Boj na Kosovu

AT THE END OF THE 14TH CENTURY

TURKS FROM ASIA MINOR STARTED TO CONQUER EUROPE.

THE SERBIAN MEDIEVAL STATE RESISTED THIS INVASION.

THE BATTLE OF KOSOVO

Based on the novel of Ljubomir Simovic

Prince Lazar Milos Zutic

Princess Milica Gorica Popovic

Vuk Brankovic Vojislav Brajovic

Miloc Obilic Zarko Lausevic

Big Danube fish! Sterlets! Pike perches!

Directed by Zdravko Sotra

Hey, monk!

Does this path lead to Kosovo? -Yes. And that one too

and the one from which you came. What are you wondering?

Every path leads there.

There is no other path today in Serbia then the one leading to Kosovo or from Kosovo.

In the time of prince Dusan, Serbia was reflecting in the water of 3 seas.

After his death it shrunk to 3 river alleys.

From the 3 seas we have only Pomoravje left and Murat wants that as well

It would be best, if we could tear up this Murat letter

and forget about it. -No, Spiridon.

This letter isn't our only problem.

The best thing would be if we were unanimous.

Then we wouldn't fear Murat, Murat would fear us.

If we were unanimous, the sultan wouldn't dare demand from us

that we were obedient, give him the army and pay for the haradj.

You can't demand this from a state, a country can't accept this.

Did you decline his demands? -What else would I do?

Did Murat get your answer already? -Yes.

And he's responding. The Turkish army already broke into the territory of

Vuk Brankovic and headed towards Lab in Sitnica.

To Kosovo. -To Kosovo.

The armies will clash on Kosovo at Vid's day.

Is Murat coming with a large army?

They say it's so big, you can hear it from 2 hours of walk away.

Toplica and Kosancic will inform us about the army strength.

Who do you count on Lazar?

Our son-in-law Vuk Brankovic is with us.

You're gonna fight a pack of lions with one wolf?

Where is our other son-in-law? Where is Djuradj II Balsic,

the master of Zeta and Pomoravje? Will Djuradj come?

You know that because of Trebinje, Konavlja and god knows what else,

he's in conflict with Bosnia. He attacked Bosnia together with the Turks.

How could he defend Serbia from the Turks?

Will at least king Tvrtko I. Kotromanic come?

He sent the detachment under the command of duke Vlatko Vukovic.

He's sending a duke instead of coming himself. Why did he crown himself

with the Nemanjici crown, if he doesn't have time to defend the Serbs?

Trouts, eels, big Danube fish!

Carps, pikes, sheatfish!

Trouts, sheatfish, pike perches!

Fresh Danube fish!

Kosovo, Kosovo! All you talk about is Kosovo.

They say our destiny is at stake on Kosovo.

It's Kosovo for me each day.

Why are they so afraid of the Turks?

They're not grasshoppers. - They're the cruelest army.

They steal wool, cloth, cattle. They burn down houses. They burn down clouds.

Supposedly they don't eat pork. -They rape girls and boys.

They turn churches into stables and mosques.

Do they eat fish? -They impale people alive.

Are you deaf? Do they eat fish? -What? -Do Turks eat fish?

I think so. Why do you ask? -Why do I ask?

Trouts, eels, carps, sterlets! Fresh Danube fish!

When you sent Murat the responding letter,

you surely took thought before replying. -You think I don't know what I have?

I know I'm not Emperor Dusan the Mighty.

We have nowhere to run. We must defend what we have left.

Look how divided Serbia is and what Serbian magnates are doing.

To preserve power, they would rather turn Turks

then attack them with you. Who will you gather when everything is falling to pieces?

Everyone would like to be some kind of king and crown their

empty head. Even as small as a thimble as long as it's a crown.

As small as it is, as long as it's a kingdom.

Every village is a capital, every cottage a palace.

Murat isn't coming with such an army to negotiate.

He wants more then he said. Even if he made an agreement with me,

the army would rip him to pieces

if he wanted to send it back home without a fight and prey.

I have nothing left to do then gather as much strength as I have left.

I will gather the army, you assemble the metropolitans and vladikas,

archimandrites, monks, priests and deacons

from all the churches and cloisters from all over Serbia,

so they give communion to our army before the battle.

This will be our great suffering. -I know.

We will suffer one way or the other. But we can choose.

Either we die crawling like Turkish slaves or turned Turks

or we die honorably. There is no other alternative.

You will not return alive from Kosovo. - Better to be remembered by our grandchildren

as dead then be forgotten while still alive.

Of all the black clouds above Serbia

this one is neither the first nor the blackest. -Are you returning to Zica?

There is no time. I'll go to Mojsinje since it's closer.

I'll send the messages to the monks from there.

We'll reach Kosovo in time. -Are you coming?

I also want to earn my divine grace.

May God be with you.

May God bestow us with his mercy

not only with the suffering but also with a victory in Kosovo.

God bless you.

Find me a fat carp.

Will this one do? -Hit him on the head with a mallet.

This one would be an ornament even on a princely table. -Tonight it will be an ornament on mine.

If I have to die tomorrow like a dog

I'll be at least eating today as prince.

Are you going to Kosovo too? -This calamity concerns us all.

They really must be in trouble if they're calling for you. -Oh, yeah.

Like never before. -There were wars and battles, but nothing like this.

All the blacksmith's workshops and smelteries are working. Yesterday an iron wheel

broke, today a silver one snapped. -Where? -In the mine.

Because of overweight. -They have to forge so many swords,

there won't be a spoonful of iron left.

Nobody ask themselves who pays for all those swords.

It's common knowledge. The prince. -I'm paying.

You're supplying his army? -Of course. -Tomorrow on Kosovo

we'll be paying with lives.

What kind of D is this? Even a literate person wouldn't know if it's a D or A.

Mr. Vuk Brankovic... -Am I intruding?

No. We have finished.

Until I order otherwise no one should see these dinars.

Not even for the price of a life. They won't be put in circulation for now.

Dinars with moulds are locked up in 7 iron boxes,

and those are in the chest of your treasury. The keys are...

You should shut your moth. I know where they're locked.

Get lost.

Are you coining new dinars?

The summer has only started and it's already hot at night.

Kosovo will obviously cost you dear. -More then that.

Equipping such an army with men at arm, horses and infantrymen

can nowadays reduce a country to poverty.

As always it's my concern. What concern brought you?

I have come to warn you to support Lazar

with everything you have got. -Why should I support him?

Because Serbia never was in bigger danger then today.

And with her all the Christian world, not just the Orthodox.

Lazar is the only one that can save Serbia and Christianity.

So Krusevac doesn't become the new Constantinople.

You can see Cviljan and Kaljaja from your window

and Jerusalem from his.

You talk as though you were Lazar's brother and not my own.

You think there is no other head then Lazar's,

no other way for the existence of Serbia, except Lazar's way?

Among the weak magnates, only Lazar is the one with the vision.

I have no vision? -You? What vision do you have?

This room measures 6 x 10 meters.

That pine tree is 30 meters high.

This barrel can carry 200 liters. This bull weighs 700 kg.

The bell strikes 4 times at 4 o'clock, and 7 times at 7 o'clock.

That is my vision. The snake is poisonous, the peach is sweet

and wormwood is bitter. Serbs are few, Turks are many.

Why are you looking at me? -You call that a vision?

What vision does Lazar have? -Vision of Serbia.

And Serbian unity. -What?

He's smart enough to know that he could hardly unite the Serbs,

if he wanted to subordinate all the Serbian magnates

and proclaim himself as the Tsar, as many wanted.

I most certainly didn't.

Who chose Kosovo as the battlefield? You or Murat?

Neither Murat or me. Kosovo chose itself.

Can it be seen from here?

No, but one knows where it is. -Where?

You see that splendor in the sky? -I see.

Kosovo is directly underneath it.

That's dusk.

What's your name, you say? -Makarij.

Brother Makarij? -That's right.

Did you paint all those Lazar's churches? -Almost all of them.

I was returning from St.Petka to Vojnovica when they told me

that the patriarch is in Mojsinje and is assembling all the clergy

in Kosovo so that the army gets its communion before the battle.

How do you find the way? -The eyes aren't the only sense of sight.

Without my eyes with these old hands I can see how April dawn

is changing to July evening and November dusk.

Father Teofan, we are lost. I don't know anymore from where we came

and where we're heading. -Let's follow this way.

You blind man will show me the way? -The fog is troubling you because you see it

and I don't see it so it doesn't bother me. Are you coming or not?

Guards! Does this path lead to Kosovo? -Why are you asking?

Will you fight too? You don't look like a knight nor a solider.

I'm not a soldier. I'm a medicus, et chirurgico et barberius

de Prezarin. -What are you? -Doctor, surgeon and barber

from Prizren. - How come you don't know the path to Kosovo?

I know the way from Prizren, now I'm coming from Resava.

What are you doing in Kosovo if you're not a soldier? -What am I doing?

You know how many punctured liver, lungs,

scattered guts and brains, broken hands and feet,

broken ribs, crushed skulls, broken fingers and spines,

dug out eyes and broken bones, shot through throats

and jaws will there be in Kosovo? There will be enough blood to sail on it with boats.

Is anyone paying you to talk this way? - Do you think

that the Turks will welcome us with pilaf and baklavas?

Anyone who hears your stories will never go to Kosovo.

What you do have in the bags? -Books and medicine.

What kind of books? -Medical.

Instructions for healing wounds. -And this? Empty it.

These are medicines and balsams. Don't shake it, you'll break everything.

Who will pick this up? -Look, you fart.

I use it to wash my ears. I put the nib for the tube over here

and extract the liquid from the ears. -What do you have in this bag? -Cheese

Open it.