I'm not a movie buff and usually fall asleep after 30 minutes. I was able to stay along with this movie until the very end. Some viewers criticized it for lack of character development and lack of depth on the role of King Jan Sebieski and over-emphasis on Friar Marco. That is true but it was still clear from the movie that King Jan was key and instrumental in the defeat of the Ottoman. It introduced me to a part of history that is significant and not over-embellished. I'm the type of person that prefer a story line that is more natural rather than dramatized. I prefer "the Night to remember" over "the Titanic" for instance. I was able to understand the plot and I think it was focused. I think the low rating is undeserved.

1683 and an Islamic force of three hundred thousand Turks lay siege to Vienna and the fate of Europe lies in the hands of Capuchin friar called Marco d'Aviano and a Polish knight called Jan Sobieski In a mood for a historical epic I watched DAY OF THE SIEGE with some apprehension . It's got lukewarm feedback on this site and not long in to the film I can see where the complaints are coming from . It has a good cast and costume and production design are impressive but it's impossible not to notice the musical score is awful . It's intrusive and used badly and by trying to create mood it effectively destroys every scene when it is heard . Noticing music when it's good really enhances a scene and much of my enjoyment of the trashy thriller GONE GIRL was simply down to the Reznor / Ross soundtrack and is one of my favourite scores of recent cinema . DAY OF THE SIEGE must just be my least favourite one As the story continues there's another element that is a spanner in the works - bias . This is a heavily religious film and in the opening scene we see a supposed miracle . Obviously this miracle happens on the Christian side with Marco present . He's a pious man don't you know and the more pious someone is due to their service to God the better they are . Marco is good and King Louis the king of France is a philistine who wants to stab the Holy Roman Empire in the back . It's the bias against the Islamic Turks that does jar . I did think Kara Mustafa Pasha might be painted in a neutral light but as the story continues it's obvious this film might be having an agenda that there was no difference between the Muslims seen here and hardcore violent terrorists and mass murderers seen today in Iraq and Syria . Words like "Jihad" and "Infidel" are thrown about with gat abandon and the Muslims are not to be trusted . One reason the religion of Islam was so popular in those times was because in the zeitgeist of those days was it was relatively liberal . Now it wasn't liberal as we understand the word in the 21st Century but an enemy of Islam was offered the choice of either dying or converting where the defeated enemy would be allowed to keep his land and property which in the spirit of the time was quite a good deal . You wouldn't really know that from watching this and every opportunity to equate 17th Century Islam with the present day ISIS and Taliban where women are kept as sex slaves gets wheeled out at several points . Even the film's other title ELEVEN September 1683 has an unhidden agenda of sorts . I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a racist film but it is one that is heavily biased which works against it . I'm an anti-theist with a Greek name and even I thought the portrayal of Muslim Turks was ugly

This movie show mostly charismatic Marco d'Aviano and his role during siege of Vienna and the IMDb storyline didn't talk about this movie and you need put "September Eleven 1683" to the box with all Italian catholic films. Remember you can't confront it with high budget Hollywood productions. As catholics low budget movie for catholics audience is good. Also if you know history of Poland and expect historical film about the siege of Vienna REMEMBER this is NOT a film about the great victory of Sobieski, the Polish cavalry, or about the political intrigues of European sovereigns in the 17th century.From other hand matteo-cortigiani-1 are totally right about this movie. Now if any movie has positive view of Christians(especially Catholic) must be bed. Sad but true :-(

This is the absolute worst historical movie in the history of movies that I have ever seen! It is a tragedy for every historian on earth! It is an evil depiction of Islam and Turks. Showing Europeans to be so civilized and nice while Turks and Muslims to be blood thirsty beasts who have no goal but to kill and destroy! Let me give you a few scenes as examples of terrible fictitious history of this film. First, you absolutely can not prostrate to any man or thing on earth except for God. Kara Mustafa prostrated in front of the Sultan and a weird fortune teller in the mosque. Second, fortune tellers are prohibited in Islam. So not only he prostrated to people, he talked to a fortune teller in the middle of the mosque!!! The third, is the false history of the necklace that Marco gave Kara. That never happened! Every single scene in this movie from the Italian ruler to the Polish and Turk is the worst most evil depiction possible.