| The Day of the Siege: September Eleven 1683 | |
| Native Name: | Bitwa pod Wiedniem |
| Director: | Renzo Martinelli |
| Cinematography: | Fabio Cianchetti |
| Editing: | Tommaso Feraboli |
| Runtime: | 114 minutes |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | € 13,000,000 |
| Gross: | $ 2 143 479[1] |
The Day of the Siege: September Eleven 1683 (Italian: 11 Settembre 1683; Polish: Bitwa pod Wiedniem, literally: "The Battle of Vienna"; also released as Siege Lord 2: Day of the Siege) is a 2012 English-language Polish and Italian historical drama film based on the 1683 Battle of Vienna and directed by Renzo Martinelli. The film was released on 12 October 2012.
Beginning after the First Siege of Vienna the century before, the film brings viewers through the various conflicts between Catholic Christianity and Turkish Islam which led up to the events of 11 September 1683 and the Battle of Vienna. It shows the circumstances of the 2nd siege of Vienna and the assault of Ottoman Turks led by Kara Mustafa (Enrico Lo Verso) against the Habsburg monarchy. The assault was stopped by King Jan III Sobieski (Jerzy Skolimowski), and curtailed Turkish expansion into central European Christendom.
It took ten years to raise the film's $13,000,000 budget. In addition to the theatrical version, the filmmakers have prepared a longer version to be released on television as a mini-series.[2] Filming began in April 2011, with support from backers in Austria, Poland and Italy, with RAI supporting with 5.8 million euro, and another million euro from the Friuli region.[3] The title's allusion to the 11 September 2001 attacks is intentional.[4] Director Martinelli explained that while that date is associated with the attacks on the United States, few people know that the date also marks the historical events of 1683 when 300,000 soldiers moved from Constantinople to Vienna with an intent to capture Rome and turn St. Peter's Basilica into a mosque.[3] [5] In reality, though, the Battle of Vienna (Schlacht am Kahlenberg) took place on 12 September 1683.
During production in June, it was first revealed that with a planned-for 13-week shooting schedule, the film would be using over 100 actors from Poland, the United States, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Spain, and France, over 10,000 extras and 3,000 horses in the battle scenes.[6] Filmmakers were unable to acquire permissions to use castle structures in Poland, and although interiors of Wilanów Palace were eventually used, castle exteriors were shot at Mantua, Lombardy, to represent that of King Jan III Sobieski.[7] The film was shot entirely in English with intention for worldwide distribution.[8]
While complaining that the film's special effects graphics resembled those of a low-resolution video game, Polityka noted that while based in the times and location of the Battle of Vienna, the film is not strictly historical, but is instead a fictional drama, like any other historical movie.[9]
On 22 July 2014, Phase 4 Films released the film on DVD.[10] On 3 August 2022, the American Catholic publishing house Ignatius Press announced they would be releasing a DVD for the film on 1 September 2022, under the English title The Siege of Vienna: September 11, 1683.[11] [12]