Synopsis
This 2-hours drama led documentary is supported by historic re-enactment on original locations, and a full-size replica galleon. Spectacular CGI and gripping drama make up 70% of the film. Eps 1 looks at the build-up of the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. Eps 2 focuses on the dramatic battle for Fort St. Elmo.
The historic events are told through the eyes of two fictional but historically accurate characters:
Alexius (above left) is a 14-year-old who finds himself pressganged into the Sultan’s army in Greece. He is converted to Islam, changes his name to Hasan, before being trained in Constantinople as an elite Janissary soldier. Hasan’s soon to be arch-rival Raymonde is a 15-year-old French noble (above right), sent to the Order of St. John in Malta by his ambitious parents to become a wealthy knight and seafarer. They will both meet in battle, trained to fight in the name of God, and Allah.
After losing his best friend in a bitter naval battle with knight Raymonde and his corsairs, Hasan becomes a follower of the Muslim dervish cult (above right). Finally, after years of warfare, both sides have lost their ways. Consumed by uncontrollable hate, they betray their religious beliefs. Only one will survive the bloody Siege of Malta.
Filmed in historic locations in Malta, Turkey, Austria, and UK. The dramatic story of Hasan and Raymonde is commented on by leading historians from the UK, Malta, Turkey, and Germany. Script and edit versions are fact checked to give an accurate and unideological portrait of both warring sides.
DAVID NICOLLE The rise of the Ottoman Empire is quite an extraordinary piece of history. The speed, the extent, the directions in which it went. This was just something incomprehensible. It was almost a kind of end of the world, apocalyptic feeling amongst Christian Europe.
THOMAS FRELLER The Siege of Malta epitomises an important moment of Mediterranean history. People driven by religion, hatred, and fanaticism.
GÜLAY YILMAZ It is fascinating that within ten years, a boy had this full transformation from being a Greek child praying in his church, and then he turns into this warrior, killing for Allah, for the Sultan.