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.

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 Bulgarians express towards the Turks during the Ottoman occupation of Bulgaria. I'd read about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janissary" target="_blank">janissaries</a> and