Powerful

Blistering performances.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Really I would give a 5.5 since the ratings are 3.4 which is lower than it should. It's clear people want gory battles but this historical drama lacks that. Like some, I just saw it on netflix and that's where it belongs, quite an average film. Most epics are good films and few go wrong but this one falls short. Acting is average. F. Murray Abraham is overbearing as Marco D'Aviano. He just spends a bit too much time shouting. Did the real Marco D'Aviano shout? I doubt it since he was revered as a skill negotiator. Enrico Lo Verso plays Kara Mustafa which is fine since the real Mustafa was Albanian. A pleasant surprise appearance was Jerzy Skolimowski as Jan Sobieski, the King of Poland. He wrote the screenplay for Knife in the Water, a 1962 Polish gem by Roman Polanski. He also directed some unusual cult films like Moonlighting and Torrents of Spring. Personally I take a liking to his bizarre King, Queen, Knave and Adventures of Gerard (mostly due to Gina Lollobrigida and Claudia Cardinale). But yes, you get the point. Day of the Siege is an Italian-Polish production that falls into a sort of cult-like realm. A more religious cult-like realm.So complaints by modern standards: No blood, special effects do look like a war video game at times, the sky never seems to be real, dialogue is stiff and formal, acting is over the top or stiff except a few moments where Lo Verso and Skoliminowski shine. Direction is very average, nothing special and predictable. The low ratings may be due to expectations that this would be a gory film about the battle. Battle choreography falls short by today's standards. Polish nationals might be disappointed that King Jan Sobieski's appearances are limited. People are not going to cheer for a monk unless it's Sean Connery in The Name of the Rose. Some of the low ratings may be due to turn- off with a religious tone. Some don't like the references to September 11 and the concept of defending the faith. So some complain about historical inaccuracy.But actually, in researching this interesting siege of Vienna, the film could focus on King Jan Sobieski but Marco D'Aviano was a real key character. Perhaps he was made too zealous in the film with a weak script and direction - how could a monk win a battle? This part of the film was a bit fictional. But in reality Marco was a key diplomat who was a skilled negotiator in bringing the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire back together against the encroaching Ottomans. The real Marco had quite high standards and even several hundred captured Turks went to him to beg for mercy knowing his skills in helping others. But in terms of filmmaking, it's not that interesting and may involve deeper character development. Another person complained that Kara Mustafa prostrated before the Sultan and in Islam, one never prostrates unless before God. Actually that is incorrect, as it is traditional to prostrate before very high rank. And it is tradition that a failed Grand Vizier is executed by strangulation by a silk cloth. So some feel it makes the Ottomans look evil or inhuman. But on the other hand, the only family we see in the movie is Kara Mustafa's. Therefore he is a central figure who has a human touch.It is an average film but below average for an epic. It lacks the excitement that a bloodier epic might have, such as Braveheart or the Last Samurai. But it is far more accurate than people suggest especially compared to most epics.The strengths of the film was as some say, soundtrack was fairly strong, costume design was good. Just a bit too glorious and shallow. Like a nice piece of cake that looks good but a bit bland.

This movie show mostly charismatic Marco d'Aviano and his role during siege of Vienna and the IMDb storyline didn't talk about this movie and you need put "September Eleven 1683" to the box with all Italian catholic films. Remember you can't confront it with high budget Hollywood productions. As catholics low budget movie for catholics audience is good. Also if you know history of Poland and expect historical film about the siege of Vienna REMEMBER this is NOT a film about the great victory of Sobieski, the Polish cavalry, or about the political intrigues of European sovereigns in the 17th century.From other hand matteo-cortigiani-1 are totally right about this movie. Now if any movie has positive view of Christians(especially Catholic) must be bed. Sad but true :-(

I had seen the trailer for the 2012 Turkish movie 1453 Fetih(Conquest) already,and after seeing it I did not even find it worthy of seeing.But after having heard of the title of this one,I was curious to see it.What I just started to see from the very beginning of the movie though,were the same things I did on that trailer of the Turkish production,amateurish computerized animations thrown in here and there,so apparently visible to the eye that they start being annoying after a while.I was patient however,to get into the developing stages of the plot where the real action was going to happen.All my waits in vain. There are already comments here that mentioned it,so I don't want to repeat the same points over and over but I completely agree with the poor delivery of acting here.Even Murray Abraham,who will always stay in my memory with his unforgettable moments casting for Cuban gangster Omar Suarez in Scarface could not save himself in this misery.(Well,given the horrible plot,there wasn't much he could do) First of all,I won't agree with those who say that not all the things have to be historically accurate as they should have been,if you claim a title depicting an historic event(and as important as this one) I am sorry but there can't be any excuses.Yes there might be of course deviations from the accuracy of the real events at some point,but the plot here so much falls apart that there is not much left throughout the whole picture that actually gives a single idea to spectators what the movie is all about. The characters though are somewhat real except ermm...Abul ? A completely fictitious character,a close friend of Marco D'Aviano and a lover of a young deaf woman,and along with Marco and Kara Mustafa Pasha of Merzifon(yeah this is a Pasha that we are talking about,the Ottoman Grand Vizier) their lives all at some point come across with another ridiculous series of coincidences just made up in this movie.The 11 September message of course is subliminally given to the spectator trying to set the connection with the events of 2001,like it has anything to do with it,blatantly making fun of his/her lack of knowledge on the historical events because the Siege started on 14th July and ended on 12th September. The fictitious Abul's one absurd line while speaking with her lover:''We are Muslims,we are not Westerners,we can't listen to our heart and faith at the same time'' and those lines at the imaginary meeting between Marco and Kara Mustafa,were so out of context and nauseous that a spectator here would completely lose the point of what's going on.I just don't understand that even in 2010s,so pointless and ridiculous vilifying images of another faith,another religious group can be so impudently delivered in cinema.On the final scene where Kara Mustafa is strangled to death for his failure in Belgrade and the executors having his son to watch his execution(the latter I think also never happened) I called it quits but it was already the end of the movie.Is that the expression a kid of his age shows when watching his own father killed for God's sake ? No emotion,no grieving or suffering,shaking,nothing ! Are you kidding me ?If you are interested in the Ottoman conflicts in East and Central Europe of those times,I advise you to find the 1989 Serbian movie Battle of Kosovo and Romanian productions Vlad The Impaler(1979) and Michael The Brave(1971) with English subtitles if you can.Those too at times deviate from the historical script,but they are way way better in characterizing the incidents and keep you in the main story.At least they do not demean their titles unlike this movie.

Oh, what can I really say here? I love the history of great battles and the Polish events of the 17th century, Jan Sobieski was a distinguished king and a great warrior, and the very topic of Kara Mustapha and the peak of Ottoman Empire's power in Europe all seem to be very exiting topics to make a great film about. Did the filmmakers succeed? No. Why? First, and foremost, extremely poor special effects. They are so naive, amateurish and so obviously bad, that even a mere kid can immediately say that this is drawn, this is computerized and this was very sloppily assembled on a very simply software. Shame. The worst moment? he very battle, of course. My, it is so caricature, so unassumingly badly done, so fast and hasted, that one can marvel with a mouth open. Terribly poor effects and very laughable attacks recall all the great previous Polish movies on war, but here the battle simply sinks. Even the great casting cannot help. All the stars seem to be a bit lost and absent, with only two great exceptions - Adamczyk and Abraham - they did a marvelous job. But they did not save the poor film from a fail. Immense failure.