures. Martinelly subsequently made another epical, historical film in similar style : "Day of siege, September Eleven 1683", about the Vienna siege by the Ottoman Empire, also starred by F. Murray Abraham.

Based on facts , these are the following ones : Emperor Federico I carried out 6 campaigns in Italy . In the first Federico battles Armando Brescia rebellion in exchange for being appointed Emperor by Pope Adriano IV. In second one Federico battles Milán , he supported anti-Pope Victor V , against Pope Alexandro III . In third campaign combats Italian cities headed by Verona. In fourth campaign (1166-1168) Imperial army was vanquished by the Lombard league supported by Pope Alexandro III. In fifth campaign (1174-1178) Federico was again defeated in battle Legnano . Later on , Federico I headed third Crusade (1189-1193), accompanied by known kings as Felipe August II of France and Richard LionHeart of England . Federico I embarks in Ratisbona , after crossing Balkans and arrives in Asia Minor . There he defeated the Muslims in batalle Iconio (1190). A bit later on , he died drowned in River Salef , Asia Minor. Federico I was succeeded by his son and heir Henry IV , being crowned in Italy , he married a daughter of the Normand King of the two Sicily kingdom.

Let me first say that I watched this film with no preconceptions about it whatsoever - what I knew was that it was about emperor Friederich I, "Barbarossa" ("some German king from the dark ages, wasn't he?"). So, I watched this as a very entertaining view into a sadly forgotten part of history, this fight over the lands how they had become when the Roman Empire was crumbling leaving a massive power vacuum and the German tribes had begun to finally become united.

The film depicted this fight over the desolated areas in northern Italy as far as I can tell very well, showing both the reasoning of Emperor Barbarossa and his queen Beatrix (who appears to have been his personal cheer-leader) and the opposing side, the Company of Death, a loosely formed army from the Italian city states. This opposing side bears a strong resemblance to both the historical American Revolution from which it seemed like they loaned half of the freedom slogans, as well as from Braveheart, which probably provided the other half. Don't get me wrong, I like freedom, but one can only do so much with it, and the cries for freedom became a little silly at times - especially since it appeared to me that they only went to war because they didn't like to be taxed by a German emperor...

Speaking of which: The film is called Barbarossa, but most of the film and the very evident sympathies, lies with Barbarossa's enemies. This is not a biography film, but it would have earned even better marks if it would have been.

So, how was it then? It was grand in scope, ranging in at several years and the SFX - especially the 'Bagdhad by Night - medieval style' sequences were great. However, using such large time frames makes one loose sight on events and details, which is a shame.

Rutger Hauer makes an excellent, if somewhat downplayed Barbarossa, and the rest of the cast make solid performances - no one mentioned, no one forgotten.

It will take a couple of hours to sit thorough this film, but those are hours well spent.

First, while I only gave this film 5 stars, it really isn't bad. Apart from an instance where a horse made a sound I considered unlikely under the circumstances based on my experience with them, my beef is that this movie is so much less than what it could have been. It could have been an epic, but they missed the bar. It could also have made a good patriotic film such as the Russian film 1612, had they shifted the focus a little more on the Milanese and slightly less on Barbarossa, filmed it in Italian (It is an Italian film, after all.), and livened it up a tad.

Bottom line, if you're a fan of this sort of movie as I am, watch it. It isn't that great, but I do not regret the time spent watching it. It just could have been better. If, on the other hand, you feel no attraction to films of this type, and are merely looking for a good movie to burn some time on, you might want to look elsewhere. Not to scare you off, though. Who knows, you might enjoy it.

If you like this movie, try 1612. That is the movie I was most reminded of watching this one.

It's a shame. The story has potential. Good ol' fashioned right vs wrong. The film looks pretty good: rousing battle scenes, nice costumes, and good looking actors (Rutger Hauer actually makes a striking Emperor Federick I Barbarossa), but the story meanders. I suspect a bit tighter direction could have saved this film. As is, I never developed any strong sympathies for any of the protagonists. In fact, one's sympathies run as much for Frederick as they do the Milanese supposedly fighting for freedom from the empire (repleat with a recurring Braveheart-esquire cry of 'freedom'). I didn't give it a lower rating because at least the film left me thinking about it enough to want to look it up and write a review (and that is significant). Seeing a film like this always makes one wish to see the results from a more seasoned director.

There was a lot of the same horse sound effects being used for every single horse scene (of which there are many).

The end battle scene was OK. It just took 120 minutes to get there. So whilst waiting for the big money scene, you are forced to sit through a boring, impossible romance, some boring politics, some peasants trying to take on the bad guys, and one peasant fellow who was probably the most useless character in the entire movie.

Not one of the characters was engaging. The movie spends a lot of time with a feral witch female character who looks like she was born in the jungle. She spends a lot of time crawling around on all fours like a rabid mutt, sniffing the ground and her boyfriend, and peering at the camera through dirty oily curtains of hair. She also spends the majority of time wearing a potato sack for clothes. What exactly did the BF see in this dirty little rat creature again? Oh, and she had magical powers.

After the prerequisite love scene (interspersed with the death of her sister, how utterly original) you'd think things would start moving. Nope, it takes another hour. The end is an impossible-to-read narration of events that happens, but at least our hero lives happily ever after with his feral wife and they have lots of children together.

This looked like it was made for TV. The production values were strangely cheap looking and the same locations were used to portray totally different places. How utterly boring.

1/10