Boj na Kosovu

I watched this film whilst taking a course on the Byzantine Commonwealth, as it depicts one of the most important battles in Balkan history as Byzantium verged on collapse and the Ottomans were gearing up to dominate the region. I watched the English-subtitled version obviously because I am an Amerikanka who doesn't speak Serb-Croatian.

This film is commendable because the acting is very solid, and the film overall is not overly dramatized; in other words, it has a very realistic quality to it. It was filmed on the Serbian fortress of Smederevo, which was the site of a defeat of the Serbs further in the 1450's as the Ottomans pushed northwards following the Battles of Maritza and Kosovo.

Apparently this film received funding from Milosevic back in 1989, but it is in no way nationalistic, nor does it try to fabricate events for the sake of embellishing the plot. There are few reliable historical accounts of the actual Battle of Kosovo, and the film does a good job of sticking to the main points; a few subtle side plots are apparent that contribute to some of the greater themes in Serbian history (ie. the conversion of certain Serbs to Islam in order to curry favor with the Ottoman occupiers).

This is a great film for anyone studying medieval Europe, the Balkans, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire, or historical resistance to attempts at occupation.

Let's start with Simovic's play. It's ingenious. You can see that he's inspired by past events and that his feelings are honest. Every Serb should find something to learn out of it... I don't expect for the foreigners to find it as interesting, but Serbs should find every aspect of the script ingenious, no exceptions. There are some that claim that this movie is not based on historical facts... It isn't, it's based on a play, and play is based on epic literature. Learn to live with it. This script delivers a strong message to every Serb world wide... Directing? Sucked. Camera is bad. Budget is as low as water supply in Sudan. This movie deserves a higher budget and a better director. I respect Sotra for what he is, but he ain't a kind of director for this movie, if you know what I mean. If you're a Serb, or if you're interested in Serbian history, this movie, along with Drina March is just the one for you. Try to ignore the terrible camera work.

This together with movies Vlad The Impaler and Michael the Brave is among the productions I can recommend from the Balkans depicting the conflicts between the Ottomans and the local kingdoms of its era,to have a better understanding of the historical nature of them and the traces they have left.The production as overall is pretty decent,giving a good description of the conditions of its time,with local costumes,medieval age market places and castles and of course some fancy Serbian noble and knight armor costumes.The dressing of Turks also was depicted close to accurate of its period. As for the script,it seems to be relied on a mixture of both historical accounts and local mythical legends,but overall I would say it's been worked pretty strait forward, without spoiling it far with too much emotional and one-sided history telling.The events are just reflected as in the sources where the film takes its script.Of course the lines delivered from actors from time to time reflect hostile and patriotic feelings,as well as the ''villain'' Ottoman characters unleashing their cruel,fanatic side.When Sultan Murad gives his last deathbed bequest to Bayezid after the fatal wound he received from Obilic,he has him repeat Ali's words and he recites how they should torture and kill every single infidel who rejects Islam and so on.These kind of conversations however are typical characteristics of movies of its kind,not something proper to this movie only,so it's pretty normal.Some scenes and characters also might not reflect exact historical events.Although it is known that Sultan Murad was killed at the battlefield,it's not clear that Obilic really lived or not,he rather exists as a legendary mythical character.Also Vuk Brankovic is reported to be fighting till the end in some other historical sources,unlike in the film who is described as an envious traitor who abandoned the battlefield.It is also known that Bayezid had his own brother Yakup killed,but the records also say that he never faced him, neither is it clear if he was strangled as told in the movie.The encounter and conversation prior to King Lazar's execution with Bayezid are also questionable.The surgeon Bogoje,who saved Obilic's life and later on switched sides and became Muslim ''Mustafa'',as well as the character Hamza the Serb seem to be not historically real characters either.The Maiden of Kosovo is by the way again drawn from the local legends. Apart from all those,I think this movie succeeded in giving a good description of the battle and its sequence,a good production in its conditions with some good casting delivered especially from M.Zutic as King Lazar and B.Lecic as Bayezid.

The memorable scene for me in the movie is when Bayezid shows Obilic's head fixed on the spear after he was executed and asks if that head really looks like that of a victor,mocking Lazar of his defeat.Lazar responds saying how that head in fact laid a foundation and birth to a nation's spirit and will to freedom.Bayezid gets really angry with that answer and says,pointing out to Lazar: ''Ova glava mnogo prica,odsecite je''(This ''head'' is talking too much,cut it off) and orders his execution.

Does somebody know where I can watch it online or rent it with english subtitles? Thank you

Reading comment of the man who's nickname is ''ferrari'' made me write this review. First of all as a Serb i can just totally disagree with that the Serbian people is growing hatred to other nations through the centuries.Yes it's true,we(Serbia)were under the reign of Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries and it is normal that our ancestors have fought against them but not from hatred,they were only protecting their families,their homes,and their fatherland.But enough with history. Movie has no any similarity with Gibson's Braveheart.Different time ,different places,different battles.However,movie follows a real historical battle on Kosovo field in June 1389.Most of the characters in film are real true Serbian monarchs and warriors,dukes,knights and so on... Real great epic/history movie of great heroic days but also a great story of betrayal and strength of one small people(Serbian)under very powerful oppressor. Fantastic film for anyone who likes historical movies and also for ones that don't.Because,there's a lot of individual portraits of people in hard times.THIS NEXT LINE IS FOR IMDb'S ADMINISTRATORS ONLY(DELETE THIS BEFORE YOU PUBLISH MY REVIEW,I HAVE TO ASK YOU:DO YOU WANT ME TO WRITE REVIEWS(1 OR 2 EACH DAY,)OF EX-YUGOSLAVIAN MOVIES MOVIES???CAUSE I AM FROM SERBIA,AS YOU ALREADY KNOW,AND I HAVE WATCHED SURELY OVER 450 EX-YU FILMS,SO TELL ME DOES IT MAKES ANY GOOD FOR YOU?CAUSE I WANT IN THIS WAY TO MAKE ''OUR'' FILMS LITTLE CLOSER TO WIDER AUDIENCE.ANSWER ME IN E-MAIL WHEN YOU SEND ME NOTIFICATION DID YOU PUT THIS MY REVIEW ON YOUR SITE.DELETE THIS TEXT IN CAPS LOCK,HEHEHE