I absolutely loved this movie. My mother is Greek and I was raised more Greek than my German father's heritage. I know the Greek mindset and the subtle and not so subtle ways of manipulation and political intrigue. This movie in the first hour exactly portrays the clever manipulation of all parties concerned to achieve their respective goals. I am also an independent scholar of everything Byzantine. Too often a battle movie only centers on the war strategy, the action scenes and the political statement the writers which to convey. The Eastern Roman empire after their defeat at Manzikert in 1071 was in severe decline thereafter. The only manner, therefore, in which the "Byzantine" empire was able to continue for so long afterwards was by political manipulation and payoffs. The ending obviously shows the writers' intent on being a pro-Turkish movie at the expense of some minor points in its historical portrayal. But, there is nothing of historical discrepancy I found that was fatal to the story. In fact, the story does not go far enough in showing how Mehmet II rebuilt the city by rebuilding the population with Christians and even Jews. He showed religious tolerance and even re-established the Greek Orthodox Patriarchy. I could go on and on about the wonderful manner in which Mehmet governed Constantinople after the conquest, and it shows his unique genius. Therefore, I understand why the Turks emulate him so much. Regarding some of the historical discrepancies some viewers point out in their reviews, there is much about the battle we simply do not have a definitive account: Was a gate left open on purpose or by mistake? And was this gate the reason why the city fell? Did Constantine XI die in battle or did he commit suicide? How many men did Mehmet actually have? How many men did Constantine XI have? One thing is sure, many of us have been wrongfully assuming Constantinople was a weak city which was easy to conquer. There is no evidence of this. The empire was non-existent. Yet, in fact the walls of the city were in good repair having been strengthened before the siege. Therefore, I believe the director took what pieces of discrepant history he thought important to adapt to his theme of the movie. I have no historical problem with the director's approach. The set pieces and art direction were superb. The battle scenes wonderfully done. The acting breathless.

First I saw the title I was excited since I have not see any movie about fall of Constantinople and I thought it would be interesting to to see it from other side (from Turkish perspective), but I was very disappointed.The story-line was built so badly and so boring. Things too fast and you could not get positive or negative feelings to characters. I'm not going in to historical context cause it will take us too fare, but I must say that it was fare from historical facts. But that's usual for movies, right? I felt smell of propaganda. Byzantines were so evil, standing on the Turks way and Turks choir Boys Choir on Sunday Mass... At battle scenes only Byzantines were dying and only Byzantines could kill were innocent, unarmed farmers. Acting was terrible. Even I could understand the original language acting was so bad. It was some kind of Turkish Soap Opera level. Costumes and props simply bad. CGI was awful, reminded me 90's. It's understandable that Turkey doesn't have experience on visual FX and it would be OK if the rest was good, but no...

This whole review section: English people not being able to accept the past. Yes it was exaggerated at some parts, but this wasn't a documentary nor educational video. Comments like: "The part where they dragged the ships over land was only 1 minute". Of course it is not done in one minute, but would you like to watch days of ships being dragged over land? The film gave the viewer adrenaline, not education. And to be honest, it gave Turkish people proud. I watched this movie in Rotterdam Pathé cinema. At the end of the movie the whole room of more than 400 people were applauding. The first and last time I had ever experienced such thing.

This movie was one of the most magnificent historical movies ever.. the actors were great.. scenario was excellent all of them from history real was.. I loved it so much.. the budget was so little but movie was superb.. if this movie was made by Hollywood and much more budget with it had become more splendid.. thanks so much to director producer actors and scenarists... the costumes and swords and other shields and cannonballs were fantastic.. like the kingdom of heaven this movie is a marvelous masterpiece I think.. and also the actors were fantastical seems like great strong warriors... also Faith sultan Mehmet wad a fabulous man emperor leader and warrior sure...