This documentary examines the bloody career of Vlad the Impaler, a 15th-century Wallachian prince who took no prisoners in his resistance to Ottoman expansion. Known as Dracula, he learned the art of war while being held hostage by the Turks, but maintained his independence by driving his disloyal nobles to death, and by filling the field with 23,000 impaled corpses. Repel the Turkish invasion.
Immediately after taking power, Vlad arrested all the assembled nobles. The older boys and their families were immediately impaled. Younger, healthier nobles and their families were brought north from Târgovi?te to the ruins of Poienari castle in the mountains above the Arge? flow.
Vlad is determined to rebuild this ancient fortress as his stronghold and refuge. Enslaved boyars and their families had to toil for months to rebuild the ancient fort using materials from another nearby ruin. Traditionally, they worked until the clothes fell off their bodies and then had to continue working in the nude. Only a handful of ancient nobles survived the ordeal of building Vlad’s castle. For those who want to separate fact from myth, this documentary is a must-see.
