AllMovie

Screenwriter and director Malvina Ursianu created this historical saga of Prince Alexandru Lapusneanu of Moldavia, focusing on his 1564 return from exile as a point of departure. When the prince assumes the throne again, he is faced with the challenge of unifying all the factions in Moldavia while fending off the Ottoman Turks -- a bit much for a fractured principality. The boyars (Rumanian aristocracy) are not in favor of his return to power, and since they were responsible for sending him into exile in the first place, they are a force that needs to be harnessed and controlled. The prince uses his allies, the very Turks who want to take over the country, to help squelch the ambitions of the aristocracy. Caught between the devil and the deep Black Sea, the prince is crunched in a political vise that offers no easy escape.