[REQ] Dernier seigneur des Balkans, Le (2005)

[OrionPax]

A half century of history in the Balkans is dramatized in this 4 part miniseries of 360 minutes total duration. Episode 1 takes us from the 1890s to 1914. In 1892, the Ottoman Empire is being threatened by patriotic nationalists. In Goricka, the lord of the region celebrates the birth of his heir, Zufikar, receiving the name of the prestigious family's founder. The boy is brought up regally, and graduates from the University of Salonika (at the time Turkish). There he befriends a young Greeek, Takis. Zufikar then returns home, where he again meets Esma, the mill owner's daughter, a childhood acquaintance. Passion erupts between "Z" and Esma. Disagreeing over Esma's sense of virtue, "Z" leaves her without knowing she is carrying his child. Alone and abandoned, Esma marries the coach driver Mustafa, to avoid the disgrace of being a single mother. "Z", in an attempt to forget Esma marries Myriam, a Jewish refugee from Salonika In Episode 2, World War II erupts in the Balkans, then extends all over Europe. In the Balkans however, War continues until the early 20's, when Turkey definitely loses its European territories, and Albania, Yugoslavia and a new larger Greece are all created, including Salonika whose Turkish (Muslim) population is resettled in Turkey proper. Now in Albania (and in Episode 3), "Z", a follower of Zog, the Prime Minister, is elected Deputy of Albania. Esma and Hikmet live near him. "Z" and his son (with Esma) still don't know about their bond. Meanwhile, Suleyman decides to live in Goricka, with Hikmet. Years pass and Zog proclaims himself King of Albania, while young Rasit becomes an active communist. In Goricka, Suleyman marries Pembé, Hikmet's daughter. Then in 1939, Mussolini invades Albania and "Z" is arrested for refusing to collaborate with the Fascist occupation. Rasit again joins other communists and partisans in the underground struggle against the Fascist Italians and Germans. Then in 1940, certain of an easy victory, Italy attacks Greece. This leads us on to Episode 4 which covers 1943 to 1950. In Albania, "Z" and Esma have gone underground. Hikmet is killed, while Suleyman and his young daughter are deported to a German camp. In Goricka, Pembé -persuaded she would never again see her husband and daughter, falls in love with Dimitri, a young partisan with whom she shares a passionate relationship. Escaping from the Germans, "Z" finds refuge with a former mistress. But, for his refusal to her advances, she betrays him revealing the whereabouts of the refugees to the enemy. When "Z" comes back to Bilisté, he finds devastation. Additionally, communists have seized power in Albania and "Z"'s lands and holdings have all been confiscated. He himself is sent away to "Re-education" in a collective farm. Suleyman makes it back to Goricka to discover the fate of his family members. Soviet-supported communism takes hold of all the Balkans, not counting Greece which rid itself of communist threats after a bloody civil war.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478934/

I understand this miniseries was broadcast on French television a few months ago, so I hope someone has it

Clip from EP3: http://download.artevod.com/stream/DERS ... A_1500.WMV

(The whole four episodes can actually be downloaded from here: http://www.artevod.com I tried to purchase them unfortunately you need to be in France to access the content yes I did try using a French proxy, they must use a white list )

[Phuzzy4242]

More information...
aka The Last Lord of the Balkans

http://www.rarefilmfinder.com/showfilm.php?id=2965
http://www.artevod.com/dernierseigneurdesbalkans1 (also on sale at this site)
http://www.artevod.com/dernierseigneurdesbalkans2
http://www.artevod.com/dernierseigneurdesbalkans3
http://www.artevod.com/dernierseigneurdesbalkans4

Episode 1 - The Empire of the Wind (1892-1914)
The first episode of the epic mini-series adapted from the novel by Necati Cumali.1892: the Lake District in the south of Macedonia is still part of the Ottoman Empire whose authority is undermined by the rise of nationalism. In the field of Gorick, Riza Bey, the lord of the region, celebrates the arrival of the last male heir, Zulfikar. The newborn is high with Hikmet, his cousin, not much older than him. After university studies in Thessaloniki, where Zulfikar hustler meets a young Greek named Takis Vangelis, he returned to Gorick. During one of his rides in the mountains, Zulfikar found Esma, the miller's daughter with whom he had had its first stirrings of love. The two young men give in to passion. Shocked by the power he considers light of his companion, Zulfikar Esma leaves, unaware that as a result of this embrace, Esma has a child. In spite Zulfikar enchaine amorous conquests and finds Takis became an arms dealer. Already the Balkan wars are raging.

Episode 2 - The Son of the Eagle (1916-1924)
After the Balkan wars, the Lake District is divided between Greece - which is now the area Göricke -, Serbia and Albania. Married to Miriam, a Jewish refugee from Salonica, Zulfikar has little chance to see the son she gave him: Suleyman. Since the beginning of World War I, Zulfikar serves as a liaison for the Turks and the contact is the father of Esma. The mill, the young woman his son is a single Rasit. Mustapha, the former driver of Zulfikar with whom she was married to save his honor, was shot as a deserter by the Turks. On the eve of the armistice, Myriam is murdered by French soldiers for not revealed where her husband was hiding. Back in Gorick, Zulfikar quarrels violently with his cousin Hikmet. Although Mayor Göricke and Greek nationality since her marriage with Orthodox Zulfikar Hikmet does not help, forced into exile in Albania to avoid being sent to Turkey during the population exchanges.

Episode 3 - Comrade Red (1924-1943)
On the death of his grandmother, Suleyman decided to stay live with Hikmet at Gorick. Albania is a member Zülflikär supporter of Prime Minister Zog. He now lives in the city of Korce with Esma and small Rasit which he knows he is the father. The years passed. Having reversed the attempted democratic Fan Noli, proclaimed himself king Zog of Albania. Rasit soon embraces the Communist cause. Zülflikâr feels betrayed his son Suleyman, he has not seen grow Pembe married the daughter of Hikmet, his worst enemy. In 1939, when the Italian fascists invaded Albania, King Zog fled and the old Bey was arrested for refusing to collaborate with the occupiers. In 1940, Mussolini attacked Greece, certain to win a quick victory. But the Greeks against attack, and arrive as liberators in Korce.

Episode 4 - Devil's Gold (1943-1949)
In Albania, Zulfikar and Esma join the guerrillas. Since the death of Hikmet and the deportation of her husband and her daughter, finds herself alone in Pembe Gorick. When it comes Dimitri, a young Greek communist resistance fighter, she falls madly in love. In 1944, when the Red Army bearing down on the Balkans, Zulfikar took refuge with his former mistress, at best with the occupier, to escape the Germans. He made the mistake, after rejecting his advances, to tell him where his companions are hidden. Back at the mill he found only the corpses whose lifeless body of Esma. In Albania, the Communists are in power. Rasit became the right arm of Enver Hoxha. Zulfikar is seen confiscating all his land and he was sent to rehabilitation in a collective farm where he meets Vera, a young Yugoslav which he became the lover. A Gorick, Suleyman Pembe learns that survived the deportation but that their daughter is dead. It breaks with Dimitri. Soon the couple had a baby boy. Suleyman launches into politics. Takis is, every war profiteer, who finances his campaign in hand. Pembe learns and indignant, decided to go with Dimitri sonfils join in the bush.

Hmm, everything I've found about this film indicates that only the first (of four) 90-minute episodes has any focus on kids at all, and that only in the first 20 minutes. While this may be an excellent film, is it on-topic at FLM? I looked all over for this but didn't find any source.