Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Andres Salama A great film epic from Poland, based on a famous novel by Nobel laureate Henryk Sienwiewicz, taking the 17th Century Ukrainian uprising by Bogdan Khmelnitsky against the Polish Commonwealth as a background, with Poles, Ukrainians and Tatars fighting against each other. My knowledge of Polish history is weak, so I cannot tell how faithful this movie is to the real events it depicts, but as an epic it never fails to entertain. Since this is a Polish film, Poles come naturally the best. Some may complain that the Ukrainian Cossacks are depicted as ignorant brutes, but they are nonetheless great fun to watch. Worst depicted are the Crimean Tatars, as oriental despots (and pederasts, as well, since the Khan is shown as an obvious boy lover). Though this was one of the most expensive films in Polish history, it took just small change to made in comparison with similarly themed Western movies, and the results for the money are impressive. The battles depicted here are great, and the filmmakers took care to involve many people in them, not just a few (presumably, without any aid from computer imagery). There is a great acting, as well (Izabella Scorupco as the beautiful Helena, Alexandr Domogarov as the impulsive Bohun, Ruslana Pysanka as the witch Horpyna, Krzystof Kowalewski as the comic relief Zagluba).

Björn-5 I had high expectations when I started watching the movie, but its background as a TV mini-series were soon painfully evident. Flat lighting, choppy editing (several scenes became confusing, as it was evident that something had been cut), and poor pyrotechnics. The battle scenes were OK, but not as spectacular as some claim. The explosions are just huge fireballs, looking like something from a poor WW2 action movie. The main male leads are rather good, but the "love at first sight" scenario is a silly cliché. Izabella Scorupco is pleasing to the eye, but not much more. The version I watched (the Scandinavian DVD release) has the Polish over-dubbing of other languages than Polish. This was the first time I encountered that particular feature, and hearing a male voice with all the enthusiasm of a weather forecaster doing the dialogue of both male and female roles was a bit distracting, to say the least. The scenes with feasting were taken out of the book "How to stage period feasts Hollywood style", but at least they didn't have food fights or dogs prowling the tables. It is recommended to read up on the historical background before watching, as anyone not familiar with Eastern European 17th century history will soon find him/herself confused. All in all, it is a rather passable historical drama made for TV, but don't expect greatness.

alexfromhorn At first I have to say I watched it in German under the title "Kreuzritter 5", so there was a German dubbing and it was bad, which really destroyed some of it's atmosphere. I know the story and I read the book by Henryk Sienkiewicz and I really enjoyed it but I don't think that the movie could retell that epic story in a good way, especially the atmosphere and historical backgrounds. I think the costumes were really good, besides the beards and hair, they looked so artificial. The acting was partially good especially by Scorupco and Szebrowski but there were a lot of actors who weren't that good at all... There also was a problem of historic introduction, in Germany you don't get to know a little thing about eastern European history so my friend who I watched that movie with me was really confused about cossacks and tartans and all those people whom he never really heard of. And didn't knew anything about their relation to Poland or the rest of Europe - so especially this part gave that movie a big minus. The fighting-scenes were less than mediocre. The music could have been better too, it missed some epicness. It could be really much shorter cause it doesn't tell that much story at all.

zach-allen Many comments have been made on the movie, the plot and the acting. I saw the movie at a private screening in Warsaw and loved it. Some of the scenes were well done, some great.But the music....the music never leaves you. The variations on "Falcons" through the second half of the movie were wonderful. The scene on the river with the male chorus was haunting. THe music should have attracted more note than it did. But, not released in English, based on a super-nationalistic plot of dubious historic value, the movie was only going to appeal to a Polish audience, which it certainly did. (For those who have commented on its excessive pro-Polish stance, they would be surprised to hear that, in Poland, the criticism was that it was too nice to Chmielnicki. Some said that Hoffman's Ukrainian wife had too much influence.)The music is the lasting star of the movie. I have the CD and treasure it.