slavov_111 Reviews

Kapitan Petko Voyvoda (1981– )

Excellent, excellent and again excellent!

[10/10 · 22 October 2009]

Well, there are movie and TV classics in any nation; among the Bulgarian classics there is no other historical TV series as prominent and as legendary as this one. These TV series made Vasil Mihailov the notorious Bulgarian actor that he is and that is for a reason. Indeed, compared to any contemporary multi-mill. dollar TV production, "Kapitan Petko Voivoda" fades in terms of extras, preparation and additional details, but nevertheless this production has its own precious value for anyone who calls himself or herself Bulgarian.

There is something profoundly tragic in the last several episodes (the time of the "free" Bulgaria), but this is also what makes the entire production so true and so far reaching. Indeed, in most of the times there are no happy endings and this is absolutely true about the Bulgarian political history, part of which is reasonably well represented in "Kapitan Petko Voivoda".

Whatever these TV series may be, with all of their shortcomings, they have formed my understanding for Bulgarian nationality and for theatrical performance and this is how it will always be. I hope that most of the Bulgarian moviegoers, who have seen this production, also feel the same. And as for Vasil Mihailov, he will always be Kapitan Petko Voivoda for me, as well as for millions of Bulgarians.

Boris I (1985)

Great historical movie for even greater deeds!

[10/10 · 9 February 2009]

I just watched "Boris I" episodes for the second time in a month and surely I will watch them again with other Bulgarian fellows. Needless to say, if you are looking for a "Kingdom of Heaven"-type of heavy medieval battles or sword fight and chivalry/fancy/ridiculous-type of "medieval" fashion from "Knight's Tale", you definitely will not find neither of them in this movie. The idea of "Boris I" is very simple – to bring to live one of the most important periods in the defining of the Bulgarian nation and to re-awake some almost forgotten accords in the Bulgarian soul. Let all "statement"-type of dialogs aside (typical for some Bulgarian movies), I believe the idea of the movie is well accomplished and the importance of the conversion into the Eastern Orthodox fate is beautifully recreated. In fact, it appears to me that the power of the first episode is overlooked by the communist oversight back in 1983 and the importance of the adoption of the Eastern Orthodox fate is truly conveyed (especially when Boris-Mihail meet with the cave-priest), aside from the strong political reasoning of the time, put upfront. The second episode as also well done and the great deeds of the three students are represented powerfully.

After all, this movie is created as almost pure historical re-enactment of key events from the Bulgarian history for Bulgarians and no foreigner will neither understand it, nor like it. Well, I'm Bulgarian so it works perfectly for me and my soul. I hope it does the same for yours.