Original subtitles

BULGARIAN CINEMATOGRAPHY

"BOYANA" FILM STUDIO

"HAEMUS" CREATIVE TEAM

The year is 1668. The Ottoman Empire has long since conquered South-Eastern Europe,

but the Holy War for the total domination of Islam continues. The battle rages on for Candia (Crete).

A janissary is sent to the Rhodopes - a Bulgarian mountain of great strategic importance.

"Janissary" is the name given to young Christian boys,

separated by force from their parents, raised with unimaginable cruelty

and transformed into fanatically faithful soldiers of the sultan.

I fear not that there are enemies of the padishah still walking the Earth.

We will crush them just like we crushed the Romans, Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Serbs.

I dread that many of his subjects still worship the Cross.

Only when a single faith binds us,

only when all fly the holy banner of the Prophet,

only then will we become invincible.

If we fail in this, the world will never belong to us.

TIME OF VIOLENCE

based on the book "Time of parting" by Anton Donchev

Chapter 1 THE THREAT

Script Ludmil Staikov, Georgi Danailov, Mihail Kirkov, Radoslav Spassov

Starring

Iossif Surchadzhiev Rousy Chanev Ivan Krystev

Valter Toski Anya Pencheva

Vassil Mihajlov Konstantin Kotsev Kalina Stefanova

Angel Ivanov Momchil Karamitev Stoyko Peev

Bogomil Simeonov Ivan Yanchev Anton Karastojanow

Nikolay Latev Tzanko Petrov Stefka Berova

Script editor Todor Monov

Consultants Tsvetana Georgieva, Atanas Semerdjiev, Ganka Mihaylova, Hristo Dermendjiev

Costume design Nikolay Nikolov, Sonya Kalcheva

Make-up Tanyo Kukov

Film editing Violeta Toshkova

Sound department Lyudmila Mahalnishka

Original music Georgi Genkov

Production design Georgi Todorov

Producer Christo Nenov

Cinematography Radoslav Spassov

Directed by Ludmil Staikov

What's the matter, aga (master)?

We've arrived.

Call him.

Hey!

Hey!

He fell on his back. That's good luck.

That's only when in battle.

It is a battle.

Call them.

Hey! Come here!

He must be mad to stand before the aga with his hat on.

Why don't you take your hat off, giaour (slave)?

Manol. Please, don't!

What is the name of this valley?

This one? Elindenya.

And over there is Chitak. The village Chitak.

Then Podviz and further down is Luki.

Where is the grave of Enihan Baba,

the conqueror of the Rhodopes?

Yes, it's over there, on the top.

Father, go toll the bells!

Wait, we must put your wife's bones in the church.

We can't leave them like this. It's a sin.

If we don't hurry, we will make an even greater sin.

Hurry, father! I will take them.

There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet.

Eternal glory to you, Enihan Baba!

Turkish cavalry, grandpa Kralyu.

They passed the graveyard.

I will call Vrazhu Kehaya and Velko.

You call Merdzhan and the others.

Merdzhan! Merdzhan!

- Syakur, where is your father? - He is at home.

Tell him that I will be waiting for him at Stayko's place.

Hurry, my boy.

How many of them are there, Manol?

Many. We must hide the boys.

You take the upper neighbourhood.

You - Ilchov's neighbourhood and Prizhari.

Zhelio, you'll lead them! You know where.

Manol, but they have a list of their names.

That many soldiers. It can't be just for the children.

I say, hide everything - animals, harvest, family...

And be careful.

Hide your knives. The last thing we want is an incident.

Turks! Send the child to Zhelyo, he will take the children to the caves.

Get inside! Soldiers!

Dad, where is Mircho?

Haven't seen him today. Why?

An army entered the valley.

I don't think there are any of ours there. They were all sipahis, I didn't see any janissaries.

Goran, pour some more in!

Can't you see it's empty?

I thought they forgot all about us.

Goran, stop it.

What's the matter, dad?

Why are you still standing here?

Go look for the child.

They can't take anything from me anymore.

Mircho!

Where have you been?

I was with Elitsa, at the big pond.

Leave the basket and go home.

Find a task fit for a man!

Who are you?

And who are you?

I am Karaibrahim. I was sent here by the grand vizier.

These are my men.

I am Suleyman Aga and this valley belongs to me.

Then I have come to see you.

The vizier sends his regards.

And this letter.

And this letter is for the army's cheribashi (commander).

That will be me.

A letter for the local qadi (judge).

That will be me.

A letter to the hodja (priest).

Have you become a hodja too?

No. I have a hodja.

Hasan Hodja!

Why do you meet us as if we were brigands?

Why did you not send any news that you are coming, so that I can welcome you properly?

You will understand after you have read the letters.

Shall we go?

Run!

Do they always run like this when they see you?

A while ago, I came this way to meet you.

None of them ran.

It would seem they are not running away from me.

Elitsa!

What is this?

Nothing. They let the valley know that you have come.

So everyone knows.

Who is he?

Builder, foreigner.

Believer or infidel?

- Infidel. I bought him recently. - Sell him to me.

I have paid 6000 for him. If you want him - he is yours.

Why did you kill him?

To let everyone in the konak (courthouse) know that I have arrived.

- Do you need any help?

I can do it myself, Goran.

Hurry, hurry. Come on! Hurry!

Your rule is coming to an end, Suleyman Aga.

Whatever you do, it will be wrong.

Hide them in the sheep-pen for the night and then take them to the upper fields before dawn.

Momchil, did you hear what I said?

I was hoping to get a chance to stop by at the mill. I have a gift for Elitsa.

To get a chance to see her...

Now is not the time for gifts.

Mircho, be careful.

I want you to take the room next to Suleyman Aga's.

I want to know everything that's going on in there.

Aga!

Did you know? We have to pay for everything.

Suleyman Aga charges us for food and everything.

Bread alone costs 12 aspras.

Consider also the hay and oats for the horses...

Suleyman Aga sent me to let you know that everything is free of charge for you. You are all his guests.

Do not be afraid.

These are your mother's remains.

You know that soldiers came today. They will probably take children as janissaries.

They were here when I was your age. Had they taken me,

I would be a janissary now.

You can't be a janissary.

No one is born a janissary, my son.

I don't know what they do to the Christian children after they take them away,

but they turn them into beasts.

I won't let that happen with you!

God forbid, if they take you,

I want you to remember these three things,

and swear on your mother's remains that you will fulfill at least one of them.

Sit down.

Listen to me now:

When they take you out of the village, you will pass through Suleyman's bridge.

My first request is to jump into the river.

The water will take you away. You may drown,

but you may yet survive.

- Will you remember this, son? - I will remember, dad.

My second request: If you can not jump off the bridge,

further down where the road gets narrower, jump off the cliff.

Once a girl jumped off that very same cliff to save herself from her pursuers.

If a girl can do it - so can you.

- Will you remember this, my son? - Yes, dad.

What about the third request?

If you can't manage to jump off the bridge or off the cliff,

when you reach the top of the hill, stop and turn around.

As if you want to see Elindenya one more time before you go.

Turn around, so that you face the stone crosses.

I will be hidden in the graveyard and I will shoot you straight in the heart.

Should I falter and miss, stand still and wait.

- Can you do this, son? - I will, dad.

- Swear on it! - I swear.

Father, say Amen!

What's that howling?

There is an endless abyss here.

They say it leads all the way to Hell.

No one has been there and back alive.

How do you know this, aga?

Aga, something is wrong here.

I don't like this place.

They can kill us in our sleep.

You think we would have been better off in the village?

You have your guards. Guard us!

Sevda, what are you doing here?

What's the matter?

You go, father. I will catch up with you.

What's wrong, Sevda?

I can't go on alone, Manol.

Goran is crazy for you! Why don't you give him a chance?

My heart is not set on him.

I know it is a sin,

but after I lost my husband, all I can think of is you.

I have been waiting for you to notice me for so long and I will wait longer if I have to.

You are alone too...

Now that 3 years have passed after your wife...

I will take care of Mircho too, I will be like a mother to him.

Take me, Manol!

One coffee for each.

Mehmed Koprulu put a ban on coffee.

The old Mehmed Koprulu,

may he rest in peace, put a ban on coffee.

But his son, the present grand vizier, praise his name,

again lifted the ban for the believers.

Go!

A day doesn't go by that I don't think of the grand vizier.

Let me show you the sword he gave me at Belgrade,

when the janissaries revolted.

I killed the first one to raise a hand against him.

And yet you are still alive?

Where were the comrades of that janissary?

They were with him. I killed them too.

You helped him then, you will help him now.

The grand vizier is outside the walls of Candia in deadly combat with the infidels.

The battle for the Rhodopes is a battle for Candia.

The battle for Candia is a battle for the future of the empire.

Suleyman Aga, if we are to win,

this mountain must forget the Bulgarian name.

When he sent me here, the grand vizier told me:

The Rhodopes is a fortress, and when you leave and look back

all you must see is minarets and not even one cross.

Only then will that fortress be ours.

And the janissaries' aga said...

The janissaries' aga...

We go a long way back together. All the way back to the Persian expedition.

When he was here hunting, he gave me these silver pistols.

And the padishah, conqueror of all, gave me a golden bow,

because I shot a bear from 100 paces. The bow!

You can show it to me later. I can see you have many gifts to show.

The padishah, praise his name,

if he would see in Istanbul, may Allah let us spend our days there,

an infidel with colourful clothes, he would behead him immediately.

And what did my eyes see in this valley?!

Women dressed as if at a wedding and I didn't see even one of them wearing a veil.

And what were those bells when we entered the valley?

It is writen: the infidels are only allowed a semantron!

Enough!

When I leave, there won't be any infidels.

Aga, did you read the letters?

- I did. - Tell me then,

how will you aid me in my task?

How can I aid you, aga?

The believers here are few and many of their parents are still infidels.

Here, my hodja is Hasan, son of Velko. He is a priest and his father is an infidel.

And then, the shepherds from the Aegean Sea are coming back these days,

all armed with bows and arrows.

Who allowed them to carry weapons?

An infidel mustn't carry a knife, let alone a bow.

It is for the bears and the wolves, hodja. How can shepherds walk the woods unarmed?

- When will they arrive? - Some of them are already here.

The rest - tomorrow.

- We are too late! - We are just in time. I knew when they would arrive.

Aga, I want you to gather the leaders, I want to see them in your residence.

There are no leaders here, they are all rayah (flock).

There is no village without leaders, aga. I want the ones whose word is respected.

I will see what I can do.

But while they are in here, I won't allow any harm to come to them.

They will be my guests.

It will be so... while they are your guests.

Aga, the mistress asked for you.

I am Gulfiye, Suleyman's wife.

- What is your name? - Abdullah.

- I can see you are a foreigner. - Yes. I was captured at Candia.

And you put on the turban?

Yes. There wasn't a big choice of hats. The ones who rejected it lost their heads.

And you got scared?

I am more fond of my head than of my hat.

Why don't you run away, go back to your people?

Same reason. My people won't forgive me for changing my religion.

And now I serve the padishah.

I am a nobleman and I keep my word. My family is one of the most prominent in Venice.

- I guess you don't believe me. - Sure I do.

I have seen all kinds of people. We had a man who claimed he was Mohammed himself.

What's stopping you from saying you are the king himself? Nothing.

These days, mad people are popular.

Sit down. Why are you still standing?

Sit down.

Help yourself. Around here, this is the food for both masters and slaves.

Your master, what is he like? I look at him and I can't believe he's just a simple sipahi.

He is a sipahi (soldier).

Sipahi or not - he is a brave man. To go out in the valley only with you at his side.

- And what type of women does he like? - Pretty ones.

Just like me then.

Mamma mia! Why do you eat so much?

I am bored. I have but a few joys around here.

That's all I have left - food and hashish.

- And what type of women do you like? - Me?

- What, are you...?

- What?! No, no. - Alright. Go on. Eat, eat.

What is that?

Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!

Mercy, Suleyman Aga! Mercy! I will be grateful forever!

No! Please don't, aga! No!

What's going on down there?

A trial. They will put him in a sack and toss him in the waterfall.

Why? What has he done?

He catched a girl at the spring. Put his hand under her blouse.

- And they will kill him for this? - That's the way it goes around here.

What about where you come from? Is there no trial for this?

If we killed for this sort of thing, we would have no army.

Quick - milk, bread!

Where do you come from, old woman?

We are all from different villages, my son. We are from Chepino.

This is all that is left of Chepino. They burned the houses, knocked down the churches,

killed young and old, everyone who would not change his religion.

What is this?

Where are they taking these gravestones?

They are moving their graveyard. That's all they have managed to save.