I watched the Bulgarian film "A Time of Violence" recently. It's one of those films that I've taken way to long to actually watch.

Somehow I thought it was going to be over the top with Bulgarian nationalism. So I put it off and put it off. And put it off some more.

I'd been told under no uncertain terms by a Bulgarian that: first I had to watch the film and that upon watching the film I'd hate the Turks. Um, language like this makes me uneasy and so I passively resisted by not watching the film.

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But then I watched it and I couldn't stop. I didn't want to talk to my parents on skype (but I did). I paused to make dinner (because I was starving). And then I cried for the final 15 minutes of the film.

Now here's the thing, the film has a very clear point of view. It's based on a Bulgarian novel, made in Bulgaria in 1988 by Bulgarians and Bulgarians have pretty good historical reasons for disliking the Ottoman Empire.

As an outsider, it's been difficult for me to grasp the often nearly palpable hate that many Bulgarians express for the Turks during the Ottoman occupation of Bulgaria.<!--more--> I'd read about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janissary" target="_blank">janissaries</a> and the Ottoman occupation of Bulgaria. I'd heard about the "Turkish Yoke." I'd read widely through Bulgarian history. I had an understanding of the events but I hadn't spent much time thinking about what all of these meant on a personal level.

The movie makes it personal. Really personal. The forced conversion of Christian villagers in the Rhodope Mountains to Islam at the hands of a Bulgarian jannissary and his army.

The film makes this history real and personal in a way that it wasn't for me before watching.  In the film you meet one small village and you are quickly pulled into their troubles.  Interestingly you also get to see both sides of the story because you also meet the Turkish governor ruling over this part of the Rhodope Mountains.

What stood out to me was how little actual violence there actually is in film. There's implied violence and plenty of cruelty but hardly any out and out violence. I expected more given the name of the film, the history of the time period and my imagination.

I also didn't expect the ending of the film leading me to engage in some pretty serious crying while waiting for something <em>really</em> bad to happen. But it doesn't happen, making it almost worse because you know it <em>will</em> happen.

I am really glad that I decided to finally watch the film. Maybe I shouldn't be so stubborn about these things in the future.