The Day of the Siege (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Historical Epic	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	114:43 (Case: 134)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Renzo Martinelli
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	F. Murray Abraham Enrico Lo Verso Alicja Bachleda Jerzy Skolimowski Piotr Adamczyk Cristina Serafini Marius Chivu
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Roberto Cacciaplia

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     The Day of the Siege, full title The Day of the Siege: 11 September 1683, concerns the events of 1683 when an Ottoman Turk army 300,000 strong was defeated at the gates of Vienna by a combination of Hapsburg Austrian, Polish and allied forces. A text at the start of The Day of the Siege informs us that this battle saved Europe from Islam, as the intention of the Ottoman army was to forge on to Rome and made St Peter’s a mosque. We are then told that the reason the Ottoman’s did not succeed was due to a monk, Marco D’Aviano, and the Polish King Jan Sobieski and that this film is their story. At least the latter is an historical figure, but in reality The Day of the Siege is about the contrast between the Christian monk Marco and the leader of the Muslim Ottoman forces, Kara Mustafa (another historical figure).

     The first hour of The Day of the Siege sets the scene and the characters. Farther Marco (F. Murray Abraham) is a pious, humble monk with a reputation for miracles. While tolerant of Islam he is aware of the threat posed to Europe by the Ottomans, and tries in vain to warn the Hapsburg Emperor in Vienna, Leopold I, of the danger. Marco also counsels Leopold to seek an alliance with the Polish King Jan III Sobieski (Jerzy Skolimowski) but is ignored. During the first hour we do not meet the Polish king but we do see a lot of Kara Mustafa (Enrico Lo Verso). He is committed to spreading Islam throughout Europe, but has been receiving premonitions about his death on the campaign and is indeed the more tragic and interesting character. When the Ottoman army arrives at the gates of Vienna in July 1683 the Emperor flees, and Marco helps rally the soldiers with the Emperor’s sister, the Duchess Eleanor (Alicja Bachleda), and her husband Charles (Antonio Cupo).

     The army of Kara Mustafa besieges Vienna and attacks using cannons and underground mining. After two months little progress has been made and, in a major error, Mustafa has failed to fortify the hills overlooking his camp and siege lines. On 11 September he launches a major attack on Vienna, but the Polish army of Jan Sobieski arrive. The Poles occupy the hills and start with an artillery bombardment before Sobieski launches the largest cavalry charge in European history that destroys the Ottoman army. Never again would a Moslem army threaten the heart of Europe.

     The Day of the Siege is an Italian / Polish coproduction but is made in English. It comes from the same company and director, Renzo Martinelli, that made Barbarossa, staring Rutger Hauer in 2009; indeed, that film is also known as Siege Lord, and this present film is called in the UK Siege Lord II: The Day of the Siege although the two films are in no way related. The DVD cover of The Day of the Siege notes that the film features over 10,000 extras, 3,000 horses and 6,000 costumes, and while the latter is definitely on show one must question the director’s use of the first two as the battle scenes are neither imaginative nor seem to be full of extras and horses doing their thing. There is also an overreliance with CGI with, for example, the cannon smoke and cannon ball hits and explosions being obvious fakes, while the director also seems very keen on over-manipulating the light and backgrounds, many of which are bathed in a most unnatural colour scheme and glow. I am also no military expert, but the siege cannons on show are clearly light field artillery that would never throw a ball big enough to breach the fortified walls of a medieval city and as well there is almost no sense of a city under siege for two months until the ultimate battle.

     Yet, The Day of the Siege is not a disaster. It is an old fashioned epic in the sense that it takes its time to introduce and flesh out the main characters and here the film is served well by its two main actors, F. Murray Abraham and Enrico Lo Verso, who both give excellent nuanced performances and deliver the dialogue, some of it pretty stodgy, absolutely straight. The two actors make the film, giving it depth and gravitas, and the fate of Mustafa, which is more or less historical, is very moving. Other pluses are the costumes and sets, both interior and exterior, which look fabulous. The film has obviously used real palaces for interiors and the colours and detail is spectacular.

     The Day of the Siege was made on a budget of Eu 12,000,000, peanuts by Hollywood standards for a historical epic. This does effect the battle sequences and the CGI, but the film is certainly worth watching for the performances of F. Murray Abraham and Enrico Lo Verso and the spectacular sets. Just don’t expect action sequences up to Hollywood big budget standards. On a totally unrelated note, legend has it that croissants were first baked in 1683 in Vienna to celebrate the Ottoman defeat, being pastry created in the crescent shape on the Ottoman flag. Like much in the film, this may or may not be accurate.

Video

     The Day of the Siege is presented in an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1, the original ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     Except when sharpness is affected when the director plays with focus and colour manipulation, The Day of the Siege has exceptional detailed in close-ups, costumes and sets. The drab browns and greys of Medieval Europe are contrasted with the colourful uniforms of the Ottomans, and colours generally are deep and rich, sometimes very over-vibrant when sunsets and landscapes are manipulated. Skin tones are natural, while brightness and contrast did vary. Blacks and shadow detail were fine.

     I saw some slight ghosting and occasional noise reduction, but otherwise artefacts and marks were absent.

     The layer change at 60:27 resulted in a slight pause.

     There are no subtitles except where burnt in white subtitles translated sections of non-English dialogue.

     The print was often spectacular, if occasionally over manipulated.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio choices are English dts 5.1 at 754 Kbps or English Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps. I listened to the dts audio.

     Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand. The main dialogue was centred but other voices came from the rears. The surrounds were utilised for doors closing, horses’ hooves, crowd noises, weather effects, cannon balls and music, with some directional effects for voices, horses and cannons. The subwoofer supported horses’ hooves, both on the march and on the charge, explosions and the cannon fire.

    Lip synchronisation was surprisingly good, considering the multi-national cast. Indeed, the end credits revealed that a number of actors were dubbed, including the major character Kara Mustafa and they did a very good job. Of course F. Murray Abraham, in contrast, was speaking English on set.

     The original score by Roberto Cacciapaglia was epic and impressive, well suiting the film’s visuals.

     The audio track was very good.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Absolutely nothing, not even a trailer.

     There is no Region 1 US version of The Day of the Siege listed at present. The DVD cover of our Region 4 release gives a running time of 134 minutes, whereas the film actually runs 114:43. The Region 2 UK release, called Siege Lord II: The Day of the Siege, on Amazon.com is also listed at 134 minutes, whereas the Region 2 Polish release called Bitwa pod Wiedniem is listed at 115 minutes. So is our release cut? I can find no reviews or other information. It may be that the UK release is listed at 134 minutes, like ours, but the film runs 115. Or it may be the longer length is accurate. However, one might expect that as the film was an Italian / Polish coproduction that the Polish release could represent the full film. It is hard to say but to me the film feels truncated. Call it a draw I suppose until more information comes to hand.

     The Day of the Siege is an old fashioned epic which was made for peanuts by Hollywood standards. This does effect the battle sequences and the CGI is poor but the film is certainly worth watching for the performances of F. Murray Abraham and Enrico Lo Verso and the spectacular sets.

     The video and audio are fine. There are absolutely no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall