''Time of Violence'' () is a 1988 Bulgarian film based on the novel '' Time of Parting'' by Anton Donchev. It consists of two episodes with a combined length of 288 minutes. It premiered at the

1988 Cannes Film Festival The 41st Cannes Film Festival took place from 11 to 23 May 1988. Italian filmmaker Ettore Scola served as jury president for the main competition. Danish filmmaker Bille August won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, for his drama film ...

where it was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

section. The film was selected as the Bulgarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the

62nd Academy Awards The 62nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1989 and took place on March 26, 1990, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p ...

, but was not nominated.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Plot

The film is set in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, in 1668. As

Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha Köprülü may refer to: People * Köprülü family (Kypriljotet), an Ottoman noble family of Albanian origin ** Köprülü era (1656–1703), the period in which the Ottoman Empire's politics were set by the Grand Viziers, mainly the Köprülü fa ...

concentrates his war efforts on the Cretan War, he grows paranoid of the Sultan's Christian subjects, convinced that they are an uncontrollable threat to the empire unless

Islamized The spread of Islam spans almost 1,400 years. The early Muslim conquests that occurred following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE led to the creation of the caliphates, expanding over a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted ...

. One of the targets is Elindenya, a village located in a

Rhodope Rhodope may refer to: * Rhodope (mythology), several figures of Greek mythology * Rhodope Mountains, in Bulgaria and Greece * Rhodope (regional unit), of Greece * Rhodope (province), a Roman and Byzantine province * 166 Rhodope, an asteroid * Rhodop ...

valley where the Christian Bulgarians' way of life was for the most part left alone under the Ottoman governor Süleyman Agha's rule. A

sipahi The ''sipahi'' ( , ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuk Turks and later by the Ottoman Empire. ''Sipahi'' units included the land grant–holding ('' timar'') provincial ''timarli sipahi'', which constituted most of the arm ...

regiment is dispatched to the valley with the mission of converting the Christian population to Islam, by force if necessary. The extraordinary thing is that the regiment is led by Kara Ibrahim, a fanatical

devshirme Devshirme (, usually translated as "child levy" or "blood tax", , .) was the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of Islam ...

from Elindenya, and although Süleyman Agha, feeling that his self-ordained rule is at stake, objects to

forced conversion Forced conversion is the adoption of a religion or irreligion under duress. Someone who has been forced to convert to a different religion or irreligion may continue, covertly, to adhere to the beliefs and practices which were originally held, w ...

s, Kara Ibrahim favors measures of extreme brutality against the local Bulgarians, including his own family.

Cast

References

External links

* 1988 films 1980s Bulgarian-language films Films directed by Ludmil Staikov 1988 drama films Films shot in Bulgaria Films set in 17th-century Ottoman Empire Films set in Bulgaria Films set in 1668 Films based on Bulgarian novels Islam in Bulgaria Bulgarian drama films Rhodope Mountains Films about Islam {{1980s-drama-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links