Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Armand patriotic lesson and historical fresco. sign of a director art and powerful characters. it is not the best Romanian movie but it remains one of most provocative. exercise, not insignificant, to create a blockbuster. the large fight scenes are parts of precise care for details. the speeches are inspired and the science to give profound nuances to relations between characters is nice. image of a hero, it reflects the old need of legitimacy for a people at border of Europe. like in many situations, the past is a mixture of values and myth. a form of revenge against present. in this case, reflection of Communist Party desire to have roots in national history. important - the impressive fresco as a kind of calling card.

jtwcosmos "Jump, Selim."This is the story of Romanian King Michael the Brave, the first ruler to unite Romania in 1600 A.D. The movie has good directing, great battle scenes, good actors and lavish costumes and sets. It could have been a really great movie, if not for the terrible music and the wooden and clunky dialogues.Director Sergiu Nicolaescu tells the story well. The camera moves around, showing the action from (almost) all angles, and it really takes it's time. It also glides a lot. Starting from the very beginning, the camera flies alongside the characters, creating some really great moments. And while the technique is not new - one famous example would be Buster Keaton's "The General"- the effect is still stunning. True, the director tends to overuse it a little here and there, but it works most of the times.The battle scenes are incredible. Thousands of soldiers and horses take part in what must be some of the biggest mock battles of all time. The extras literally fill the horizon as far as one can see, the costumes and the weapons are very well done, and there are a lot of pyrotechnics.The actors are very good. Most - if not all - of the big names of Romanian Cinema have a part in this grand epic. Amza Pellea is good, even if a little wooden. The villains are particularly well done, and they seem to be the only ones who are allowed any flexibility. Ion Besoiu makes a memorable role, taking advantage of this freedom, and so does Nicolae Secareanu. Director Sergiu Nicolaescu also has a good role. There are many other actors, in parts big and small.The film has a very high production value. The costumes and makeup are excellent, the sets are great, and the movie takes advantage of many of the Romanian and European landmarks.The music is terrible. It is loud, it is monotonous and it is grating. And distracting. There are also some scenes when people break into song and the result is laughable.The dialogues are also terrible. They are wooden and stiff and the language used is clunky and pretentious, but that is not entirely the film makers fault. The '70s were a difficult period for artistic expression in Romania, with heavy censorship - a bunch of low IQ morons who had to be appeased, often by adding annoying and less than subtle references to communist values and ideas. On a positive note, though, everybody speaks only one language, which makes it less distracting. Kinda like Star Trek.Michael the Brave. A great historical epic, that could have been even greater. 8/10.

catalinarmeanu This is the top of the line in the romanian film industry, filmed in harsh conditions under the comunist authority by best romanian director Mr. Sergiu Nicolaescu. The movie is unique in the way it presents the political and military situations in the medieval Balkan's of 1600 and also is a very acurate story regarding the historical true about the last real crusader: Michael the Brave - King of all Romania. With no doubt we can put "Mihai Viteazu" side by side with "Braveheart" or any other great movie although many people are not so close to romanian history than scottish history but after a closer look when you see this motion picture you will find out that is far more active and colored than any other in this part of the world. At last but not the least you will notice the actor in the role of Michael the Brave - Amza Pellea, who is beyond any doubt the best romanian actor of the 21's century. Enjoy the movie!

Beebenders Amza Pellea is Mihai Viteazul! Very seldom that you see an actor transforming itself so completely to bring a strong historical character to life. I can only feel bad for the rest of the world for not being able to see this movie. Sergiu Nicolaescu, the movie director proves that he belongs with the best of the historical genre. Time will prove me right, somebody, someday, will bring this diamond in the rough to a full shine. It is disturbing to see the people in charge of promoting Romania's cultural image can't seem to know how to promote some of it's best assets.