The Horseman (Konjanik), directed by Branco Ivanda, is based in part on a true story from the mid-eighteenth century featuring interactions across the border of present-day Bosnia and Croatia. The film needs more editing to be historically intelligible for those unfamiliar with the history of the region, though the plot is easily understood as involving a Romeo and Juliet. At the time, Croatia was governed by the Venetian Republic, a trading nation that was perhaps then the richest country in the world. Bosnia, meanwhile, was ruled by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Venetians were Roman Catholics, though some Croatians were Eastern Orthodox Catholics, while the Bosnians were Moslems; politics and religion are intertwined in the story. (Venice was once the principal staging area for the Crusades.) Titles at the end of the film indicate that the Venetian Republic no longer existed by the end of the eighteenth century (because conquered by Napoleon), whereas the Ottomans were finally driven back from the Balkans to Turkey some one hundred fifty years later. The story focuses on a Croatian Romeo by the name of Petar the Holler (played by Niksa Kuselj) and Lejla (played by Zrinka Cvitesic), the daughter of the Bey (governor) of Bosnia. In 1735, Petar's father stole a sheep from a rich Venetian, whereupon a Venetian militia on horseback executes him and sets fire to his home; although Petar's mother dies in the fire, he saves his brother. Thereafter, the two orphans go to an encampment of Croatians seeking food and shelter. When Petar attempts to steal some food, angering a merchant, the head of the local Venetian militia takes notice and recruits Petar for his brazen behavior to serve in the army. His brother instead enters the priesthood. Most of the film takes place in 1747 and thereafter, when Petar is assigned to spy on the Bosnians; after agreeing to convert to Islam, including a painful circumcision, he is soon consigned to the service of the Bey of Bosnia. While roaming the Bey's residence, he spots Lejla taking a bath; her naked beauty causes him to stare, and she likewise is attracted to his masculine appearance. Soon, they meet out of town, kiss, and plan to carry on a secret love affair, though she has many rich suitors, including a politically powerful Croatian who is eager to use the marriage as a way to cement a hitherto fragile peace along the border. Nevertheless, Petar takes Lejla to his militia's headquarters at coastal Zadar, and Lejla converts to Christianity to show her complete loyalty to her new Croatian home. Petar, loyal to neither the Ottomans nor the Venetians, wants to live in Austria with Lejla as his wife, but any such escape will leave both lovers with armies hot on their trail. Court intrigue on all sides, including considerably mendacity, means that capture of one or the other will lead to an advantage that can and will be politically exploited. With gorgeous cinematography of the countryside, including fascinating architectural sites, the drama plays out in a Shakespearian manner until an inevitably tragic ending. Although there indeed is an historical Petar and Lejla , the rest of the story is fictional but believable. MH
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