This movie shows a patriarchal, Oriental Serbia in the hands of the Ottomans towards the end of their reign. Some of you wrote that the Ottomans were known for their tolerance. That is not so. They took women as desired, they separated young boys from their mothers to raise them as janissaries, they beheaded prominent people, etc. So, yes, they were evil and they ruled brutally. And yes, they did not allow church bells to ring. We have lived through centuries of Ottoman rule and we have tons of documents to prove all these facts. You may not like this, but this is how it was.
The movie is solid. The costumes are good. Sex scenes are there to show lust and passion. Many forbidden and secret loves happened, so lust was understandable when two people in love were alone. The sex scenes are way less portrayed than in most American movies anyway. A patriarchal family where the man in the house is the boss. He thinks he is doing all the right things to save his power and influence, but all he does is ruin the lives of his family members, one by one. Women were treated as second class citizens. This is how it was in Serbia at the time.
Most people make a mistake by looking at things from today's perspective. We have to observe the things from the time when they happened, and things were very much different then. We are talking about the 19th century in this case.
All in all, this is a fair portrayal of 19th century Serbia under the Ottoman Turks. For Western viewers, this may come a bit raw and harsh, but most Balkan movies are like that. It is helpful to know some history before watching Balkan movies.
