Great Siege drama to be produced for Italian TV

Produced for RaiFiction by the De Angelis Group, ‘L’assedio di Malta’ is set to begin filming in spring-summer of 2012.

Judging by a ‘suggested’ storyline which appears on the De Angelis website, the series will focus on three fictional characters embroiled in a love triangle, while the events of the Siege unfold in the background.

‘To sacrifice his own freedom to assure his younger brother’s safety: this is the cruel condition dictated to Marcello by Dragut the pirate. This is the story of two brothers, and how their lives, already strained by the love for the same girl, will part forever.

‘Andrea gains freedom, but remains alone in Malta, while Marcello is taken to Istanbul and forced to become a ‘Giannizzero’. Their paths will cross again many years later, during the bloody Siege of Malta, with Andrea fighting as a Knight and Marcello, now a Muslim, fighting in the Sultan’s name.

‘A collision between two brothers, which will end with the winner gaining both forgiveness and Claudine’s love.’

The Malta Film Commission was not in a position to confirm whether the series will be filmed in Malta. However, Film Commissioner Peter Busuttil said that the producers did in fact scout Malta as a location.

“This production has been in the pipeline for two years now, but knowing the industry, I know that these things don’t happen, until they happen,” Busuttil said.

“They’ve visited Malta and shown an interest in filming here, and they’ve been in contact with us, even on financial issues. My feeling, however, is that the project is still looking for proper financial backing, so it’s a bit of a ‘wait and see’ situation at the moment.

“Either way, I’m sure that the series will have a positive impact on Malta, even if it does not end up being made here,” Busuttil said, adding that the Great Siege has been a desirable commodity in the film world since the 80s.

Asked about what remains pertinent about the Great Siege – as well as attractive to contemporary audiences – historian Carmel Cassar pointed towards its wide-ranging historical impact.

“It basically brought to the fore a clash of cultures which we can identify with in less direct ways these days but which was very much the order of the day back in the 16th century,” Cassar said in reference to the very clear-cut Christian-Muslim conflict that characterised the Siege.  

“We must remember that were it not for the events of the Great Siege, the Knights would never have created ‘the State of Malta’… it would have been viewed in the same way as Lampedusa was at the time, for example – an offshoot of Sicily,” Cassar added.

Cassar also expressed very clear views on what should be prioritised when it comes to televising the events of the Great Siege. Cassar described the romanticised public perception of the knights and Grandmasters of the time as “a lot of junk.”

In actual fact, according to Cassar, knights were far from holy crusaders, bearing a closer resemblance to Errol Flynn-esque swashbucklers.

“What I think needs to come out in any TV series or film about the knights is that they were far from the humble, ascetic beings that the Pope at the time wanted them to be. They were tough, arrogant men – they had affairs, girlfriends, and they had no qualms about asserting their superiority over anyone.”

But since the press pack for the series describes Grandmaster Jean de la Vallette as ‘profoundly religious, [a] strategist and a valiant warrior’, it is highly unlikely that Cassar’s characterisation of the Siege’s key players will in fact make it to the small screens.