Stefan cel Mare (1974)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Mircea Dragan

Writers:

Mircea Dragan (writer)
Constantin Mitru (writer)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Romania | Ancient Europe | Betrayal | Village

Cast

Gheorghe Cozorici	...	Stefan cel Mare
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Violeta Andrei
Marcel Anghelescu
Geo Barton
Dina Cocea
Iurie Darie
Toma Dimitriu
Gheorghe Dinica
Jean Lorin Florescu
Ernest Maftei
Draga Olteanu Matei
Sebastian Papaiani
Emanoil Petrut
Florin Piersic
Colea Rautu
Anna Széles
Stefan Velniciuc

Also Known As:

Stephen the Great

Country:

Romania

Language:

Romanian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Many speeches, too little art

Prince Stephen the Great (Stefan-voda cel Mare, in Romanian) is of course the most representative and beloved of all the rulers of the Romanian people. His astonishing achievements in resisting to the Turkish Empire, Hungary and Poland, but also in patronizing culture and economy made him a mythical figure. This is the real story, in a few words. But quite sadly the movie is not so captivating. It makes Prince Stephen a mere living statue, always sure of himself and reciting his moralizing and patriotic speeches (not so far for us Romanians from Ceausescu's obsession with too much claimed independence and patriotism). As a child I was fascinated by this movie, and the battle scenes are still enjoyable. But first of all, it has some extraordinary music (by the Romanian composer Theodor Grigoriu). The opening scene literally made my hair stand to its end: a quiet traveling on modern day Vaslui city (which is nearby the site of one of Stephen's greatest victories), which brings us to the statue of the Prince, and then the formidable music bursts. And on with the action, back into history. But in a word, that great hero deserved a more artistic approach.