The Dacians

At the end of the first century Rome mounts a campaign into Dacia, north of the Danube. King Decebalus is prepared to risk everything to hold his people together. On the Roman side there is a young officer named Septimius; his origins are Dacian but he was raised in Rome. As the two sides fight, Septimius has to decide which one he is on. Sergiu Nicolaescu's film is one of the first of Romania's large-budget historical productions. The French actors Pierre Brice and Marie-José Nat are in the cast, with Amza Pellea as Decebalus. At the time it was made the film was part of a national account of history, and as such it is an interpretation rather than a historical document. The battle scenes are crowded and were shot with real horses.