The Balkans--their cultures, languages, religion and history

I love "Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod - Gloomy Sunday", a German/Hungarian movie, made in 1999. It is about Budapest in the 1930s/1940s. When Germans normally make movies about WWII, they always try to be 100% politically-correct. This movie surprises you as it´s more lighthanded (though it´s of course very sad too) and it also has a touch of humor. I really recommand it!

Is it about a piece of music, a musician, a lady and a restaurant, among others? [I forgot the name]

I liked it very much! Very... "Hungarian", passionate and beautiful!





[Schopenhauer is one of my favorite thinkers! Alas, I don't know German and I read him in English]

Is it about a piece of music, a musician, a lady and a restaurant, among others? [I forgot the name]

I liked it very much! Very... "Hungarian", passionate and beautiful!

[Schopenhauer is one of my favorite thinkers! Alas, I don't know German and I read him in English]

Yes, this is the movie I mean! It´s one of my favourite movies.
I quite like Schopenhauer´s cynical way to think, but sometimes it gets too much!

Great movie and great thinker! They even fit together, don't they?
It reminds me of another similar pair I like, "The thin red line" [by Terrence Malick] and Heidegger.
Has anyone seen this beautiful movie? [It has a Greek character in it, so we can relate it to our topic ]

 Vulo Radev(Bulgaria),his movies are excellent.

 Regards.

I'm glad you like Vulo Radev.
My father played in his movie "Nay-dalgata nosht" / The Longest Night (1967)! [the British prisoner-of-war]
I've never seen it or any other of Radev's movies. :-/

Arguably, Vulo Radev's best film was The Peach Thief (1964) about the tragic love story of the wife of a Bulgarian army officer and a Serb POW during WW1. Nevena Kokanova and Serb actor Rade Markovic were really brilliant in the main parts.

Though Cyprus is not geographically a part of the Balkans, it makes part of the 'Byzantine' world...So...

I was wondering what was the official language of the Royal Family of Cyprus (the Lusignans) when they ruled the island...

Was it French or Greek? Both?

And were they Catholic or Orthodox?

I'm pretty certain they spoke French, but they might have learnt some Greek in the 250 years they were there!

They were Latin christians i.e. owed their allegiance to Rome. The cathedral (now a mosque) in Famagusta closely resembles the gothic cathedrals of France.

Watched "Train de vie" yesterday, which actually is a French/Romanian co-production. A very good movie.

[Life is beautiful]

Watched "Train de vie" yesterday, which actually is a French/Romanian co-production. A very good movie.

I liked this movie too! It has some of the qualities of "Life is beautiful" isn't it?


What about Theo Angelopoulos? Has anyone seen some of his movies?

[Life is beautiful]

I liked this movie too! It has some of the qualities of "Life is beautiful" isn't it?

Yeah, but I found the ending so disturbing.

Aren't all god movies somewhat disturbing?
[some bad movies are disturbing too, of course, but in another sense ]

Just to note that Serbia had fought bravely in WW 1, alongside America, England, France and our brethren, Greece. Serbia had lost 33% of its population. That's every third person.

For one day the Serbian flag flew over the White House, which you can read below:

When the Serbian Flag Flew Over the White House

On July 28, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson gave the following message to the American people. It was read in churches throughout the country and published in virtually all major newspapers. The Serbian flag was raised over the White House and all public buildings in this nation's capital. The message read:

To the People of the United States:

On Sunday, 28th of this present month, will occur the fourth anniversary of the day when the gallant people of Serbia, rather than submit to the studied and ignoble exactions of a prearranged foe, were called upon by the war declaration of Austria-Hungry to defend their territory and their homes against an enemy bent on their destruction. Nobly did they respond.

So valiantly and courageously did they oppose the forces of a country ten times greater in population and resources that it was only after they had thrice driven the Austrians back and Germany and Bulgaria had come to the aid of Austria that they were compelled to retreat into Albania. While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken. Though overwhelmed by superior forces, their love of freedom remains unabated. Brutal force has left unaffected their firm determination to sacrifice everything for liberty and independence.

It is fitting that the people of the United States, dedicated to the self-evident truth that is the right of the people of all nations, small as well as great, to live their own lives and choose their own Government, and remembering that the principles for which Serbia has so nobly fought and suffered are those for which the United States is fighting, should on the occasion of this anniversary manifest in an appropriate manner their war sympathy with this oppressed people who have so heroically resisted the aims of the Germanic nations to master the world. At the same time, we should not forget the kindred people of the Great Slavic race--the Poles, the Czechs and Jugo-Slavs, who, now dominated and oppressed by alien races yearn for independence and national unity.

This can be done in a manner no more appropriate than in our churches. I, therefore, appeal to the people of the United States of all faiths and creeds to assemble in their several places of worship on Sunday July 28, for the purpose of giving expression to their sympathy with this subjugated people and their oppressed and dominated kindred in other lands, and to invoke the blessings of Almighty God upon them and upon the cause to which they are pledged.

Woodrow Wilson, President,
The White House, July, 1918.

(This wonderful piece of Serbia's history was provided by Bill Dorich)

Imperial Russia also was a loyal which fought bravely alongside its allies, but the Russian people did not harvest the Gloria of its well-deserved victory, because of the damn communists who was in the process of ruin Russia and its people. How the world would have developed if this not had happen.
C