The Return Song and the Myth of the Founding of the Nation in Vreme na nasilie

Vreme na nasilie (Time of Violence) is a 1988 Bulgarian film based on the 1964 novel Vreme razdelno (Time of Parting) by Anton Donchev (b. 1930). Set in 16th -century Bulgaria, the film follows the struggle of a Janissary to convert to Islam the community in which he had been born and the resistance of that community, led by his own family, with harrowing consequences. The article examines the tension between the two narratives informing the structure of the film: that of the 19th century charter myth of the founding of the modern Bulgarian nation, and that of the Greek and Balkan Return Songs. The retrojection of the 19th century and its violence onto the 17th century requires considerable revision of historical realities which would not have supported the plot. More importantly, the structure of the Return Song, as much as it may be ignored or denied because of identification with the Bulgarian "brotherhood" comprehended in the foundation myth, challenges it with the narrative of the betrayal of the birthright inherent in fundamental family relationships.