¨The Day that shook the world¨ is a historic film providing a different look at the deeds leading to the known assassination of Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand(Christopher Plummer) and his wife Sophie(Florinda Bolkan) that triggered WWI. This intriguing drama with interesting screenplay by Paul Jarrico contains description about the assassination preparation at charge a revolutionary group trained by an anarchist(Maximilian Schell). They organize a secret conspiracy to kill the empire Austrian-Hungarian's heir. The film describes efficiently the previous events surrounding and of course the final climax, the assassination which fired the spark of war. The movie is a little boring and slow moving but the story will like to historical events' enthusiastic.Spectacular sets and nice production design, however is urgently necessary a digital remastering but the copy is worn-out. The motion picture is regularly directed by Veljko Bulajic who directed another historic movie: Battle of river Neretva.
The historic events concern on Franz Josef I(played by Otomar), Emperor of Austria and Hungary from 1848 to 1916, spent most of his long reign seeking to hold his disparate empire together. He married to Empress Elizabeth, the famous Sissi(immortalized by Romy Schneider), an unhappy woman, who was fatally stabbed by an anarchist(Geneva in 1898). The Habsburg hold on Germany(under emperor William II) has steadily diminished and Frank Josef looked increasingly to the east as the basis for his power. Here he found nothing but trouble , Hungarian moves for independence, European opposition to the initiatives he took in the Balkans and eventually, war with Servia. When it came, the war was greeted with general rejoicing, troops set off with smiles for a land of darkness. The spark that set the world ablaze was the assassination of the royal couple, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. Never had war been waged on such scale, never had so many weapons been forged, never had armies been amassed in such numbers. The war was fought in the skies, on the seas, but most of all on land. At first it was a war of movement, Austrian and German army moved east to do battle against Servia and Russia. The criminal happening about Sarajevo assassination caused an incalculable disaster, the fate of its authors was the following : Danilo Ilic, death by hanging; Trifko Grabez death in prison; Misko Jovanovik, death by hanging; Jakov Milovik death by hanging; Velko Oubrilovik, death in prison; Mehmed escaped to Montenegro; and Labrinovik , death in prison.
