Skanderbeg

The movie tells about the legendary almost mythical exploits of George Castriot Scanderbeg against one of the most ruthless and greatest empires of the world, the Ottoman Empire. I gave this movie a 7 however because it does not portray Scanderbeg's true image. He was not a mountain dweller rather he was a Prince of very noble blood, and it said in the chronichles of the Musachi Princes and in the biography of Jacques Lavardine that Scanderbeg's family could trace back it's roots up to 30 generations, and that they were directly tied to the legendary Phyrrus King of Epirus descendant of the Achilles the Epirotan, and from there stems the powerful race of the Epirotans a semi pelasgian-illyrian tribe. This background is not in the movie, partly because those information came only in the last 20 years, which makes me wonder when will Hollywood write a script about the true story of what can be called the last warrior king and erudite in the same fashion as the Arthurian legends(only this one we know for sure to be real) and many other valorous comandants of the history of mankind.

We had Troy, Alexander and even Hercules, now it's time to write about the great Scanderbeg and how he saved Europe from the Ottoman threat by fighting with them alone(with minor support from the Pope) for more then 25 years.

This is a must see movie, I don't know if they have managed to put subscripts, but the music is certainly amazing, and considering hat this was done with the help of the russians because albania was too poor to afford such a movie I think that overall for the time, for the knowledge we had about Scanderbeg, or I should say the widespread common knowledge that we had about him, this is truly a remarkable movie with it's artistic elements.

The guy who plays Scanderbeg is also the best match they could find. I'm sure the counterpart of him would be Russell Crow today.

This film is done in the style of Russian filmmaker, Sergei Eisenstein, the genius behind Battleship Potemkin.

The famous scene of the baby carriage going down the steps of the besieged city; later copied by The Untouchables (Kevin Costner) with a similar scene in a train station is an icon of Russian cinema.

It also has the flavor of Alexander Nevsky, a Russian classic made 15 years earlier with the theme of a home country resisting intruders. This film stands on its own with spectacular battle scenes, and highly dramatic moments of family conflict. You will not be bored, even though I saw the film in Albanian language with no subtitles, it was very easy to follow.

This movie is a great one. Unlike "Troy" or "Alexander" this one has its own goods. There are the scene fights, small love lines, and magic if you ask me. This historic movie about the Albanian hero "Skenderbeu" is what a family movie should be about. Is educational and not very violent, and as far as my opinion I think of it as a PG-13 movie. Would be great if Hollywood creates a version of this movie, I, my self believe it wold be great to experience something with the great technology at hand now and compare it with the 1970's version of this movie. There is anything about this movie that all the other movies should have, meaning. There is clearly a very good history line behind this movie. Starting in the beginning with a abduction of the Albanian brethren to the day when "Skenderbeu" betrays the Turks and gets back to its place, Albania.

I don't usually write reviews, but I don't feel like "The Great Warrior Skanderbeg" has gotten what it deserves here. It's one of those rare movies where my immediate response upon finishing it was just, "Damn..." Even upon beginning the film, the overall feel may remind some viewers of such more well-known historical epics such as "Ben-Hur" and "Spartacus". The battle scenes in particular remind me of such films, and are extremely well done. In addition, the dance scenes (which aren't always 100% necessary but still nice nonetheless) are beautifully choreographed, and the costumes that go along with them equally stunning. Without spoiling anything, I'll say the final scene was what really blew me away, and served as a nice wrap-up to the story, which spans nearly 60 years from Gjergj Kastriot's childhood to the year of his death.

There are a few problems with this film, however. Some of the major complaints I've seen have been about some of the acting, dialogue, and one-dimensional characters. Additionally, I should note that the educated viewer will be able to read between the lines and see traces of the Hoxhaist ideology this film was made under, but not at all to a distracting extent (like, for example, the films of North Korea). In my opinion, none of these things really took away from the film's strengths.

Last time I checked, there are numerous versions of this film available online, making it fairly easily accessible, but even if you are unable to find it, I'd still recommend putting in the effort to hunt it down if you're a fan of 50s/60s historical epics and/or the cinema of the Eastern bloc.

Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu is national hero of us and we're very thankful to all that made this film possible. The successor of Alexander of Macedon and Phyrrus of Epirus, Skënderbeu returned to his forefathers land to led the battels for freedom against the Ottomans. I'm grandson of two great-grandfathers who fought against the Greek chauvinists in southern Albania (Epir that means E Pirros) and they've fallen to protect Albania. To end this write, I have to say that Albania will never be in the hands of the invaders and we will get our lands back again!